#dark #reverseharem #romance
Adult/18+ read
Blurb
Laura Winters is yesterday’s soap queen and aspiring to more sophisticated credit in the indie film world.
On route to a horror movie set in Keswick, Laura is confronted with the greatest acting challenge she’s ever faced.
Someone was expecting her arrival.
Four handsome, eccentric brothers living off a dwindling heirloom mansion isolated from civilized society.
They claim to be her saviors.
They claim to be her biggest fans.
But they aren’t letting her step one foot out of bed.
In their captivity, she can be their perfect silver screen dream made real.
She can be a star.
My Review
Freedom through captivity? ~ 4 and a half stars
Where to start with this review? On the one hand this erotic captor/captive reverse harem is a dark and cautionary tale of abduction and obsession but it is also a story of liberation and second chances. It contains some seriously screwed up characters and scenes, not only in respect of the brothers but also the heroine, Laura, the extent of how damaged they are becoming more apparent the more I read. It also includes scenes of violence, dubious consent and eroticism as the brothers conspire to make Laura their own…
For me the obsessive nature of the brothers was reminiscent of Steven King’s Misery and the descriptions of the brothers’ home had echoes of the Bates’ motel in Psycho. I particularly enjoyed the picture the author painted of the isolated crumbling mansion and the claustrophobia of the room where Laura is held captive.
As the plot unravels so do the layers that make up Laura and she is compelled to face her demons and to question her past life and sense of self, whilst confronting her new reality as a captive of her biggest fans. Some of the scenes in the book are truly shocking, particularly the control the brothers, especially Ramon, exert over her, physically and sexually. Laura attempts to exert her own feminine wiles over her captors, drawing on her acting powers, however, the brothers are eccentric through and through and her efforts do not guarantee her success…
I will not say any more about the book, but suffice to say that it has elements of many genres, including horror, thriller, erotica and romance (albeit twisted) and I hugely enjoyed it. I found it to be an original and all consuming read on many different levels.
Reviewed by Tina Williams
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review