Seduced In The Dark by CJ Roberts : Book Review

Synopsis: BOOK TWO OF THE DARK DUET
The exciting, titillating, and action-filled conclusion to Captive in the Dark.

What is the price of redemption?

Rescued from sexual slavery by a mysterious Pakistani officer, Caleb carries the weight of a debt that must be paid in blood.

The road has been long and fraught with uncertainty, but for Caleb and Livvie, it’s all coming to an end.

Can he surrender the woman he loves for the sake of vengeance?

Or will he make the ultimate sacrifice?

Quote:
It seemed to Caleb, the nature of human beings revolved around one empirical truth: we want what we cannot have. For Eve, it was the fruit of the forbidden tree. For Caleb, it was Livvie.

Publisher: Neurotica Books

Date Published: August 30,2012

Date Read: January 22, 2016

No. Of Pages: 505

Source: Ebook

REVIEW

This book has explicit contents and disturbing situations, proceed with caution. Never for the fainthearted. I repeat not for the fainthearted.

Before anything else you can check my review of the first book Captive in The Dark here. 

I think I am in the minority here, but hear me out.

I am the one seriously in need of therapy after reading the book. The feminist and even the mature side of me sometimes could not handle the atrocity and monstrosity of the events that transpired in this book. Can I say that the feminist side of me is revolting? I cringed, I was queasy (and mind you I’m not the queasy kind, I got no problem with those stuff, but this book brought out that side of me), I was uncomfortable, it was draining the life out of me. And more often than not I stop and do something else because things are just too much for me. I needed a breather so to speak. So it took me a while to finish this book, I put it off for a month and picked it up once more because I cannot stand the fact that it has been on my “currently-reading” for longer than necessary. I don’t want to make it a habit to DNF a book, but there are times I swear I was so close to doing just that.   This book is unnecessarily long. The story dragged on forever, and to be honest it has been exhausting to read. There are parts that the book can completely do away, I guess these parts were just thrown in just to complicate the book more, to make it more appealing I guess, but it did the contrary for me. If for anything, the length of this book turned me off, but I finished it yes, but it is not without rolling my eyes so hard or the occasional rant over twitter of how f*cked up things were, it was so hard to read. I feel like I am never the same person after I have read it.

I’m no stranger to erotic stories, I think I have read a fair share of it. Seduced in The Dark took twisted, dark, disturbing to a whole new level. To say I did not expect the extent of this book will be an understatement. It was over a year ago that I have read the first book Captive in The Dark, I remember liking it and fully understanding that it isn’t for everyone, myself included. But because I wanted to read as many books possible, whatever genre it may be I continued on with book 2, of course I had to know what happened to Livvie and Caleb. I forgot how intense things could be, there was my incessant mumbling of “oh boy!” or “good lord” “argh” among all other things I blurted out. My sister even said I should stop reading it because I am starting to be annoying to a fault. What 50 Shades of Grey? That thing paled in comparison to this, you think 50 shades was the top erotic book? You haven’t met this monster.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series Captive in The Dark it has some unique features to it, enough to keep me wanting to continue on, but after Seduced in The Dark I don’t know anymore, I have heard Epiloggue was really good, I’m still thinking if I’ll read it, maybe I would. I’m already here ,aren’t I, what more damage could it possibly make, right? But I would give myself some time to recover first. My mind was disturbed to the core, I felt like I was harassed, it feels like I joined a triathlon, I was just so exhausted.

The only redeeming quality of this book was the last 20 pages. If I latched on a little longer to the idea of the last 20 pages, I could have given it another star. But as I rationalize things, and thought about all what I’ve been through whilst reading it, I settled for two stars. Don’t get me wrong, it was really well-written, I loved how the author constructed sentences and metaphors, but I guess this book isn’t just for me. I found few loose ends, I feel like the issue with Rafiq and Vladek was not as grave and as complicated as I hoped it to be, or as the story required it to be, for such vendetta to transpire? I mean, I needed more of the twist, it fell short for me. There are also a lot of things left unexplained or left unresolved. I had so many questions and I was left hanging. And boy the picture painted by the author of the “abuse” being done to the women was enough to give me goosebumps. It was painful to read.

Now give me a hug, soothe me with sweet words, tell me it’s gonna be okay, because this book got me depressed big time.

Rating: 

“It seemed to Caleb, the nature of human being revolved around one empirical truth: we want what we cannot have. For Eve, it was the fruit of the forbidden tree. For Caleb, it was Livvie.”
― C.J. Roberts, Seduced in the Dark

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Captive in The Dark by CJ Roberts

Synopsis: Caleb is a man with a singular interest in revenge. Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but vengeance. For twelve years he has immersed himself in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one man he holds ultimately responsible. Finally, the architect of his suffering has emerged with a new identity, but not a new nature. If Caleb is to get close enough to strike, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was.

Eighteen-year-old Olivia Ruiz has just woken up in a strange place. Blindfolded and bound, there is only a calm male voice to welcome her. His name is Caleb, though he demands to be called Master. Olivia is young, beautiful, naïve and willful to a fault. She has a dark sensuality that cannot be hidden or denied, though she tries to accomplish both. Although she is frightened by the strong, sadistic, and arrogant man who holds her prisoner, what keeps Olivia awake in the dark is her unwelcome attraction to him.

WARNING: This book contains very disturbing situations, dubious consent, strong language, and graphic violence.

Date Published: July 20, 2011

Publisher: Self-published.

Series: The Dark Duet

No. of Pages: 267 pages

Date Read: June 2014

REVIEW:

Let me gather my thoughts first, I seem to have lost it somewhere in the book. I had to pause for a while to come back to my senses.

Okay. (Inhale, exhale)

That was a tough one! I don’t really know what exactly to feel. Should I feel enraged? Should I feel depressed? Should I feel happy?. It was all jacked up emotions plummeting inside me, and I kind of hate it and love it at the same time. This book cut me open letting me bleed with too much raw emotions I can barely handle. It feels like there is this heavy load placed in my chest that I just couldn’t get off me no matter how I want to. But one thing I am very certain of, this book is too heavy to bear. I had to catch my breath every single chapter, I gasped, my heart went into erratic beating, I was at the edge of my seat and at some parts I was speechless and dumbfounded. I was like Livvie who was too confused. And I swear, I have never felt such kind of roller coaster of emotions for the longest time. This book is anything but mediocre. This book CAPTIVATED me in a hundred different ways.

However I fully understand that this book is not easily for everyone, some may hate it with so much passion, some may love it like treasured jewel. On my part I am kind of in the middle, it was really a love-hate relationship. But what important was the book’s capability to suck you in, to engulf you into a wholly different world. I for one, felt really dirty the whole time I was reading it, but that was what made this book good, it can give you the weirdest of emotions yet you would still want to know what will happen in the end. And if I may add this book haunted me for days.
Now please, give me a happy book.

RATING: 

“Love. What the hell did that word even mean? It got tossed around so flippantly, by everyone.”