Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for an unbiased review
TRIGGER WARNINGS – sexual torture, incest, BDSM, rape
‘”She’s late”
“She’s always late Sol, especially since our small transgression against her, quite pacing and relax.” The Earth Mother sat with her right leg crossed over her knee as she bounced her shiny white booted foot.’
Savannah…
Candy wanted to attend SCAD and become a sustainable artist. Then someone began hunting her and Candy found herself plummeting through a portal to heaven knew where. It sure wasn’t Savannah anymore
Widowed Cherry Ann sought wealthy husband number-three and a salacious sec life. What she found was far more dangerous than anticipated.
Todd just wanted his woman to appreciate him and quit effing other men. Neither was in her nature but when the time was right he kept one card to play.
Mark Kingsley needed to find his lost ‘possession’. Not a forgiving or patient man he’d stop at nothing to her it back. Absolutely nothing.
Another Otherwordly Domain…
Thorne wanted to spend the day hunting but when he came upon a woman foreign to his realm her eyes captured him. She became the only woman he ever loved.
Candy and Thorne…
It should have been a love story complete with the Happily Ever After ending. As fate would have it, the bored gods and goddesses has other plans for these human pawns hosted from two different domains.
What I thought
I really struggled with this book, and not because of the plot – I like the plot – the idea of people from two different worlds, one of magic and one of science, being put together by the ‘gods’ is an interesting one.
But about halfway through I found it stopped being what I thought it was and became erotic fiction – which in and of itself is fine. I don’t have an issue with it, even if it’s not something that I would normally seek out, but I wasn’t expecting it. And it grew very quickly from there to including graphic descriptions of sexual torture, incest and BDSM. It’s not the inclusion of BDSM and dom/sub stuff that I found uncomfortable it was the way it was treated, there was no inclusion of safe words, or hard or soft limits. Everything that was being done to Cherry Ann was being done without discussion first and more importantly without her agreement or the possibility or her saying no. I understand that it’s to show just how vile and warped Mark is but without those things it errs too close to rape for me – even if she is enjoying it.
I liked Candy but she didn’t particularly stand out for me as a character, she was just of there – and I know that i should be on her side as the main protagonist but I found I liked her lodger/friend – Liam a lot more. He felt a lot more real and you could see how he has passionate about designing and bringing old homes back to their former glory. Candy was clearly passionate about her art but it felt a bit forced at times
I thought the multiple POVs worked really well as they gave an insight into every character and the one’s from Mark’s POV did their job in making me shiver with fear, this is not a nice man. His seeming immortality combined with his lack of morality make for a person you never want to meet, let alone ever be alone with.
Also there were chapters from the POV of the cat, which is something I’ve very rarely seen. They were done brilliantly, perfectly full of scorn for humanity and arrogance and smugness. She allows the humans to do things for her and to be over protective but only because doing otherwise would take up too much energy and she can’t be bothered to do that.
I have real trouble separating the erotic fiction stuff from the rest of the book and as much as I enjoyed the actual story I made the decision to not read part 2. It was a difficult one as I’d been sent both for review, but I wasn’t looking forward to reading it and felt like I had to, like when I had to read books I didn’t want to for school. It was looming over me and I knew that if I did start it, it would take me ages to read and because I don’t like DNF-ing books it could force me into a reading slump.
The idea of two very different worlds colliding is a great one. But I found that part of the plot only appeared at the very end, which is a pity as that was the part that i was interesting. I want to see more about character from alternate worlds meeting, one with magic and one with technology and learning how to overcome various challenges these difference throw in their paths. I’m sure that this occurs in part 2 but I was definitely disappointed to not find it in this one. I understand that with lots of characters you need to properly explore them all and that can take a while but I felt a lot of it was padding.
Why I read it:
I was sent this book for free in return for an unbiased review. From the synopsis it looked like it would be something I would enjoy and I was excited when I received the email from the publisher.
Final Thought
Had it not been for the erotic parts I think I could have really enjoyed this book and raced through both parts but once that started it felt like the plot was surplus to requirements which is a real pity for me. The scene of graphic torture was really explicit and waaaay too much.
However, I would like to know what happens to the characters, so if anyone has read this one and the rest please let me know.
Would I recommended: I’m not sure I would recommend this book to many people – if any – it just wasn’t for me. The concept was great it just diverted into a genre that is not one I enjoy.
2019 Challenges:
PopSugar: Plant in the title/on the cover, two word title, multiple POVs
Hope 2019 is going well for you so far. I’m going to put a post up in a bit about what I plan to do with the blog this year but be assured I’m not going anywhere.
Rea
P.S The next book is American Panda by Gloria Choa
Rea's Reviews 