Enslaved by the Ocean

Criminals of the Ocean, Book 1

By: Bella Jewel

Narrated by: Carmen Rose

Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Indigo has a troubled past and there’s no denying it. Tired of being scared, she sets sail aboard a private yacht, hopeful that the open waters of the Atlantic will give her and best friend Eric a much-needed respite.

As if trouble followed her, the yacht catches fire. Stranded in the ocean, cold, hungry, desperate, and alone, Eric and Indi struggle to survive.

Just when they think things couldn’t get much worse, they are captured, held hostage by a band of modern-day pirates. Now they’re in even more trouble than they could have ever imagined.

What Indigo couldn’t have predicted is how broodingly handsome Hendrix, their captain, is. The moment Indi lays eyes on him, she feels sparks fly. But Hendrix is determined, powerful, and hard to crack.

Hendrix has plans for Indi, dark plans that will put her life at risk. If only Indi could connect with him, it might be more than just lust on the line… it might save her life.

©2013 Bella Jewel (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

YUMMY PIRATES!!!!

Any additional comments?

This is the first book I have read from Bella Jewel and it was AMAZING!!! At first I was skeptical about the whole modern day pirate thing but I was in the mood for something different, something I have never read before. Enslaved by the Ocean was that perfect something........... Not only did the story catch and hold my attention from the very beginning, I hated to see it come to an end. If you are in the mood for sexy pirates definitely check this out and I highly recommend the audiobook. This was also the first book I have listened to that was narrated by Carmen Rose and boy did she do an excellent job bringing the characters to life. Overall, a wonderful story!!!!

Drawn out, but enjoyable.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

It would be shorter. Sometimes I think in the unabridged versions.... the plots get lost. Hendrix and Indigo are perfect together and I did enjoy their love story.

If you’ve listened to books by Bella Jewel before, how does this one compare?

This is my third and I think I enjoyed it better than her Hitman series.

Have you listened to any of Carmen Rose’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first experience with Carmen's performance and I enjoyed it. Those of you who have read my comments in the past know I am death on poor performances and narrators.

Do you think Enslaved by the Ocean needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I think it was appropriate to follow up with the story about Dimitri. I do like books that can tie in with other stories. Since I have not read book 2 yet I cannot comment if it was worthwhile or not.

Any additional comments?

This book is worth a credit or sale. It is not a fantastic 5 star read, but one that is enjoyable if you have nothing better to listen to.

oh how yummy!

This was so amazing! so different. The pirates were so bad. But oh so good. Second have was a lot of hot sex. I really got attached to the characters. they were written so well. While it's a 5 star read, I would recommend the audiobook because the narrator is to die for. she can do any accent and has a heavy one. I had to look and make sure there wasn't 2 because she does so good with male voices I thought for sure it was a man. it happens to be a book you can listen to and read with kindle unlimited. I was so happy!

Loved the book, not the narrator

What did you love best about Enslaved by the Ocean?

I think the narrator ruined Hendrix's speaking. I read the book a while ago, then just recently listened to it, and I did not like what she did with voices. The only speaking I liked was Indigo's. Everyone else was kinda ruined.

3.5 STARS IT'S A GOOD LISTEN BUT IT'S NOT GREAT

Indigo should never say "well things could be worse".... because her life goes from one problem to really bad problems then disastrous problems to lethal deadly problems in just a few short days. Luckily she's strong, capable and independent..... all traits that she's going to need in the next few weeks when she's captured by the very handsome, sexy but tough, ruthless and scary Pirate Captain Hendrix who wants to sell her as a sex slave.

Told from Indigo's POV and you get sucked into her story as it twists and turns and has ups and downs like the Ocean she's on with mystery, suspense, murder, a surprise or two, secrets, drama, passion, dirty talk and sex. A very dislikable Hero until near the end and I'm sure modern day Pirates are very frightening but this is a work of romantic fiction so with a sad story and a cracking of his cold exterior he is transformed in the end into a swoon-worthy sensual Pirate.

It's not the greatest work of fiction, or that well written as it lacks a lot of descriptions which would have painted the scenes and given depth to the characters and some things are just plain stupid (modern day Pirates surely don't fly the skull and crossbones flag!). It is a sort of HEA ending as the H/H are happy together but to line up the plot for book 2 something happens to one of the other characters and another Pirate.

Worth a credit? It's under $8 so I just bought it and that's about right for this listen but I guess I would have been happy enough if I'd used a credit on it.

Pirates and romance

It was a really good story but the ending wrapped up a little too quickly,. I loved the characters but most of all I loved the voice of the reader, Bravo!

For a free book...it was ok ....

well this book had a good concept and the beginnings of a fairly decent storyline ...but it fell through in a lot of places. The sex scenes were very good though. Some of the dialogue was kind of corney.
I thought the narrator did a really good job wth the different characters

Alright story but can we say stockholm syndrome?

2.5-3 stars

This is actually a reread. I liked it better the first time around but this time I found that I really wasn't too thrilled with the story. I've revamped my review a bit because of that.

This was a decent story. I liked Indigo alright but Hendrix was a real jerk for the majority of the story. The story has a good amount of action and there is some violence and deaths (well these are pirates...) but overall the dark content isn't too bad. I will say that what was between Indigo and Hendrix seemed more stockholm syndrome than an actual relationship.

Indigo is a good woman who hasn't had a good life. Her father left her and her mother when she was young and a few years later her mother died from cancer. Indigo ended up in foster care and it was there that she met her first (and only) boyfriend. They escaped foster care together but soon he began to beat her and she eventually tried to escape. He came after her and ended up in jail but he's getting out and already threatening her. Indigo decides it's time to make a new life in another country.

Hendrix didn't have a good life and struggled on the streets to survive when he was young. He ended up a pirate and after years on the sea he put together his own crew and is captain of his own ship. Hendrix is very distrustful of letting the wrong people get close, including (or maybe especially) women.

Indigo decided to relocate to London to escape her ex. She's taking a yacht across the Atlantic to the UK. She has a BFF, Eric, who's been her friend since they were kids. He doesn't agree with her running away because of her ex and is certain that her ex wouldn't come after her since she has a restraining order on him (alas I have no sarcasm font for that sentence). She's determined to go though so Eric decides to go with her on the trip over, take care of some business he has in the UK and then he'll fly back home (trying to convince her she's wrong the whole way). They get on the yacht and not too long into the journey there's a fire on board. The captain (and sole crew member) tells them there's a problem and to evacuate on the lifeboat while he fixes it. Indigo and Eric are in the lifeboat when the boat explodes and they're left drifting without supplies for days. When they are rescued, it's by pirates who don't treat them very well at all. Indigo finds the captain extremely attractive on first sight but less so when he tells her he intends to sell her to someone as a sex slave to settle a debt.

So Indigo is stuck on board the ship and just waiting to be sold. When Indigo makes moves to attempt an escape, Hendrix decides to use Eric against her. She was willing to do anything to escape being sold except risk her BFF. She ends up bargaining with Hendrix to behave and not try to escape if he keeps Eric alive and sets him free. Eric isn't very happy about this deal, apparently expecting Indigo to pull a miracle out of her butt and fly them to freedom. TBH, Eric was pretty much a butt head to Indigo and turned on her as soon as things got rough. It was hard to imagine this being the same guy that had been friends with her since childhood. Indigo makes friends with a girl on board the ship, Jess, who helps her realize she needs to get Hendrix to see her as a person in order to get him not to sell her. Indigo decides to try to seduce Hendrix (she is attracted to him even if she knows she shouldn't be) but she ends up falling herself in the effort. There's some action and angst with a good dose of drama (and a few twists that I certainly wasn't expecting) as things between Indigo and Hendrix get worked out. The story ends with Indigo and Hendrix together and starting a HEA together but there is a bit of a cliffy because Jess get kidnapped at the end (the lead in to book #2 of the series).

This was a decent story but I had a hard time getting into it because of Hendrix acting like a jerk which had me wanting to kick him in the balls. I really couldn't see how Indigo fell for Hendrix so fast when pretty much the whole time she's his prisoner and telling her he's going to sell her as a sex slave! Good ending but overall, I wasn't very thrilled with the story on the whole.

* note - The narrator did a pretty good job but I don't see why the narrator had an English accent when Indigo was supposedly Australian/American. It was just kind of strange.

Jkt

Before you begin reading this book know that it has a cliff hanger and you have to read the sequel to learn the ending.

3 stars

While the beginning was interesting, I was expecting something a bit more. Narration was good.