I didn't actually hate this but it was a waste of a good story line. The blurb promised a good amount of emotional tension plus kinky sex but delivered the narrative equivalent of a wet noodle.

The lady and the dude are reunited almost immediately, so there's no tension there. The dude whines about how he wants to spank his lady now, because...something and how you shouldn't want to spank the lady you love. The lady is like "gimme some peen, please" but the dude is like "no way, not unless you let me handcuff you". The lady is like, "sure no problem, that sounds like a lot of fun, actually", and the dude is like "hah, yeah right, I love you too much to give you the sexing we both want". Then the lady is like "whuh? that makes no sense" and the dude is like "I don't need to make sense, I thought you were dead for a whole year". There was zero inquiry about how the lady escaped her kidnappers and survived in the jungle for a whole year, but there was some vague stuff about a sex trafficking ring, and then another kidnapping, and then the dude poses as a gross sex-buyer to get his lady back and has sex with her in front of the sex traffickers. And all of that could have made this an interesting story but all of the emotional details were glossed over in favor of some really intense navel-gazing. I won't be bothering with the rest of this series. ( )

A year after the Army declared Sage dead, Garrett still hasn’t moved on. He’s doing his job, still tough as nails but can’t stop mourning the love of his life. Sage has spent a year avoiding kidnappers only to be captured and prepped for sale as a sex slave. Garrett and his team have no idea who they’re being sent in to rescue and he cannot believe it’s Sage and she’s alive.

What ensues is a very realist period of readjustment. Garrett fears asserting his dominate side because of what Sage was put through. Sage must find herself and fit back into her old life.

Their external strife isn’t over though and Sage is again nabbed by the same human traffickers. The action is tense, the love is deep and the sex is hot! This book is more than a romance, more than kink and more than a thriller, making it a great read!

Payne has again written a book any reader will enjoy!

Rating: 4

Heat Rating: HOT: Detailed Sex Scenes

Reviewed by: ReadWarrior

Courtesy of MY BOOK ADDICTION AND MORE ( )

I really wanted to like this book, I am sucker for angst ridden, emotional and deep going stories featuring wounded heroes and heroines. I was fully prepared for biting my nails to the quick, hurtful word fights, and gritty, possessive love scenes, what I didn't count on was, that I would have to discontinue and cede defeat after having struggled through half of the story.

The hero, Garrett Hawkins, turns to the darker side of pleasure, BDSM, (or at least tries to), after having learned of his fiancée's supposed death. Over a year after Sage Weston's demise, the couple is reunited again, after her liberation from white slave traffickers.

Up until the 50 % of the story I've read, Sage shows very little of what horrors she must have gone through during her year of imprisonment. She appears very strong, too strong in my opinion, with barely any weaknesses and traumatas. The very first night the couple is reunited, Garrett is overcome by his desire to sexually dominate Sage, but suddenly stops during the love play due to guilt and later on tries (without success) to play and satisfy his lust with a bought and paid for submissive.

I was barely able to continue after that part of the story, I just couldn't understand the motivation for that particular action. I get it that Garrett turned to BDSM, albeit not very successfully because he is still hung up on Sage, to deal with his loss. I understand that he wants to dominate Sage, to stake his claim and bind her to him forever. The attraction bewteen the couple is very clear, strong and highly believable. I just don't understand how he can turn to another woman in the very first night they are reunited. My mind draws a blank at that.

And Sage apparently is so NOT engaged in dealing with her past, that she has time to plot on how to get Garrett back. Again, I understand that Garrett is the center of her life, the oxygen that kept her going during her confinement. But somehow this part doesn't ring true, as she doesn't appear to me like a character who has gone through a really horrifying and life changing past.

Sorry, but this is a DNF for me! ( )

I started this because I was in the mood for something OTT and ridiculous. I stopped this because it made me want to go on a rant about rape culture (several, actually, and I only made it to the third chapter -- and it wasn't the bdsm stuff; that hadn't really started yet and, when done well, doesn't make me react this way).

I'm going to re-read an old Julie Garwood instead -- guaranteed to be OTT ridiculous, and not piss me off. ( )