Review: Enthralled by Giana Darling

 

ENTHRALLED (THE ENSLAVED DUET #1) 

BY GIANA DARLING 

Release Date: March 29, 2019

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW! Special Price $2.99!

FREE in KU!

AMAZON US: https://amzn.to/2HOnuq3

AMAZON UK: amzn.to/2TEI9i5

AMAZON CA: amzn.to/2uAK7G8

AMAZON AU: amzn.to/2I13eRI

     

Blurb: It was the biggest day of my life.

I know most people say that about something joyous; a graduation, a wedding ceremony, the birth of their

first child. My situation was a little different.

Sure, it was my eighteenth birthday, but it was also the day that I was sold.

Sold to a man with hair like a crown of gold and eyes blacker than the darkest pits of Hell.

He bought me to own me, to control me, and to use me as a means to an end.

I was his tool and his weapon.

And through it all, somehow, I also became his salvation.

I've heard nothing but amazing things about Giana Darling's work in the past, so after I read the blurb for Entralled, adding it to my tbr was a must. The fact that it's dark romance and has a gorgeous cover just enticed me further. Even so, I did my best to keep my anticipation in check. I didn't want to go into the book with overly inflated expectations, and I think I succeeded at that. All I expected from my reading experience was to enjoy it in some way and for the story to be twisted and depraved, and I was right on both counts!

On her 18th birthday, Cosima is sold by her father to pay off his debts. The man who purchases her intends to use her as his sex slave for the next 5 years. Cosima is hurt, appalled, and infuriated, but she agrees to go with her new owner willingly after her mother, brother, and sisters' lives are threatened. Contracts are signed, promises are made, and she is ripped away from her family immediately. 

Alexander is a wealthy man with many secrets. His upbringing was anything but conventional with his father belonging to a secret society of disgusting, rich, sadistic, morally bankrupt individuals that get off on the suffering of others. That world shaped him into the man he is and molded his sexual appetite. However, Alexander's motivations for purchasing Cosima are based on more than just sexual desire. 

Cosima is treated like a caged animal until she agrees to submit to Alexander's wishes. Little by little, she is given more freedom and better care, and over time, it's clear that Alexander owns more than just her body. In a sick world of cruelty, deception, violence, murder, and sexual deviance, can there be such a thing as a happily ever after?

Enthralled is a dark, bdsm romance filled with intrigue and suspense that ends on a cliffhanger. If you're not a fan of that type of ending, you may want to wait until the second book comes out before picking up this one. I have no such aversion, so it didn't bother me at all. If anything, it made me even more curious to see what happens next. 

Overall, this installment of the Enslaved duet was an enjoyable read that held my attention the whole way through. Having said that, I had a few issues with it. Most of them had to do with the reasoning behind things like the behavior of some of characters and certain plot points. All that aside, I'm still interested to see what the author has in store for these characters, and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future. 

If you like your dark romance with a side of BDSM, this might be the one for you! 

   

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39781062-enthralled

 

 

Excerpt: I was locked in the dark but it was more than an absence of light. It was the blackness of my own solitude, the quantum hole at the center of my soul that was slowly sucking away at everything that made me me.

I tried to write an encyclopedia of Cosima facts to cement my sense of self in the chaos of night that had become my life.

Cosima Ruth Lombardi.

Born August 2nd 1998 in Naploi, Italia to Caprice Maria Lombardi and Seamus Patrick Moore.

My favourite colour was wine red, captured in a glass and held over rich, warm candlelight.

I loved poppies best of all flowers because they reminded me of me in a way that was narcissistic but true. They were bold as blood, stark against the softer colours of the traditional Italian countryside. They demanded notice and received it. But their beauty was short-lived and fragile as the thin silk of their petals. They fell to bits within a week and scattered on the wind.

I felt very much like one of those black centered blooms, falling apart with every breath I took without even one witness to my dematerialization.

He wanted me like this.

Lost like decaying particles in a petri dish.

I didn’t have to hear his British accented voice clipping the words into neat little explanations to understand why.

He wanted me broken.

A beautiful, hollow shell to break open and f*ck into.

 

 

About the Author: Giana Darling is a Top 40 Amazon Best Selling Canadian romance writer who specializes in the taboo and angsty side of love and romance. She currently lives in beautiful British Columbia where she spends time riding on the back of her man's bike, baking pies, and reading snuggled up with her cat Persephone. She loves to hear from readers so please contact her at gianadarling[at]gmail.com if you have any questions or comments.

   

Connect with Giana: Website: https://gianadarling.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gianadarling/ FB Group: FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GianasDarlings/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GianaDarling Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gianadarlingauthor/ Bookbub: http://bit.ly/2lI2UNn Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2hpAHaX Amazon: http://amzn.to/2eGspdJ

Subscribe to Giana’s Newsletter: https://bit.ly/2Ejqln2