-
REVIEW: Sinner’s Ransom by M.D. Gregory
Criminal Delights: Taken: Sinner’s Ransom – M.D. Gregory
Montgomery Booker has it all—good looks, an inheritance, and an endless list of hookups. He uses his social elite influence to bully, manipulate, and blackmail, and he’s not ashamed of it. Quite the contrary, he enjoys it. But when he’s kidnapped, forced into ropes and gagged, he discovers the consequences of his actions when no one cares enough to send help.
Stone and his crew have one job: kidnap a spoiled, pretty boy and hit up his rich daddy for cash. When dear old dad refuses to pay the ransom, Stone switches to plan B. The torture he delivers doesn’t have the effect he expects on Montgomery though, and Stone savors every cry that leaves his pretty mouth.
If someone finally comes for Montgomery, will he be able to walk away from the man who made him feel this kind of delicious pain? And will Stone let him?
Themes: Kidnapping, stockholm syndrome, breathplay, pain play.
Genre: Very dark gay romance, psychological fiction.This story is part of the CRIMINAL DELIGHTS series. Each book is a standalone story with the theme of dark, gay romance.
I expected this to be action-packed. I expected some BDSM or maybe blood. What I didn’t expect was this to be funny.
LOLing at Monty who could not shut his mouth even if his life literally depended on it. And he was asking for it, again literally, asking to be punched and choked and hurt and would happily suck anybody for a hot shower. Also him and Conall, Sloane’s boy, bonding and comparing notes on who’s more fucked up, the guy who wears a collar and acts like a pet or the guy who likes fucking his kidnapper. Guess who won.
I’m not even going to bother with the insta-attraction and the lack of build up because we’re talking about a spoiled rich brat who acts on impulse though Stone I would have expected to be tougher and more menacing. The guy was just too nice and lenient even if he says he’s not. His threats felt like they lack teeth and the “training” was too easy. Monty was hardly treated as a prisoner. He was locked in a stifling room. He was occasionally tied up but he was still more or less the bratty demanding brat who needed to be taught to behave. Heck, he even got his hair shampooed by Stone.
“Better?”
“Yeah.” Montgomery frowned at Stone. “Why are you being nice?”
“Aren’t I always nice?” Stone’s lips twisted into an amuse grin.
“No.” Montgomery grinned and laid his arms along the edge of the bath. He leaned closer until their lips were inches apart. “But I like it when you’re not nice too”
SInner’s Ransom was more of a kidnapping how-to than action suspense. A major part of the story is about Stone’s gang creating a ransom demand video for Monty’s father, a man who couldn’t care less about his son. The gang worked with Sloan Killough, a New York mob boss, and together they tried to make Monty a believable kidnap victim.
“The first scene will be Montgomery, struggling, crying. Everything a kidnapped man does, everything that your boy is currently not doing. He’s very comfortable for somebody who’s been kidnapped.”
He’s so comfortable he’s making suggestions! And making sure the gang gets the money!
Sloane and Conall nearly stole the show and Ardan, the assassin who appears on another Criminal Delights installment, I’m super excited to read his book.
I enjoyed this grey romance story. I liked the humor and met interesting characters. There are some elements that might not be that convincing but I still find the Stockholm Syndrome aspect believable even if it happened in a span of only a few days. And though Richard Booker would rather keep his money than save his son, Stone and his crew made sure the asshole got what he deserved. Monty got all the punishment he wanted and he finally learned how to say “please“.
P.S.
Other Criminal Delights books here
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Bellevue Bridge Club
Artist: Andrew Bird
Album: My Finest Work Yet -
REVIEW: Sweating Lies by Emma Jaye
Criminal Delights: Taken: Sweating Lies
“Gladiator or toy?” Kaspar asks, as if it’s the easiest choice in the world.
It might be an easy answer for someone branded, brainwashed, and who remembers no other life. But that’s not me, not yet anyway. I’m a cop—or at least I was until my cover got blown.
Now, I’m one of the trafficked people I vowed to save.
Kaspar’s a toy —a pleasure slave— content to warm our sadistic owner’s bed; he laps up the abuse he’s conditioned to associate with affection.
He’s my only way out. To gain our freedom, I must play the hardest undercover role of my career and be everything his fractured mind needs: a more controlling bastard than the man who turns people into grateful slaves for a living.
Officer Jiao Sweatt thinks I’m a victim.
He has a lot to learn.
And it’ll hurt.This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance.
Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.Hmm…I don’t know why this has such a high rating because quite frankly, I was bored.
But if dark is what you want, this is as dark as it can get. Human trafficking, brainwashing, slavery, cattle prods up the ass and that damn parrilla made me shudder. It was sickening so if you want your limits pushed, this is it.
However, the book lost me when it dumped a boatload of information on the workings of the orta, a secret criminal organization specializing in bespoke slaves. I needed the backgrounder but it was just too much info for one scene and the way it was delivered by Kaspar, I think it was unnatural that he would suddenly give a lecture on the orta’s business model just because a captive asked him.
I couldn’t care less about Jiao and Kaspar. I didn’t feel the chemistry. I liked the story better when Jiao was still undercover with Maksim’s gang and I was definitely more interested in Maksim and James. But after Jiao was tasered and handed over to the orta, it became boring despite all the disturbing implications. The pace was slow going. It took a while to get to anything interesting and I have no motivation to stick around and wait for things to perk up.
So Sweating Lies wasn’t working out like I wanted it to but definitely YMMV because many people liked it.
P.S.
review of other Criminal Delights books here
Rating:
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn bookSoundtrack: Happiness In Slavery
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album: Broken -
REVIEW: Wrong Way Home by K.A. Merikan
Crimnal Delights: Taken: Wrong Way Home – K.A. Merikan
— One wrong turn. One right man. —
Colin. Rule-follower. Future doctor. Witness to murder. Captive.
Taron. Survivalist. Mute. Murderer. Captor.Like every other weekend, Colin is on his way home from university, but he’s taunted by the notion that he never takes risks in life and always follows the beaten path. On impulse, he decides to take a different route. Just this one time. What he doesn’t realize is that it’s the last time he has a choice.
He ends up taking a detour into the darkest pit of horror, abducted by a silent, imposing man with a blood-stained axe. But what seems like his worst nightmare might just prove to be a path to the kind of freedom Colin never knew existed.
Taron has lived alone for years. His land, his rules. He’d given up on company long ago. After all, attachment is a liability. He deals with his problems on his own, but the night he needs to dispose of an enemy, he ends up with a witness to his crime.
The last thing Taron needs is a nuisance of a captive. Colin doesn’t deserve death for setting foot on Taron’s land, but keeping him isn’t optimal either. It’s only when he finds out the city boy is gay that an altogether different option arises. One that isn’t right, yet tempts him every time Colin’s pretty eyes glare at him from the cage.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
Themes: prepping, alternative lifestyles, disability, crime, loneliness, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, fish out of water, opposites attract, abduction, Stockholm syndrome, family issues
Genre: Dark, thriller M/M romance
Erotic content: Scorching hot, emotional, explicit scenes
Length: ~ 70,000 words (Standalone)This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and will contain a dark M/M romance.
Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.
This story contains scenes of explicit violence, offensive language, morally ambiguous characters.So the book comes with all these dire warning and promised to be dark but what we really get are bunnies, kittens and animal lovers who stand by their pets come hell or high water. Sure, somebody got an axe to the face and a few more were murdered, but they all deserved it. Like that guy who planned to burn an entire house full of cats. As Lucifer Morningstar would say, there’s a special place in hell for you, buddy.
The real star of the show were Missi and her kittens, who turned things around, kicked the story up a notch and made me warm up to the humans.
As for the humans, well, Colin was a bit none too bright for my liking. Like those horror movie characters, he made a wrong turn and was caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time. He was held inside a cage and his plan was to fuck his way out of captivity. Good luck with that. To his credit, Colin never gives up without a fight. He could be a brat but he really did care about the cats.
Lucky for Colin, his captor, Taron, was an attractive hulk of man who lives in the middle of the woods so putting his plan into action was no hardship. Taron is a prepper who had some enemies out to get his property. He is very territorial, self-sufficient and makes a mean rabbit bacon. He has a soft spot for strays and doesn’t want to go to jail, so quite understandably he couldn’t let go of Colin, who, aside from being a witness to murder, has appealing chestnut eyes, is conveniently gay and most precious of all, knows ASL. The book felt entirely like him. Gruff, intimidating, hard-edged, intense, wild and rough but also with a surprisingly caring side that could give you a case of warm fuzzies.
I wasn’t entirely convinced with Colin’s reasoning during his captivity but maybe that was the point. They weren’t supposed to be 100% rational for the rest of humanity (and who cares really). But Stockholm Syndrome or not, the attraction between Colin and Taron was real and the part where their relationship gradually transformed from captor to partner was believable and executed really well.
Overall, Wrong Way Home falls between like and love. It is written in the usual K.A. Merikan style where huge chunks of the story were devoted to sex scenes and skipping those parts makes things go faster without losing the thread. It took a while for me to feel entirely invested in the story but in the end, it won me over and now, I am entirely convinced Colin and Taron would make it work. Also, the cats were safe which is what really mattered.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: The Woods
Artist: Hollow Cove
Album: Wanderlust
