I'm not completely sure how to review this book.
I guess I'm going to start by explaining I come from a dark romance place. I read the blurb as soon as it was revealed, and I was like, "I MUST POSSESS YOU, MY PRETTY."
(So, what I'm saying is, I'm Sebastian, I guess.)
I'm saying this as a disclaimer because my complaints are the exact opposite of literally every other complaint that currently exists in the reviews. I have that "did we read the same book?" feeling regarding some of those, but I'll get to that in a minute.
I want to lead with: THIS BOOK IS WONDERFUL.
And also: I WANTED TO THROW THIS BOOK ACROSS THE ROOM AND SHATTER MY KINDLE AGAINST THE WALL.
But it's okay. I'm just madly in love with Sebastian. If you take nothing else away from this review, or any review, or life, it should be that Sebastian is wonderful and amazing, and you should read this book so you can meet him. (After reading the blurb and title, I went in fully prepared for a villain. In fact, Sebastian was a little Villain Lite for me, so... Contemporary romance readers who hate dark things may feel differently, but Sebastian is actually quite nice for a bad guy, and this book really isn't dark. It's edgy contemporary, maybe. Not dark.)
Okay, so, have you seen Dexter? Sebastian is a psychopath with an awesome father who helped him learn how to get his human on. Reminded me of Dexter in that sense (the show, not the books). Sebastian is a CEO, a psychopath, and a total dreamboat. His sense of humor is wonderful. Being inside his head is great. Sexy sex scenes. Orgasm machine. Sure, he's a little unfeeling about some things, but again, the man is a diagnosed psychopath. Anything else would've been unrealistic. And he isn't unfeeling at all in regards to the heroine. Or, really, anything else once he develops the feels for her. She unlocks the love level for him, and so, sure, he wants to keep her around. A little kidnapping and captivity never hurt anyone, right?
Well.
I guess that's not accurate, but I don't care. Give Sebastian what he wants!
So, I loved Sebastian. He's so well-done. I was won over immediately. Their first scene together and I was a goner. I was schoolgirl-giddy every time he showed up and she was nice to him. I was so excited.
Now, the heroine is actually my issue with this book, and for completely the opposite reason I've seen. Among the not-feeling-its, I've seen several people say she accepted him and her captivity too soon. And to that I say: how??? Seriously, how? This literally made me feel like I got a copy of the wrong book. I don't want to give spoilers, so I'm not going to say at what percentage of the book she was still resisting Sebastian, but suffice it to say, it was late in the game. Late. She tried to escape 300,000 times. She was plotting and resisting and... my mind is literally blown, given the percentage of her last awful, traumatizing (to me, my poor heart) escape attempt, that anyone could possibly say that. So, if you're debating reading this and you're like "Eh, I hate kind-hearted heroines who accept their captivity too quickly," HAVE NO FEAR, YOU CAN READ THIS BOOK.
I wanted to murder Camille by the end. I loved her for 70% of the book, and then between 70 and 76, she lost me. So that's my issue. BECAUSE she resisted for so long (and did something I hated so much) that I gave up on her. I started feeling like she was mean. I would be able to understand, probably, her holding onto the flimsy "I can't betray myself" card until the bitter end if he actually mistreated her, but aside from one little whiff of chloroform (and a paltry kidnapping), he did not. He was never mean to her, he never physically hurt her in any way, he gave her everything he could feasibly think of to make her happy... Yes, he made deals and blah blah blah, but when she started talking about his many sins against her, I kinda wanted to pop in the book and knee her in the face. At the start of the book, I thought she was going to be kinder--and it's not like she was vicious, but sometimes she did hurt him just because she knew she could, which made me wince (even though it was early enough that this was totally understandable; I just fell hard and fast for Sebastian, so I was very protective). And sometimes I just felt like she was made of stone to still be resisting so hard and being so unkind and everything when it was SO far into the game, and she was clearly into him (and with reason! Subtract the whole "he kidnapped her" thing and he's a sweet deal). The whole "I can't betray myself" argument isn't sufficient for me here, because caring for someone who treats you like treasured gold isn't a self-betrayal. And he was clear from the beginning that as soon as she "adjusted" she would essentially be free and normal again, he wasn't going to lock her up for the rest of her life. He just had to know she wasn't going to try to get him arrested or run away. You know, reasonable things! So, if she would've stopped resisting and trying to escape and would've played him a little, she would've been given the freedom she fought for so desperately, and still kept the dreamy orgasm-robot who loved her. Work smarter, not harder, Camille. Jeeze.
Anyway, loved the (smart) teacher heroine (until I wanted to murder her and dump her in a river), adored Sebastian, totally enjoyed most of this book... did not enjoy being stuck in Link's head. Ew. Go die, Link. At one point Camille's friend completely reversed her position on something that didn't make a lick of sense, but that was a little thing. Whatever. I just wanted to murder people by that point. Lol. Good times.
Anyway, recommended? Totally. Go meet Sebastian.
<i>**Voluntarily (that's an understatement, I was salivating for this book) read and reviewed this. Don't know the author. Have no investment in misleading anyone. Honest, unbiased review!**
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All the fun of a villain and all the swoon-factor of a contemporary hero. Sebastian can kidnap me anytime.
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2017Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2017
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M.Dipple
Loved it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2019Verified Purchase
Magwan911
Dark romance
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2017Verified Purchase
Jess L
Awesome hot psycho
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2021Verified Purchase
kirmf
strangest and most unrealistic book I've read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2018Verified Purchase
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5 stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 23, 2017Verified Purchase
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