Brighton Walsh

"Madison Frost is desperate to escape her life. The daughter of a prominent business man, she has everything she could ask for. Except a father who's present in her life, a mother who doesn't spend her days drinking herself into oblivion, and anyone to talk to outside the four walls of the prison she calls a home. Madison dreams of someday leaving her life behind. She just never thought being kidnapped is how it would happen. Now she's being held captive by a man who's as frightening as he is sinfully gorgeous. Enormous, muscular, and filled with secrets, the man they call Ghost is an enigmatic mercenary as dangerous as he is compelling, and Madison is trapped with him. She doesn't know who hired him or why, but the more time she spends with him, the more she realizes he's not what he seems. Beneath his rough exterior lies an unexpected gentleness, and a heart as broken and battered as her own. But as Madison lets her walls down for the first time in her life, Ghost holds tight to his, hiding secrets that could rock her very foundation"--

Captive

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This isn't the first time I've read a book with a similar setup, but this is one of the best of the bunch. Everything about Captive, ahem, captivated me. 

The characters are what made this book so special for me. I related to Madison immediately. No, I didn't grow up a rich girl in a dysfunctional family, but it didn't matter. Her self-esteem issues and need to put others in front of her own well-being are things I understand well. Ghost/Gage was incredible in his own right. He might have been tough on the outside, but he was caring, protective and sweet underneath. I adored them at the beginning, but felt so much more for them at the end. Their character growth was wonderful.

As fantastic as Madison and Ghost/Gage were on their own, together they were that much better. I loved how, despite their unconventional situation, they bonded with each other easily. The more they got to know each other and realized they weren't quite as dissimilar as they might have thought. While from different sides of the track, so to speak, they both knew what it was like to be abandoned by their parents. The situations were different, of course, but the outcome still the same. Watching them open up to each other and truly begin to trust and care for each other was one of my favorite things about this book. And, most of all, I loved how their time together shaped each of their futures.

I might not have cried during this book, but that doesn't mean there weren't plenty of feels. The sexual tension and eventually romance was swoony and sexy. (And, my word, their encounters were HOT.) I enjoyed the added suspense and unexpected twists and turns that kept me on my toes. I definitely finished this book with a big, goofy grin on my face. 

I'm just gonna go ahead and add Brighton Walsh to my "can do no wrong" author list. I fell head over heels for her characters and storytelling in her Caged in Winter series and the same happened here with Madison and Ghost/Gage. While I'm anxiously awaiting her future books, I'll be working her backlist into my reading schedule. She's absolutely one of my go-to authors now. If you're not reading her, you're missing out.

Is it time for Riley's book, Exposed, yet? 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

4.5 stars!

Wow. *shakes head* I’m still reeling from this book, so it’s a little hard for me to put my thoughts into words.

I had heard of Brighton Walsh, but had never read one of her books. When I first heard of this book, it felt a little nervous. When I was young, I had this irrational fear of being kidnapped. I was terrified of it. I’m not really sure why, since I never knew anyone that was. I guess it was the whole Stranger Danger stuff they pushed on us so forcefully in school. Either way, I’ve always been a bit hesitant reading about the topic. On top of that, I was worried about a Stockholm Syndrome type of feel. Since I chose not to fully read the synopsis and just go into this story based solely on others’ recommendations, I was honestly a bit hesitant, but excited at the same time. And what a WIN this book was!

Captive starts off pretty intense, and right from the first chapter my eyes were as big as saucers and I was flipping those pages so fast. I even had to tweet Nick and Danielle all of my “OMG!”s and “GEEZ”s and “WHOA!”s! Yeah, I was quickly impressed and knew this was a book I was going to love. First we meet Madison, who’s our stereotypical naive rich girl, living the life. She’s got money and brains. Yet her home life is anything but perfect. With a father who is rarely around and a mother who spends her time either working or passed out from drugs and alcohol, Madison is left feeling alone and unloved. The last thing she expects is to be kidnapped and held hostage at an undisclosed place for an undisclosed period of time. *cringe*

My most favorite this about Captive was that we didn’t only get Madison’s point of view… we also were able to get into the mind of the captor, Ghost. (Creepy, right?!) This was such a fantastic addition. And let me tell you, Ghost will surprise you. I thought there was no reason I would ever like this guy… but trust me, he’ll weasel his way into your little heart. All of a sudden… BAM! You love him.

I guess some would say this is your typical NA book with broken characters, etc. But honestly, that’s why I love NA so much. So for me, this book was pretty close to perfect. It reminded me quite a bit of the Burying Water series by K.A. Tucker. It had that same level of intensity and pain of the characters, but also included the steamy, hot encounters we all love so much. Brighton Walsh really impressed me with her writing and story line. I’ll DEFINITELY be reading more by her.

This book completely blew my mind. I didn’t expect to read it in the first place, and once I started it, I had no idea I was going to be as invested in it as I was. This is one of those “gems” that gets overlooked, for whatever reason. For the life of me, I have NO IDEA why more people aren’t reading this book. I, myself, didn’t know anything about it until I read Nick’s review. And from that point forward, I wanted to read it. So when I was emailed about the blog tour, my immediate response was YES! I will now make it my goal this month to get the word out about Captive. This book MUST BE READ!! And, oh my, then I find out there’s a book 2! Though we all know I DO NOT like series, my one and only exception is companion novels. And guess what… Exposed is a companion!! I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands on Exposed asap. So I’ll end it with this… READ THIS BOOK! Thank you. *cheesy grin*

(Thanks to St. Martins Press for the review copy!)

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Captive

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