I hated this book. I don’t understand why it couldn’t just be consensual kink. Really? It has to be rape for it to be a turn on.
As an actual rape victim, I don’t appreciate all you raving sickos getting wet to my trauma. Get fucked.

Also, the actual “kink” in this book is like nothing. He spanks her and puts a leash on her. Whoop dee freaking do. That’s really the kinkiest stuff that happens.
Why have all the edgy kidnapping and rape shit, just to have some sad middle-aged-couple-trying-to-Jazz-up-their-tired-sex-life sex?

You couldn’t just put actual good kink in the book and make it consensual?

The Incel wiki has some interesting theories as to why the erotica genre is full of rape. If you need to be shamed out of this kink, I highly advise checking it out. ( )

As dark romances go, there's a lot to be said for this book. The premise works well, odd as it is, and the characters are written in such a way that they both come off as engaging and sympathetic (though, if you don't like dark romances, you probably won't agree with me on that one). The trick here, and what keeps it from being a really Great read, is that it's so beat-heavy, so focused on exact and specific scenes and moments, that everything else comes in a rush. So, for instance, plenty of time is spent on their first meeting and important interactions... but then we jump a few days, and both characters are at a different emotional point (which is believable, based on time and character and situation, but we didn't see them Get there). So, they go through another climactic/groundbreaking/emotional moment at this point in time... and then we skip some more time, to find them at a new emotional point... and so on and so forth.

In other words, we see all of the major moments/beats, but we don't see them getting from beat to beat. We can figure it out, sure, and it's believable... but it's also dangerously close to insta-love, and dangerously close to being Far Too predictable, and not really so much a cohesive novel with full storytelling as it is a collection of scenes (and, yes, they're important ones... but rarely are they scenes where we get to see/feel change, which is something of a problem).

If you let yourself get swept up in the moments that are there and in the characters, this is an enjoyable enough work--it just leaves something to be desired in terms of how much power or impact it can have, or even how much believability it offers (even within this genre) because of the jumpy style. I haven't decided yet whether I'd go back to the author for another book or not... what was Here was good; it just didn't feel so complete, and especially the ending felt incredibly rushed.

So, I suppose we'll see? For now, this goes in the stack of books that I'm not sorry to have read, but which won't really be memorable enough to take me back to the author for more or recommend it on. ( )