Tag: Captive in the Dark

07

Escape from Paradise – Gwendolyn Field

Escape from ParadiseDanger! Disaster! Call the BBC! Escape from Paradise has resulted in – Shock! Horror! – diverging opinions. Yes, friends, Michael and I had hugely different reactions to this one and, believe me, that doesn’t happen very often. We’re talking wild extremes: for him, this was a 4/5 star read; for me, it was a DNF (Did Not Finish). Where, pray tell, did we part company?

MICHAEL’S TAKE

I guess it was sort of inevitable if we did this long enough.

A lot of people are comparing this to Captive in the Dark. I can see why. And I can certainly make the case for comparing them. A young woman is kidnapped. Mexico. International human trafficking. An anti-hero with a troubled past. But there comes a point when this has to sink or swim on its own merits. That is where Jane and I disagree. Continue reading →

15

My Life in Books (Part Two)

My Reading Life (Part Two)

On Monday, we covered the books that, for various reasons, had some sort of influence on the first two decades of my life. In this post, I’m going to be looking at titles that have managed to stick a literary stake in me post-twenty through to the present day. (For those who’re curious I’m thirty-five, so this particular batch spans a fifteen-year period.)

Again, a really mixed bag, although my penchant for grit and darkness is, I think, far more evident in this group. Surprisingly, there are a number of YA books in the line-up; not sure whether that’s because I’m completely ambivalent when it comes to ‘recommended age group’ ratings or a sign that I’m desperately trying to have a second childhood. I’ll let you decide. Continue reading →

18

Seduced in the Dark – C.J. Roberts

Title: Seduced in the Dark: The Dark Duet (Volume 2)
Author: C.J. Roberts
Publisher: Neurotica Books (30 August 2012)
ISBN: 978-0615680040

dark
adjective
1. with little or no light
2. (of a colour or object) not reflecting much light; approaching black in shade
3. (of a period or situation) characterised by great unhappiness or unpleasantness
4. hidden from knowledge; mysterious

noun
1. (the dark) the absence of light in a place
2. a dark colour or shade, especially in a painting

I have picked through the above definitions numerous times, trying to decide which one best reflects C.J, Roberts’ Seduced in the Dark, but it’s virtually impossible, because they all apply. It is a story with the barest glimmer of light visible at the end of a long, dark tunnel. A story with a plot that borders on pitch black. A story with characters and situations that twist your stomach. A story that, perversely, arouses you and mere seconds later makes you want to weep. A story of secrets. And, yes, I realise that the title refers to the noun form of the word ‘dark’ but the adjective is equally relevant, equally valid, when describing the fabric of this book. Similarly, I cannot help but pick apart the meaning of the title word ‘seduce’ and ponder its relationship to the story: ‘to attract someone to a belief or course of action that is inadvisable or foolhardy’. Because who is ultimately seduced in and by this murky tale? The characters, the reader, or both? Continue reading →

11

Captive in the Dark: The Dark Duet (Volume 1) – C.J. Roberts

Title: Captive in the Dark: The Dark Duet (Volume 1)
Author: C.J. Roberts
Publisher: C.J. Roberts (29 Aug 2011)
ISBN: 978-0615429502

I’m pretty bombproof when it comes to subject matter – there’s not a lot that can shock me – but if I’m going to tackle something harrowing, the balance has to be absolutely perfect: the writing has to be solid, the story clever, the characters worth the emotional investment. So having read the synopsis for this book on Amazon and come face-to-face with the pretty blunt warning about its content (‘This book contains very disturbing situations, dubious consent, strong language, and graphic violence’), I wondered how I would get on with Captive in the Dark and what I might be letting myself in for.

An amazing book, as it turned it. I am not exaggerating when I say C.J. Roberts – who wrote and published Captive in the Dark herself – had me in the palm of her hand from the prologue. Lately, it’s been a bit of a struggle to find BDSM erotica books that stand out from the crowd and have something truly unique about them (one power exchange plot can start to feel very much like another) but Captive had me absolutely glued. To the point that I couldn’t even put it down to do the dishes – and let me tell you, scrubbing a dirty pot one-handed is hard. I devoured the entire book in a day, that’s how good it was, and then immediately visited C.J. Roberts’s website to find out when Volume 2, Seduced in the Dark, was due. (As you’ve probably guessed from the title, Captive in the Dark is part of a series.) Continue reading →