Prisoner

this was top tier captor/captive romance so it's definitely not going to be everybody's taste, but man this story had my heart palpitations going through the roof. the amount of action in the first half alone almost gave me a heart attack. not to mention that these authors were able to make the guy taking the heroine's glasses off of her face one of the hottest scenes in this book, so make with that what you will. i think this story would be perfect for mindf*ck stans since the main plotline really reminded me of that series, albeit how much darker this one was without being too specific on the details. grayson and abby really got my whole heart, and i'm dying to read stone's book cause he's the kind of asshole i know i'll love. this doesn't get a full 5 stars because i think there were a lot of aspects of this book that needed more development or at least some answers needed to be given, which was frustrating and didn't allow me to fully connect with the characters, but yeah this shit was good.

★Book Basics★ Genre : - Dark Romance Series : - Book 1 in the series. Love triangle? - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] Cheating? - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] HEA? - (view spoiler)[err...yes, although it feels maybe more like a HFN for me. (hide spoiler)] Would I read more by this author/or in this series? - Yes Rating - 3 ★Review★ I have read "Dark" and like Dark romances, indeed Skye Warren's Wanderlust, I could consider darker than this, with more non con/dub con elements. And I did enjoy this book, but there was something, and I cannot put my finger on, that I did not like. It is not necessarily the non con/dub con of which there is some - (view spoiler)[ she is drugged the first time he has sex with her (hide spoiler)] although this sort of thing made it difficult to see why in just a matter of a few days later, she is all up for staying with him. But, the heroine is very young at 19 or so, yet seemingly dresses like a sex kitten librarian to teach at an all male prison! Ofc she does. The first half I enjoyed, it was tense and gritty and how Grayson enters the story is great. But then his character seems to change, not that I mind a character opening up and letting some of his vulnerability show, but it felt to much of a character change here. He turned into a bit of a whiny man child, seeming a lot younger than he did in the first half of the book. I think the issue I have is it needed to be longer, explore more in depth the connection the 2 main characters had, not have a 19 year old girl be all "ok you drugged me and slept with me but I may love you and want to stay with you". It made it seem a very much Stockholm syndrome situation and even at the end, I got the feeling when that girl comes to her senses she is off. But, because who ever said things are simple, I did find myself liking Grayson and feeling for him and his friends. (although when they got to that hotel I did almost expect them to be vampires for some reason! Abandoned hotel, a group of "brothers" holed up inside with a load of weapons!) His back story is tragic, and while that felt a bit unresolved for me, even if he does get some form of revenge, I assume if this series continues, that will be an ongoing theme. So, all in, it is 3 stars, I did find myself almost reluctantly rooting for Grayson and and Abigail, but it could have been so much more. Too much tell and not enough show, and a lot of drama chucked in, at the expense of exploring a difficult and tense relationship. Parts of it felt a bit clumsy and clunky. But, I would read more in the series.