Name: Captivated
Rating: 4.00 (2 reviews)

Veterinarian Autumn makes a sexual deal with her landlord in this Beauty and the Beast retelling…with bondage.

I have no memory of purchasing this book. It’s been sitting on my Kindle for ages, and I thought I’d give it a shot after reading Maas’ House of Earth and Blood. I needed an easy and quick read, and it delivered in spades.

This book explores a very particularly type of fetish – rape fantasy. It’s sexually explicit as well as perversely fascinating. It very quickly establishes the premise, exploring the ins and outs of a consensual and complicated relationship. Blake and Autumn experience conflicted emotions about their particular fetishes, but their romance flourishes as they communicate their desires to each other. Both of them grow from their relationship, making it a satisfying read with two dynamic characters.

I’ve not read many (any?) BDSM books before this one, but I felt it was handled with care and compassion. Someone that enjoys this genre (and/or the actual experience) will have a more informed opinion than mine. It seemed like a good book to try if you’re interested in exploring this type of romance.

tl;dr Complex characters mixed with a consensual exploration of a taboo fantasy made this book a quick and interesting read.

Kinky, but not too kinky...

I don't know Eve Dangerfield at all but from her quirky writing and newsletters, I pictured Autumn is Eve but with different hair colour. I just picture Eve as a little firecracker with a funny and dirty mouth, who wants to save sick animals. I don't know that for certain, but Autumn is little and Eve looks little from her profile pictures. Autumn is funny and Eve is an absolute crack up in her newsletters. Autumn swears and blabbers on about stuff, and if you've read Eve's newsletters, you know where I'm heading with this...in the nicest possible way.

I'm probably completely off the mark and hopelessly wrong but I feel like Eve wrote the humour and Tessa wrote the sexy times. Not that I'm saying Eve's not sexy and Tessa's not funny...in their writing style. I'm sure they're both really funny and really sexy. Geez, I'm just going to pull my foot out of my mouth (not literally as I'm typing not speaking but you get my drift). What I was trying to say far from elegantly, is that I could see Eve's quirkiness in Autumn. And, in true Tessa Bailey fashion, the sexy times left my heart pumping and I was EXTREMELY fidgety.

What made this sexy story amazing for me is that I could look at the role-playing and sexy times without feeling a hint of uncomfortableness. I didn't feel guilty for being turned on by their kinky play time and it didn't ever feel wrong or bordering on abuse. Trust was established before boundaries were crossed. I was impressed with the way the authors convinced me that they were both comfortable and enjoying their play. Sometimes you read books and it almost feels like one person gets off on the play more than the other. I also find some reads are so close to abuse, that it becomes far from sexy for me. It was bleeding obvious both Autumn and Blake enjoyed themselves.

I loved our Aussie heroine and her big and beastly hero. The storyline was interesting, SEXY and very funny. The authors have done a fabulous job of creating original and quirky characters. Both Autumn and Blake have vulnerabilities and they need to establish trust outside their sexy times to strengthen their relationship.

I found myself a wee bit frustrated that their communication took so long to develop. Autumn took too long to share with her family what was really going on in the big city. Blake needed to share with Autumn where he'd come from and what made him turn into the beastly hermit.

I thoroughly enjoyed this SEXY read and think Eve Dangerfield and Tessa Bailey have created SEXY, comedy magic.

Captivated

by Eve Dangerfield and Tessa Bailey

Captivated

by Eve Dangerfield and Tessa Bailey

Reviews

Leigha

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