Regina Rose is a pop idol princess living in the lap of luxury. Up until now, the only pain she's ever felt has been the heartbreak of a teenage crush. She's never even been kissed. That is, until an obsessed fan gets his hands on her. Her "most devoted fan," who plans to do a lot more than kiss her. He's already made it clear he's never letting her go. *Reader Advisory: Descriptions of nonconsensual sex could be potentially triggering for some readers.
Jaid Black is the pseudonym of Tina Marie Engler—the founder/owner of the former Ellora's Cave Publishing. Engler has been featured in every major news outlet such as Forbes, Publisher's Weekly, Salon, and Time Magazine. Ms. Engler was officially recognized by Romantic Times Magazine with their first ever Trail Blazer award for being the mastermind of adult (erotic) romance as you know and love it today, as well as for the pivotal role she played in popularizing the e-book.
Writing as Jaid Black, her books have received numerous distinctions, including a nomination for the Henry Miller award for the best literary sex scene written in the English language. Most of her novels and novellas are a hybrid of sci-fi and adult romance. She is a proud member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA.)
The concept of this novella is very similar to Bianca Sommerland's The Trip: extremely short but kinky hot with an unexpected twist in the epilogue. But I honestly think that it could have been better if it was longer and had a different ending. I could have given this a higher rating. My excitement went from top to bottom in 2 seconds flat the moment I read the epilogue, which obviously ruined the book for me. It was just... weird. Kind of grossed me out, to say the least. That said, it was still an okay read. Just be warned for the ending because it may either blow your mind or frustrate the hell out of you.
Jaid Black has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Her work isn't necessarily good, but it's entertaining and, let's face it, raunchy as hell. While the description of this novella lent me pause and forced some regrettable comparisons to another kidnap/rape book I previously reviewed, I trusted Ms. Black to deliver in her normal style.
As the title suggests, some allowances should be acknowledged. The heroine is kidnapped, stripped, splayed, and raped by two men…only it’s not rape when she gets “into it.” Beyond the palpable discomfort of the situation and the sensation of “I shouldn’t be enjoying this” is sloppy writing and lines pretty much every leading man in a Jaid Black story has employed again and again. It’s such to the point that I have to wonder if Ms. Black is merely writing fan-fiction variations of her own work. But I digress…
The ending was what really threw me out of this one. You have a premise that, while discomfiting, is what you expected when you purchase the book. To find out the entire scenario was a role-play between a married couple is lazy writing. While I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the rape scenario, I at least knew what to expect. She lost me, and given that I typically read her with a grain of salt, that’s saying something.
Swing and a miss. Even if Ms. Black is a guilty pleasure author, she really aimed low with this one. I’d take it out of your checkout cart and find something else.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I don't know what I was expecting from this book but it wasn't what I got.
I knew going into this book that it was a short story (which was what I wanted), I knew it had darker themes/non-consensual sex (I was prepared) but what I wasn't prepared for was the ENTIRE story focusing on an abducted late-teenager and her rape for sexual titillation. It was disturbing and the only reason I read the whole thing (not that it takes long to do so) was I wanted to find out where the author was going with it because SURELY that would not be the entire story? Turns out (if you read to the end) that there IS more to the story but to me it was a pathetic plot twist to justify a story that is basically a rape fantasy.
So, I can't recommend this book to anyone, at all.
Okay. Regina had a crush on Adam as a teenager. Regina becomes a pop singing star. Adam and his brother John kidnap her and tie her up.
DATA: Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: four plus. Setting: present day rural America. Copyright: 2003. Genre: erotic contemporary romance.
This short story is also published in the anthology Notorious.
Okay... This was... ugh. The short book opened with the FMC (a famous pop star) being already tied up and her discovering that her kidnapper was someone she had a crush on in high school and his brother. We watched her ex-crush raped her while his brother had his dick in her mouth or something, and her struggling against them.
All of a sudden, the mood shifted and the next chapter was the guy coming back in and the FMC begging for him to fuck her again. He did and took her in the ass too. Then the epilogue came in, showing us that the whole thing was a fantasy the FMC and MMC had. They were a married couple and the supposed brother was a hired escort. It was so stupid... I wished the book didn't just cop out like that and continued with the original storyline.
It's a short story but it doesn't mean it had to be bad and filled with holes. The writing wasn't even good... it was cliched.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.