"An Okay Story"
From the reviews I was expecting a pretty hot story. I was a little disappointed, it was like the writer was new to writing sex scenes. There were moments that made me tingle in all the right places, but I was hoping for more richly fleshed out, descriptive writing. As it was, it was hard to visualize the scenes. I had to rewind a lot ( and not just the sex scenes ) to envision what the writer was trying to convey. The plot itself was interesting; master and slave finding their feelings for each other. Book 1 is a vehicle that sets up the rest of the series. The reader was okay, but she didn't have a sultry voice...she was just okay. All-in-all an okay story. Better series: Kushiel's Legacy and Meredth Gentry.
"Good, Raunchy Fun"
I'm almost embarrassed to admit I enjoyed these books, but fantasy is fantasy, and if it works, it works. Not for the faint of heart or anyone wanting a sweet, gentle love story. I'd probably listen to certain scenes again, but not the entire book.
LOL! I'm ashamed to admit it. I did like the hero's background, and how really wicked he was, wanting to lick the heroine's tears.
Emily Durante is always good.
Don't trust gorgeous heroes.
It's not a great book, but it's sort of fun kink and better written (and much better narrated) than 50 Shades of Gray. There's all the naughty stuff -- bondage, toys, anal sex, spanking - but it doesn't pretend to be anything else, and the characters have justifiable (almost) motivation.
"Unexpectingly Captivating"
This book ranks up there with Fifty Shades and the Crossfire series, only with a lot more twist and turns.
Caleb, there are so many layers to his character. You love and hate him at the same time.
Claeb, the voice she gave Caleb was very authentic.
Yes, I was up all night listening.
I would like to see the Epilogue as an audiobook
"Absolutely terrified!"
Captive in the Dark is a truly disturbing story and so the book isn't one you love but just like the proverbial train wreck, you just have to keep reading.
I was so pleased that Livy fought for her freedom - even though it didn't work out for her - at least she tried.
Emily Durante's narration gave Livy's character an intensity that was necessary to convey the desperation, elation, frustration and terror that was Livy's life.
There is no way I could listen to this book in one sitting - it was way too intense.
Be warned that this is not a feel good romance - but if you are able to separate yourself from the story it is an excellent read.
"Excellent"
Loved this book even though content is very dark unlike anything I have ever read before. This story pulls you and I found myself very engrossed in it.
"Captivating But Sick"
Nothing describes this book better than this quote by one of the main protagonists - Olivia. I went to listen to this story with open mind and without prejudices. Captive in the Dark evoked so many powerful emotions in me, mainly anger, hatred, pitty and disgust. But even though I found behaviour of main characters and things that were happening sick and twisted, I just had to keep reading. Writing was superb, captivating and perfect. Unfortunatelly I could not give it more than 3 stars since I had no connection with characters and I really did not like Caleb at all. And once I am not able to connect with characters, I cannot fully enjoy the book. Moreover, Olivia went through pure hell in this story so how could I enjoy that?
"Distroying lives was something he was good at."
I admire author for her attempt to create something original and different but quote above is just one of the characteristics of main male lead of this story. How can someone so twisted be a "hero" of the book? He was nothing more than sick and cruel individual in my eyes. I read couple of dark stories before. But main characters in them were usually forced to do twisted and sadistic things or they had no other choice. They never did it willingly or they never found pleasure in it the way Caleb did in this book. I understood his reasons for revenge, but in this case it was impossible to have some compassion for a person who condemns innocent people to terrible life he had once experienced himself. So by the time he showed some signs of human thinking, I just did not care.
This was not a romance story. This was story about humiliation, broken individuals, sick minds and unimaginable cruelty. Also, this book was like a drug. I knew nothing good was waiting for me at the end but I just could not stop reading and I definitely do not regret reading it.
I really feel the narrator did not suit the story her attempt at male voices was poor at best.
"Not worth the credit. Be sure to read the reviews."
I saw the high rating and thought sure, why not try it. I don't mind a raunchy book, but this one made me ill. Way too creepy. The whole story line was way too Boko Haram meets 50 Shades of Grey. These happen to be two things I dislike and to me the combination is distasteful. I was unable to finish the book.
"A referenshingly strong realistic captive"
I am surprised how much I liked this book, though I didn't like it consistently. At least twice I forwarded through parts. They weren't the rare sexual parts, and there was no pattern to my forwarding other than when the story just seemed to lag to me or unnecessary details seemed to be the focus. But that could just be me; I like to get to the crux of the matter too quickly at times. The way the author took her time was both a positive and a negative. The main positives are that the story had credibility and held together very well, with every detail attended to appropriately. So it was understandable, and there was not really a time that I thought "that wouldn't really happen" or "what?"
Olivia is a sr. in high school, and Caleb is an older man. I'm unsure how much older, but I think 5-7 years older than Olivia (aka Livvy). We are never told how Caleb found Livvy, but he did. And apparently it was when he was on a scouting job for someone like her. She seemed to fit the bill for Caleb's "employer," for whom Caleb found Livvy. There starts this good revenge story.
I really liked Livvy. She was not the common type of female in these forced BDSM books. Livvy is a fighter, didn't acquiesce easilyor quickly, though she was also needy in a way. But it made sense, since she is just 18 and pretty inexperienced in some ways & too experienced in others. So she had insecurities like most folk. I also liked that Livvy's ambivalence, contradictions and her awareness of them were a big part of the story. This made for greater realism and plausibility. It was my favorite part of the story and the big part that made Livvy different. The narrator was also good, and the story had good pacing. Livvy and Caleb being sexually active didn't occur soon or easily, and the progression of things between them was not fast or easy.
There was rarely explicit language, though "pu**y" was said at least twice, but not much more, if at all. And the sex was more sensual with a hint of eroticism. But they were few—about 2x—and not drawn out. And the BDSM was not the focus of the story continuously, so those acts were not too common. Still, some may see them as a bit too brutal. Some of the acts we were told about instead of shown. It's important to remember that it was used more as training.
The story leaves a bit of a cliffhanger, which may be problematic for some listeners. But it didn't seem forced. And I think the book would be too long to include everything at the storytelling pace this author has set and used well. For me, though liked the story, I didn’t rush out to get the next installment. So it didn't leave me feeling quite that anxious or interested. But I will get around to it. I'm still interested that much. 3.75 overall
"Dark and disturbing...yet captivating!"
This book is extremely dark and disturbing… but I loved every minute of it! I wonder what this says about me? The content of this book is genuinely disturbing and perverse, and many times I had to take a break to clear my head. There is abduction, brutal beatings, rape, murder, and it’s full of humiliating events in very realistic detail. All of this being said it really is a love story. CJ Roberts really pulls this one off. She makes you care for Caleb and want him to get Olivia in the end even after all of the horrible and dehumanizing scenarios he puts her though. For me this book gets five stars across the board.
It’s a very intense and dark listen but 100% worth my credit.
"just not my thing."
I liked how well the characters were written. They had depth .
The characters were well written. The story line was well paced and the characters had depth.
She did a good job using her voice inflection for each character witch gave them more depth.
This book was full of moments that effected me. Not especially comfortable ones. This is a disturbing story, for me it was difficult to listen to. Its very well written but the problem for me is that I know this is very real for many boys and girls,aprox. 35 every day from the U.S. alone. So there was a very disturbing gross feeling about this story
This was difficult on many so many levels. I don't have a problem with BDSM,sometimes its fun and hot,this isn't anything like that.This is a very twisted story line. This is such a hard book to rate because its well written but uncomfortable in the extreme so I could not feel I could punish the author because of my personal tastes. Be very careful though in regards to choosing this one.