Sunday, March 9, 2014

A Whole Different Style Of Dark Captive

A few weeks ago I shared Cari Silverwood's Make Me Yours, Evermore, and Kitty Thomas's Comfort Food. While both were dark captive books, one leaned more towards twisted seductive fantasies, and the other psychological thriller, mind fuck.

Those books epitomize the two different styles of dark captive books I've read over the years. Recently CaroleDee over at www.bittenbyromance.com recommended I try out Bianca Sommerland's Deadly Captive book. This book lands into a completely different category that falls between twisted fantasy and psychological thriller. The land of shock value. It's kind of like the difference between the movies Fatal Attraction, Seven, and Saw. They're all intriguingly messed up, but in different ways.

Deadly Captive has a jumpy flow and I had a few meh moments in the first half of the book. I waffled on whether or not I wanted to share this book until I read the second in the series.

Why? Well, I rarely ever recommend something I rate 3-3.5 stars. I'm recommending it anyways. Even though I would give the first book in the series a 3.5 star rating, it was enough to make me want to read the next book in the series. Book 2 Collateral Damage, was a solid 4 star for me. The writing and plot, in the second book, flowed a lot more smoothly and made up for the things I felt the first book lacked.

      Amazon
      ARe


Deadly Captive by Bianca Sommerland

Lydia awakes as if for the first time. Chained down and blind, she doesn't know who she is, where she is, or how she got there. A man's whispered instructions are the only thing keeping her alive.  
She and her cellmate are being held captive. They are forced to perform in front of an audience, who have a taste for the extreme. Will they be able to keep each other alive and escape the hell they are living?


From the first page, no punches are pulled. I went from intrigued to knotted stomach, to aroused, back to knotted stomach. The things they are put through are rough and like I said before, the flow is a bit jumpy. There are things in the plot that I felt may have just been added for shock value and to keep things moving. It was around these points in this story I felt 'meh', but I kept going because I really wanted to know where Bianca Sommerland was going with it all. 

Lydia and Joe are really put through some shit. And the strange thing is, they don't always see it coming. Lydia is strong one minute, falling apart the next. Joe seems ageless and all knowing one minute, young and reckless the next. Then the second half of the story he seems much older but lacking reason. I really felt for them in the first half of the story, but often wondered where their common sense had gone. 

On the other side of that, they are being held by some twisted individuals. Joe and Lydia continually have to make choices under duress, so they aren't thinking clearly. Their captors enjoy batting them around and keeping them thrown off balance. They're inner strength and perseverance is amazing. 

I still have mixed feeling about Joe and Lydia. I love them, I feel bad for them, I want to smack them, I want to cheer for them. I still look forward to seeing more from them.

Also, the book turned out to be a vampire book. I was shocked. I guess my first clue should have been that it was a recommend from someone with a blog named Bitten By Romance.

<facepalm>




I'm a little embarrassed to say, I was quite a ways into the book before I figured it out. I'm not sure if the vampire thing is supposed to be a surprise or not. It felt like a fact we the reader were suppose to already know.

This was my first Bianca Sommerland, is she a vampire writer? There is a great warning label for this book on ARe. No where in the big old warning label was their a book contains vampirism. Nothing on her site or book descriptions says anything about vampires.

After I read the book, I read the book reviews. THEN I saw the 2 star review from the girl that was shitty pissed she got sucked into reading a vampire book. LOL

I imagine her reaction kind of went like this


I didn't mind it, nor hold it against the book. I thought it added to the story. Especially in Book 2 Collateral Damage. So, I can't speak for Bianca Sommerland's other series, but his one contains some vampires.

Now for the great warning via ARe...

Warning: This book contains material not suitable for readers under 18. (understatement) While there are aspects of BDSM, in several scenes, most are dubious/non consensual. This book contains situations that some may find disturbing, including torture and rape which is part of the story not meant for titillation. (trust me, it's not sexy and it is disturbing) This book contains violence, sex, and blood, among other things. Reader discretion is advised. 


      Amazon
      ARe

Collateral Damage by Bianca Sommerland

When Nicole is kidnapped things go from bad to worse. Her will to survive and escape stems from her need to free the child she is in charge of teaching. If she were only left to teaching and caring for him things would be easier. She's constantly tormented and tested.  
With her captors always one step a head, who can she trust, how will she survive, and save the child? 
Collateral Damage made up for all the issues I had with the first book. I still ran the gambit of emotions, but it didn't have the same chaotic edge. The flow felt organic, and all the characters had a more two dimensional feel to them. There was a consistency in this story I appreciated. 

You get a lot more connecting points from the characters in this story. Back stories of pain and survival let us the reader see who these characters were, and what shaped them. We also get a lot more from Cyrus, our villain, in this story. In Deadly Captives, he's very one dimensional. In book one he seemed more like the head gamemaker from Hunger Games. In this second book, he's front and center. He's not just a sadistic villain, he's smart and deadly in a way that shouldn't be underestimated. 

Although Nicole and Vince are put through a lot, they don't suffer even half as badly as Lydia and Joe in book one. Although there is much of the same rough stuff, that makes this book truly dark, it's not nearly as shocking as the things that happen in the first book. I believe I'd feel that way even if I read this book first. Vince knows Cyrus in a way Joe didn't, and he's also in Nicole's head from the get-go. They were able to get to a place of absolute trust more quickly because of this. 

I loved, loved Nicole and Vince. Really enjoyed their story. This book ties everything together, and gives us more insight into the captor's world we only got a glimpse of in Deadly Captive. I have lots of questions I hope get answered about first and second and third tier, and how everything like that works. I'm looking forward to more from all the characters and seeing where the story is taken.

The End, the last installment of this trilogy, is due in Early 2014. It's early 2014 now. I'm ready!! Bianca Sommerland hasn't updated her site, so I've got my fingers crossed she's in her writing chair putting the finishing touches on this bad boy. 

Okay, there isn't a warning for this book, which is silly. There should be. So, I'm going to do a made to order for this one. 

Warning: This book contains material not suitable for readers under 18.  This book contains situations that some may find disturbing, including rape, seriously rapey rape not meant for titillation. Also quite a bit of the dubious consent. BDSM, that is consensual but doesn't really start out that way. This book contains violence, sex, and blood, among other things. (the fact that there is an 'among other things' you should find disturbing) Reader discretion is advised. 



Thank You Bianca Sommerland!


For more from Bianca Sommerland please visit her @http://www.im-no-angel.com/


6 comments:

  1. You know....after I recommended it to you I went back and re-read them and kept thinking 'oh, god I totally didn't give her all the info' LOL.
    I remembered most of the 'shocking' stuff, but kind of forgot about the flaws. I guess when you watch a horror movie you don't remember the plot as much as the guy getting killed in some ridiculous way. ;)
    And after the re-read I agree that I liked Collateral Damage better.

    Oh, and you're waiting for book 3? I've been waiting for that sucker for 2 damn years! lol. I think when the first two books were published there wasn't much of a market for 'dark/horror erotica'; Now that the 'boom' is in full swing maybe Sommerland will get on it :)

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  2. Two years!! Boo, hiss. I didn't realize they had been out so long. Now I really have my fingers (and toes) crossed that she'll be finishing things up! Hopefully she sticks to her 'early 2014' deadline and we get to read that sucker soon!

    Dark/horror and psychological thrillers ARE booming right now. I hadn't realize just how much until you mentioned it. I just got a 12 pack of dark fantasy I'm making my way through. Lots of authors I hadn't read before. I'll let you know how they go. :)

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    1. Please let me know if you find anything good. I am in a reading slump at the moment :(
      I've re-read about 5 of my favorites to try to get out of it, but I want something new!

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    2. I know what you mean. My favorite book from last month, shockingly, was a plain old paranormal romance, Viking Wolf. I had just needed something different. I enjoyed the series. (but I read them in the order I thought they should be in)

      The Twelve Tales Of Dark Desires is turning out to be pretty good. The first story is Consequences by Aleatha Romnig. 573 pages, so it goes on for a while. Strait psychological thriller. No titillation. Had I just picked up the sample I wouldn't have read it. It didn't grab me from the beginning, but I enjoyed it. I was annoyed that it doesn't wrap up at 573 pages. It's the first of three. Then another three from the sociopaths POV, which I'm interested in reading.
      It's not an erotic, and the climactic twist I felt out of character of the female lead. Like it was just to move things in the direction they needed to go in, but overall a compelling read.

      The second book is Skye Warren's Wonder Lust, which I already knew I'd love. I'm on the third book in the 12 pack, Play With Me, by Eliza (someone) and I'm having trouble really getting into it. I don't think I'm in the mood for a strait up fantasy BDSM, starring a hard up horny heroine. It seems kinda upbeat for the heading "Tales Of Dark Desires". I'll let you know.

      You should check out the 12 pack on Amazon. Twelve Tales of Dark Desires. You may have already read most of the books, but if not, it may be worth it.

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    3. oop. I think I've read a bunch of those.
      If you haven't made it to Annabelle Joseph's Comfort Object, I suggest jumping to that one next :)
      Although, this time I'll warn I haven't read it in a while. LOL.
      BUT I have reread her historicals recently and I still love them, so I'm going to say go for it :) (Cait and the Devil is my favorite)

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    4. I've started the hopping. The Hostage Bargain is fantastic so far. Not really dark. At least not yet. I'm only a couple chapters in. Entertaining, hot, and humorous though.

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