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tales_of_a_bookbug's review
2.0
Rating: 2 stars
Review: I came across this book 2 weeks ago and immediately put it on my TBR list after reading the blurb. If you know me then you are probably aware of the fact that I love dark books.I can’t help but love the way they mess with my mind(Yeah..I know I am a masochist). After reading such an enticing and intriguing blurb I just had to get this book in my hands.
And boy was I disappointed. The book starts with the heroine being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of many years, because he found her “boring”. Naturally she loses her job also as she was working in his food truck.She has no family. She gets a dye-job and decides to take off for Vegas with the little money that she has.She heads to Caesars but soon finds out that she can’t afford it(Duh, obviously!!).So she heads for the washroom and changes into a sexy dress and applies makeup to boost her confidence.When she comes out into the casino she catches the eye of a sexy man named Leonide.
She immediately feels highly attracted to him(Right on cue : insta-lust) and when he sends her a drink she accepts it and starts chatting with him.He has a sexy accent(Apparently everything about him is sexy).The only thing driving her is her boyfriend’s voice saying she is boring so therefore she wants to prove to herself that she is not boring and pretends to be a daring, confident woman.He offers to take her upto his room and she accepts thinking nothing could go wrong while spending one night with an uber-sexy man.
This is where everything goes wrong.Soon after they go upto his room he offers her another drink.Soon after she drinks it she begins to feel dizzy.The next day she wakes up in another country in East Europe as she has been kidnapped.Turns out Leonide trafficks woman but for the special kind of customers.He grooms these women, teaches them everything they need to be perfect wives and marries them off to those customers who give him the best offers.He is very famous for “matching” men with women just as they require.
So according to him Celeste is the “perfect American whore” as many of his clients love “blonde American girls”.He starts off with his lessons for Celeste.She must not disrespect him,she must address him as “Sir”,she should know to perform all the chores and she must dress properly. She resists him and fights back in the beginning but as he punishes her time and again she pretends to follow his rules.
Inspite of having such an interesting premise the book failed to impress me because the two main characters were incorrigible. Celeste is so weak-willed.She turns into a puddle of goo whenever she is wihin 5 feet of Leonide because of his “sexiness”.She gives into his demands even though he is horrible and abusive.She has a spine only during the 2 times she tries to escape.And during the second time she isn’t escaping from Leonide, but from having to “marry” her buyer.
I kept waiting for the psychological twist, the part where the captive slowly comes to depend on the captor and then forms a twisted bond with them.But it never comes because she has already imprinted on him.There are no games played like in the other dark books.I couldn’t emphatize with Leonide either.Usually the romantic interest in the dark books is an anti-hero(like Caleb in the Dark Duet series or Q in Monsters in the Dark series) but Leonide doesn’t have even one redeemable quality about him.He constantly punishes her,controls her and she lets him do all of it.She is convinced that he also sees something in her and tries to persuade him to keep her.
We have one chapter from his POV to convince the reader that he also apparently wants Celeste and finds her very different.He inherited this business from his father and he thinks that he is actually helping the girls by alleviating them from poverty and matching them with perfect husbands.He has the whole town around him under his control. Also as all the excess food that is made in his house goes to the poor folk in the town I am supposed to think that he is good.One of his previous girls even calls him an “angel”.
I would have been just happy to pretend that Celeste was just brain washed into loving him like his father had perhaps done to his mother.But Celeste never even hated him. Overall it was an interesting book with high potential but poor execution.
Review: I came across this book 2 weeks ago and immediately put it on my TBR list after reading the blurb. If you know me then you are probably aware of the fact that I love dark books.I can’t help but love the way they mess with my mind(Yeah..I know I am a masochist). After reading such an enticing and intriguing blurb I just had to get this book in my hands.
And boy was I disappointed. The book starts with the heroine being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of many years, because he found her “boring”. Naturally she loses her job also as she was working in his food truck.She has no family. She gets a dye-job and decides to take off for Vegas with the little money that she has.She heads to Caesars but soon finds out that she can’t afford it(Duh, obviously!!).So she heads for the washroom and changes into a sexy dress and applies makeup to boost her confidence.When she comes out into the casino she catches the eye of a sexy man named Leonide.
She immediately feels highly attracted to him(Right on cue : insta-lust) and when he sends her a drink she accepts it and starts chatting with him.He has a sexy accent(Apparently everything about him is sexy).The only thing driving her is her boyfriend’s voice saying she is boring so therefore she wants to prove to herself that she is not boring and pretends to be a daring, confident woman.He offers to take her upto his room and she accepts thinking nothing could go wrong while spending one night with an uber-sexy man.
This is where everything goes wrong.Soon after they go upto his room he offers her another drink.Soon after she drinks it she begins to feel dizzy.The next day she wakes up in another country in East Europe as she has been kidnapped.Turns out Leonide trafficks woman but for the special kind of customers.He grooms these women, teaches them everything they need to be perfect wives and marries them off to those customers who give him the best offers.He is very famous for “matching” men with women just as they require.
So according to him Celeste is the “perfect American whore” as many of his clients love “blonde American girls”.He starts off with his lessons for Celeste.She must not disrespect him,she must address him as “Sir”,she should know to perform all the chores and she must dress properly. She resists him and fights back in the beginning but as he punishes her time and again she pretends to follow his rules.
Inspite of having such an interesting premise the book failed to impress me because the two main characters were incorrigible. Celeste is so weak-willed.She turns into a puddle of goo whenever she is wihin 5 feet of Leonide because of his “sexiness”.She gives into his demands even though he is horrible and abusive.She has a spine only during the 2 times she tries to escape.And during the second time she isn’t escaping from Leonide, but from having to “marry” her buyer.
I kept waiting for the psychological twist, the part where the captive slowly comes to depend on the captor and then forms a twisted bond with them.But it never comes because she has already imprinted on him.There are no games played like in the other dark books.I couldn’t emphatize with Leonide either.Usually the romantic interest in the dark books is an anti-hero(like Caleb in the Dark Duet series or Q in Monsters in the Dark series) but Leonide doesn’t have even one redeemable quality about him.He constantly punishes her,controls her and she lets him do all of it.She is convinced that he also sees something in her and tries to persuade him to keep her.
We have one chapter from his POV to convince the reader that he also apparently wants Celeste and finds her very different.He inherited this business from his father and he thinks that he is actually helping the girls by alleviating them from poverty and matching them with perfect husbands.He has the whole town around him under his control. Also as all the excess food that is made in his house goes to the poor folk in the town I am supposed to think that he is good.One of his previous girls even calls him an “angel”.
I would have been just happy to pretend that Celeste was just brain washed into loving him like his father had perhaps done to his mother.But Celeste never even hated him. Overall it was an interesting book with high potential but poor execution.
kristinafh's review
3.0
2.5 stars. This book was disappointing. I'm a big fan of dark and twisty and while this had flavors of it, the lack of chemistry between the female and the male just made it all feel like the author was checking off requisite boxes. The first handful of chapters were promising. About 40% in, I struggled to finish this book.
jessica_barton's review
4.0
I really liked this one! I am a sucker for dark romances, I love the kidnapped, stolen reads. There are a lot of other books out there on this subject and a lot of them are better. I guess no one can take Aiden and Caleb's places in my heart.
There are mixed reviews on this one, which made it hard for me to decide if I wanted to actually read it, and I'm glad I took the chance.
Celeste is down on her luck when after her boyfriend breaks up with her and kicks her out. She decides to take a trip to Vegas to prove to herself she's not boring like he said. she colors her hair and gets dolled up. At the hotel casino, she runs into Leonide
I really didn't feel much for their relationship, I guess I didn't get where it came from, and it was kind of sudden. I don't know if I could fall in love with someone who beat me and kidnapped me, but then again I read a lot of novels where I don't understand the lovers.
anyway, this book was really good. I would recommend it to anyone who loves dark romance.
There are mixed reviews on this one, which made it hard for me to decide if I wanted to actually read it, and I'm glad I took the chance.
Celeste is down on her luck when after her boyfriend breaks up with her and kicks her out. She decides to take a trip to Vegas to prove to herself she's not boring like he said. she colors her hair and gets dolled up. At the hotel casino, she runs into Leonide
Spoiler
who takes her up to his room, drugs her, then kidnaps her.I really didn't feel much for their relationship, I guess I didn't get where it came from, and it was kind of sudden. I don't know if I could fall in love with someone who beat me and kidnapped me, but then again I read a lot of novels where I don't understand the lovers.
anyway, this book was really good. I would recommend it to anyone who loves dark romance.
cherrykult's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Sexual content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual assault
karenfausto8's review against another edition
4.0
Celeste Barstow siempre ha sido la que sigue las reglas, pero no es hasta que su novio la corta para que destape su verdadero ser.
Leodine Vetrov siempre ha vivido en la rutina. Roba a chicas para hacer un bien de ellas, nunca le ha atraído ninguna desde un nivel emocional. No, hasta aquella "rubia" que lo desafía en todo momento.
Tuvo un buen comienzo pero se me hizo tedioso terminarlo, o más bien, ver en dónde quedaba todo.
Me confundía demasiado Leodine cuando tenía su máscara puesta todo el tiempo. El cambiar algunas veces la batuta a Celeste, y dársela a Leodine lo logró a su favor, a pesar de ser un libro muy corto.
Finalmente, su estructura no fue de lo más destacable.
Quería horcar al personaje masculino por ser tan cabeza hueca y orgulloso.
Una cosa, fue sembrar el miedo en toda la historia para hacerla más interesante en su nivel.
Para ser corto, fue uno de los mejores libros de menos de 200 que atrapan desde el comienzo.
daisies8's review against another edition
4.0
Celeste Barstow siempre ha sido la que sigue las reglas, pero no es hasta que su novio la corta para que destape su verdadero ser.
Leodine Vetrov siempre ha vivido en la rutina. Roba a chicas para hacer un bien de ellas, nunca le ha atraído ninguna desde un nivel emocional. No, hasta aquella "rubia" que lo desafía en todo momento.
Tuvo un buen comienzo pero se me hizo tedioso terminarlo, o más bien, ver en dónde quedaba todo.
Me confundía demasiado Leodine cuando tenía su máscara puesta todo el tiempo. El cambiar algunas veces la batuta a Celeste, y dársela a Leodine lo logró a su favor, a pesar de ser un libro muy corto.
Finalmente, su estructura no fue de lo más destacable.
Quería horcar al personaje masculino por ser tan cabeza hueca y orgulloso.
Una cosa, fue sembrar el miedo en toda la historia para hacerla más interesante en su nivel.
Para ser corto, fue uno de los mejores libros de menos de 200 que atrapan desde el comienzo.
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