Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Caged Clarissa Wild - Kindle Unlimited First off, let me state that there should be a TRIGGER warning for this book. Since there is not, let me insert one here for you. Yes this is a dark book that tried to be a shade of gray to light, but it doesn’t until the end. There is nonconsensual sex in this book. I do not care that the h ends up liking it or whatever else, she was forced into it. I will get more into that in my review. BUT know that there that this happens more than once. I want to say that this book stayed with me for awhile, but I can’t say it’s for the right reasons. I really can’t see how it keeps getting high stars, other than the writer is promising and the concept was good. The more I thought about this book, the more I realized that I had a longer list of issues with the book than love of the book. ** I will state that this will contain some spoilers as I just don’t see a way to review it without any. (This will also include the trigger scenes mentioned earlier, which I will clearly mark in case someone wants to jump to that.) It starts off innocently but then the h is kidnapped and thrown in a cell. She’s a selective mute and can’t speak. Next to her is a very big man who just stares at her. We see her thoughts and they are predictable, which is not a bad thing. Moving forward we find there is a captor, the man in the next cell and then another blind female. The captor is completely delusional and does bring up the terror of human trafficking, as well as underground fighting. The man in the next cell ends up being the H (I know right?). The other girl in the cell, well I don’t know because for someone who’s being abused (both physically and sexually) she seems pretty accepting/not scared (dare I say chipper) of her fate. The POV is told from both the H and h, with most focus on the h. I won’t say much about the side characters, because besides the villain they really play no role in this book. The H in the first chapters has picked out the h. Literally. Points to a picture and says "kidnap her cuz I want her." So the captor does. You find out why later. But then doesn’t understand why she doesn’t want to be there. Why she’s not impressed with his fighting skills. Why she doesn’t want to have sex with him. Literally this is all he thinks about. You find out that he has been a prisoner for quite a while and there is a twist. The twist is important as it explains why he won’t try to escape. Going back to the h. She’s justifiably scared at the beginning, determined to get free. Somewhere along the line she starts to trust the man who stares at her. Why? My best guess Stockholm Syndrome. She knows that he picked her and put in that situation, but doesn’t seem to care. *spoiler* She starts talking to him, but the first time isn’t because she’s endeared to him. **TRIGGER** He wins a fight and she’s his reward. She’s still scared and is forced into a room with him. She’s a virgin and because of his stunted mentality, he literally thinks she will just fall on him and be thankful. Does she have a choice? No. She’s threatened. So she shows him oral sex. After she is punished for not giving it up. The second time is not much better. She’s drugged, degraded, strapped down and tells him there are “alternative” ways to go about sex. Does she have a choice? NO again, she’s threatened and guilted and then set up. END TRIGGER*** A normal person would be angry or violated. The h? She ends up cuddling with him and sleeping. I have a HUGE problem with this because what sexually abused victim snuggles with their rapist? Then telling the whole world she loves him and that she wanted to. Uh what? They fall in love over the series of days kept in the cage. But really that’s the author trying to make their relationship sweet. Some of it is, but would have been better if written in at a later time, not while in captivity building on nothing really. It snowballs from there. The author tries to make the relationship endearing, but I couldn’t see it. You find out the endgame for the sex and it does add to the story. **spoiler** when they get out the issues with this book really start. Her finding him again? Impossible. In the middle of some remote woods and he has no idea what’s going on around him, but makes it to somewhere close? Uh ok. Then there’s the paparazzi. Now you see them, now you don’t. They seem to be there when it adds to the story, then magically disappear when the H and h need space. Too inconsistent. The love story/ending? I can only shake my head. Then there’s his “career”. Plot hole. It’s mentioned and then basically gone. There are so many things mentioned in the book, one can only assume there will be a book 2. If there is, this reviewer will not be reading it. I was going to give this book 2 stars because the author has talent. The storyline and plot in this book would have made a better thriller than a romance novel. If it had been taken in a different direction or maybe developed over time that made sense, it would have been better. I’m taking a half star away for romanticizing the nonconsensual sex that happens between the two. If that’s your thing, then you won’t be bothered by it, but as for me I was. This book stayed with me for the wrong reasons. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.