No one rips my heart out and sets it aflame quite like Natasha Knight, and Stolen is her most breath-taking fete of storytelling to date. Dark, bold, grippingly intense, and so very emotionally rich- this is a story not to be missed. Captivating from start to finish- dark romance at its finest! I could not put it down!
Ever since the Unholy Union duet, I was desperate for Dante’s story- to dig into the heart of the man And whose identity was shattered by a lie, whose sacrifices forever changed his body and mind. The man on a quest to find the girl he thought was dead, the man whose sister died in her stead. And Natasha Knight delivers. Not only does she give us yet another dark, heart pounding, suspenseful masterpiece, but she also give us a story that stands apart from the Unholy duet- a story that has the dark grit and danger and consuming epic romance we adore about Natasha Knight, but a different trope, a different hero, and a different heroine.
Because Dante is truly a hero. And instead of his brother who snagged an enemy as captive and then fell for her, Dante is actually the rescuer- he’s trying to right a kidnapping, to find a girl, now a woman, stolen years ago. Of course, Dante still has those anti-hero traits- he does dark and twisted things, but here he’s leveraging his darkness for an altruistic purpose- to free an innocent. Little did he know, she’s a grown woman now, and that innocent woman he wants to more than protect. But Dante has his own baggage, and he’s not sure he’s worthy. Not to mention, he questions Mara’s emotional state- is loving her, even if she wants to take advantage of the little girl who has never been able to live? Is keeping her for himself just stealing her yet again? And what a delicious, and devastatingly complicated concept- and a fresh take from a Natasha Knight leading man. Dante is so SWOOONY- protective, possessive, caring and gentle, sensitive yet powerful. His love for Mara took my breath away.
The power, and the darkness, of this story is less in what is said, and actually what isn’t. Natasha brilliantly connects with us Mara after her years of trauma, and the atrocities of her kidnapping and abuse happen not only off page, but for the most part aren’t even spoken. And somehow, that makes us hurt even more for Mara- for all the unspoken crimes committed against her. Natasha lets our mind and hearts imagine it all- because there are no words to describe the tragedy. She’s broken, gentle, but so incredibly fierce. Despite the worst imaginable existence, she’s survived, and she somehow finds a voice and the power to fight for what she wants- the man with the eyepatch who ripped her out of the depths of hell.
We have a lot of action, tons of twists, more secrets and mysteries, and cameos from some of our favorite characters. The chemistry, the EMOTIONAL intimacy between these two though, is the real star. We have great, sensual heat, but it’s the way these two heal each other that brings their connection to life. We have ample build up- and though I wished we got to dwell in the ending a bit more, the conclusion is still so vindicating and satisfying. The broken man and the broken woman fight together to find a peace and wholeness they’ve never known. What a beautiful thing.
While this can be read as a standalone, I would highly recommend reading To Have and To Hold Duet first. Not only because it is awesome, but because Mara and Dante’s story really begins there. The background of their families, the pain they’ve both suffered, the jaw dropping moment when they BOTH make heroic sacrifices that cause them both more pain, and the way they both suffered and were upended by the lies and deceit, the betrayal of others. We don’t see those events in this story, though they are referenced- and you can’t fully capture the full breadth of their romance, or of their own character journeys, without starting there. That’s why this isn’t a duet - their story begins in the prior duet, so that it can end in Stolen. And what a beautiful, epic, darkly swoony ending it is- I adored this story.