Seduced in the Dark (The Dark Duet, #2)

by CJ Roberts

[Ashley]

booknook — Young Adult book reviews

Holy shit. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. This is going to be the most incoherent stream of consciousness of a review, because this book tore my head apart. I'm feeling so many things right now. Pure bliss, from having read such an earth-shattering, incredible book. Sadness, that the story has come to an end. Hotness.. because.. well.. yeah. And satisfaction. Because this book is like being shoved inside a blender, ripped to shreds, your heart and soul and body parts all mish-mashed and confused and out of order, and then it's like the world stops. Silence. And your pieces slowly fit back together. Maybe there are a few pieces out of place, or pieces missing, or new pieces where there shouldn't be any, but it still feels right. Because this book fucks you over, robs you of all senses, and slowly makes you feel sane, whole, and with a completely different outlook. It's like you now possess a piece of knowledge that no one else has. Because people who have not read this book are just incapable of understanding what you now feel.

The first book, Captive in the Dark was amazing. But Seduced in the Dark is like a million times amplified. First of all, the writing itself is pure and utter GENIUS. Basically the story starts off 4 months after the first book ended—Livvie is safe and she's in the custody of the FBI. But as you read through the pages, "FBI custody" starts to sound more and more like "captured." Livvie begins to tell the new characters—Agent Reed and Dr. Sloan—her story. As she does, C.J. Roberts whizzes back into the past, and we read from the points of view of both Livvie and Caleb as the story was unfolding. We go back and forth between the time period right after the first book, to the present time with Livvie at the FBI, and then way in the past when Caleb was young. This incredibly genius way of telling the story will keep you completely hooked. In some sense, you see how it turns out from the very beginning. But you need to know how it turned out that way! What the bloody fuck happened??? And don't worry, there are a million and one EPIC surprises and twists waiting for you at the end!

Somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking of this book as a story about Stockholm's Syndrome, and started thinking of it as a story about love. It's a fucked up love, with a million degrees of wrong and no one could possibly understand it or see it without reading the book.. but once you do, it's there. It's there, and it's amazing, and delicious, and you want to hold onto it forever. There is no love like this in any other book I've read in my entire life.

There was one point when reading Seduced in the Dark where I was forced to put it down. When I was about 75% of the way through and could feel the climax approaching (haha..ahahah), my parents came home and brought along guests. What did they mean, I had to stop reading? I had to go socialize? I had to put my book down? Does not compute. I felt such rage, such despair. I wanted to go all dominatrix on their asses and whip them into submission with the spine of my book until they got on their knees and said, "Yes, Master." And then make them sit and watch me finish reading, just for good measure. Nobody tells me when to stop reading. Nobody tells me to put down this book. This fucking amazing, delicious, incredible book. DO NOT TEST ME!!@!@!JE@OQIJDWQ

I can still feel my heart pounding from the raw emotions that leaked off every single page. Part of me wonders if my heart will ever beat normally again. This book is just so twisted and real and hot... Holy fucking Jesus it is HOOOTTT!! And this is the most conflicting book I have ever read in my entire life. It will make you feel pleasure, despair, and guilt. I kept questioning my own feelings because I didn't know what the heck I was supposed to feel. I felt excitement, happiness, and joy because I saw that Livvie loved Caleb, and fuck, I loved him too. But then I thought, am I supposed to love him? Isn't he a monster? Isn't this...wrong? Who bloody cares. Because this book is all about WRONG. An outsider looking in could never possibly understand how Livvie feels attracted to Caleb and begins to love him with every fiber of her being. Only someone who lives each moment with her could possibly comprehend.

I just read the most mind-blowing book of my entire life, and it's like... I don't know what to do now. I want to scream it to the heavens and throw paperbacks from the rooftops, into eagerly waiting arms. Last month I read Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire and I thought I had read the most mind-blowing, best book of my life. I never thought another book would top that in 2012, and maybe not ever. But I think this one tops it. Seduced in the Dark is so incredible, so powerful, so raw, so gritty, so disgustingly disturbingly AMAZING AND HOOOTTT!! I don't think anything else comes close.