Blackmailed by the Beast

Unlikely Love #1

by Sam Crescent

Wayne Brown is ruthless when it comes to business, and with a nickname of the "Beast", no one dares to challenge him. What he wants he gets.

Lily Jones is sweet innocence and despises men like Wayne. But the Jones family is desperate, and he offers them a solution to their problems. Only he wants something in return...Lily. She either marries him or her family answers to the debt collectors. With no choice left, she agrees and begins life as his wife.

Through his seduction and touch, Lily's body betrays her, and as time passes, so does her heart. But how can she fall in love with a man who blackmails to get what he wants?

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Erotica, Erotic Romance, Adult, Marriage Of Convenience

109 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2012

About the author

Sam Crescent is passionate about fiction. She loves a good erotic romance and so it only made sense for her to spread her wings and start writing. She began writing in 2009 and finally got that first acceptance in 2011 by Total-E-Bound.
She loved creating new characters and delving into the worlds that she creates. When she’s not panicking about a story or arguing with a character, she can be found in her kitchen creating all kinds of havoc. Like her stories the creations in the kitchen can be just as dubious but sometimes things turn out great.

Reviews

[Chantal ❤️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a hit book for me by the author. The heroine was in a bad place in her family as they wanted nothing to do with her unless it was to their advantage. When she rightfully refuses the hero's blackmailed proposal, she mother threatens her and hurts her until she accepts. The hero is not stupid he sees this but is just pleased to be taking her away from her messed up family to care. He was an alpha hero for sure but in a sexy way that worked as his actions matched his words. This is a problem I have with the authors characters, either the hero or heroine. I am glad that this was not the case in this book. I enjoyed this one. Good story.

[♡Tonya♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Older man/ younger woman...

- No cheating
- no om drama
- some pushing away by heroine
- ow drama- heroines sister tried to seduce him more than once, throwing herself at him and grabbing him inappropriately
- no epilogue - there was a brief set up for the next story (that hero had a hard on for his assistant and is making plans to meet up with his fuck buddy - no thanks)
Book 3 and 4 are definitely a no go as well

[Lady Raven RAVE! · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.romancenoveljunkies.com for readers

BRIEF SUMMARY

Wayne Brown aka The Beast, always gets what he wants. From the moment he saw Lily,
he knew he wanted her and sets his plan into motion to blackmail her into marriage. Wayne’s choice for blackmail, paying of the family’s debt. Lily is very young and innocent. She is always treated like an outcast within her own family, so when she is forced in to marriage she is appalled but yet finds herself attracted to Wayne.

THOUGHTS

I love a good blackmail story; this concept never gets old for me and this story delivers with its twist in blackmail. A way to describe this story would be a fusion of any blackmailed in to marriage story with a bit of a Cinderella concept, throw in spicy erotic scenes and the author, Sam Crescent, created a scrumptiously story.

I personally found Wayne and Lily’s story wonderful. Wayne was a beast in the boardroom as well as negotiating, and Lily’s situation wasn’t any different, by any means necessary was his plan. What gave the story that tingling sensation for me was Wayne’s possessiveness and aggressive tactics, along with Lily’s innocence. With both having a rough childhood they were both very guarded. Along with being blackmailed, Lily’s attraction to Wayne was evident in her own awkward way. Once their physical chemistry was taken to another level I thought it was explosive. If you’re a fan of the possessive guy and innocent girl scenario, then you will enjoy this story.

I really enjoyed reading about Richard and Tony, Wayne’s best friends. I kept thinking to myself while reading the book I hope the author delivers on a story for both Tony and Richard. While reading the epilogue, we got a taste of Richard and I can hardly wait.


Storyline: GOOD
Intimacy: VERY SPICY & VERY GOOD
Enjoyment: GOOD

Romance Novel Junkies

[nicoll lu · Rating 1 out of 5]

This "book" has 100 pages and 20 chapters. That fact alone fails to capture the lack of attention span. Within these 5-page chapters the attention span struggles against Sam Crescent's inability to maintain a unified thought and put it in writing, respecting 1st grade grammar. It's horrid, the way she seems incapable of any form of coherence - grammatical, syntactical, commonsensical - they all safely escape her. The style is awful, the characterization nonexistent, the knowledge of basic English and use of punctuation downright miserable. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for all the people (including myself and my reading buddy) who put themselves through this book. I'm sorry that Sam Crescent even considered a career in writing. And I am full of sympathy for all those people who think this book is worth the paper/electricity used in its creation. I know that "de gustibus non disputandum est", but, fuck me, you have no taste if you enjoyed this piece of metaphorical crap.

[Melanie♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
I liked the story line and the characters, but the execution fell short. As another reviewer mentioned, the sentence structure was a bit off. I hate when I am pulled out of a story to try and rework a sentence in order to make it flow better.

[B.E.Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars Lily is misused and treated horribly by her family until Waynes(the beast as they call him in the buisness world) agrees to Help Lily's family's huge money problem if Lily agree's to marry him. Felling like she has no other choice Lilly agrees and is immediatly married to Wayne. Though Lilly can't figure out why Wayne would want her when he could have any woman including hie prettier sisiter Wayne knows exactly why he wants Lilly and knows that he will do anything to keep her and tie her to him in any and every way possible. What can I say Wayne is aggressive, manipulative, and possessive and I loved every minute of reading this book. The side characters were just as great, Sam does it again. this is book 1 to the Unlikely Love trilogy.

[Sabrina]

Better than I was anticipating.
Still pissed me off.

[Reviewers for R.N.J · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.romancenoveljunkies.com for readers

*Reviewed by Davia for R.N.J

BRIEF SUMMARY

Wayne Brown is nicknamed the "beast" in business and his personal life. After seeing Lily at a ball he was immediately drawn to her. Lily is treated like a servant by her family; she grew up being verbally abused by them. Wayne is disgusted by this and puts a plan in motion to blackmail her into marrying him so that he can take her away from this horrible house and family. Lily is disgusted by this proposition but still wants to help her family (who is broke). As she ventures into her new life with Wayne she realizes she can love this man......

THOUGHTS

This reminded me of a version of Cinderella and Lilly was whisked away by her prince charming. I liked how Wayne was so patient with Lily; she was so fragile because of the abuse she endured from her family. Lily came to realize that she deserved to be loved and Wayne was nothing he appeared to be. When she finds out the lengths he went to get her, she is forgiving of his lies. Wayne also has scars from his past and learns to release some of those negative feelings. I also loved the secondary characters of Wayne's buddies Richard and Tony. The sex scenes were very spicy and full of raw emotion between the physical and emotional feelings they felt I really enjoyed this read and look forward to Richard's story.

Length: Novella
Storyline: GOOD
Enjoyment: GOOD
Intimacy Level: VERY SPICY

Romance Novel Junkies

[Nichelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me first start out by giving kudos to whoever designed the cover. The characters look exactly how the writer describes them. For me, the first thing I look at when getting romance books is the cover. And nothing is more irritating than getting a cover that has characters that look nothing like the characters in the book. BLACKMAILED BY THE BEAST has a beautiful work on the cover that led to an even more sexy, fun and beautiful love story.

I loved Lily Jones. First of all because she comes to life over the pages as a real woman. Full figured and full of spunk and passion but at the same time she remains sweet and innocent. Even though she is young (21), she has had a lot of responsibilities on her shoulders so she comes across as innocent but at the same time mature.

Wayne Brown. Let me just say I fell in love with him just like Lily did. Strong, capable, hard headed, hot and oh yeah...did I mention sexy? I loved his take-charge attitude. All alpha male yet at the same time you know he has some vulnerabilities just beneath the surface for the heroine to scratch and uncover.

At first I worried when I saw there was forced seduction. I wasn't sure if it could work. But BOY, did it work!

I loved this book. I will be looking for more from Sam Crescent to be sure. Thank you for such a well written, fun and sexy plot. I enjoyed it immensely.

Five stars for a great beginning, middle and a rocking happy ending.

Review can also be found:http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/v... and
www.epicallyromanticbyebonydreams.blo...

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy wants girl
Girl get's forced into marriage
Girl eventually falls in love with boy.

Toss in blackmail, a hateful family, and a little twist. You have Blackmailed by the Beast.

The boy in this case, Wayne is an older man who is filthy rich. The girl, Lily, is much younger and treated like crap by her family. Forced to do the cooking and cleaning while they still go out spending money they don't have and going more and more in debt. They treat her like a slave and call her down constantly because of her size.

In order to clean up the family money problems and outstanding debt Wayne offers to pay all of it off and keep them comfortable if Lily agrees to become his wife. And if she doesn't he will see them ruined.

Very quick read, great for anyone who doesn't have much time to spend on getting invested in a story.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5* out of 5* review posted here: http://yougottaread.com/2012/02/revie...

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg! The sex scenes were so hot and passionate I couldn't put it down! Erotica at its best!

Wayne and Lily’s story was beautiful! The innocent girl - possessive "cruel" man theme gets me every time! Their chemistry is definitely sizzling. It was like reading a fairy tale only a really HOT one! ;)

[Genney Blass · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG, The Wayne the Beast Brown, loved his character and of course Lily. Oh how much she suffered in her family house, I wanted to go in the book and Beat the crap out of her sister Stephanie. But the Blackmailed was unique. Okay I understand some of the review how they can see this wrong, but you have to understand the view of Wayne, he was madly in love with Lily but he knew that she hated him because what is going on with his family. The part that I hated was the dayum dreadful prenup. She didn't read it that was a fool of her part. Whatever you sign you have to read every dayum fine print. I understand that it was shred at the end but it was a great book. Kudos to the Author. Thank you.

[KatieV · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. It had a great premise, but just didn't deliver. They called this guy the Beast, but we saw no evidence of it. The story was actually kinda corny and the heroine was a Mary Sue and a martyr. Reminded me of a Harlequin without the tension and with the F word thrown in every other line.

[Diamond girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I can't get enough of possessive men.

[Tonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book!!! How can you not fall in love with Wayne. aahhh. Then again in books I am drawn to the possessive take control type men. This is a must-read!!!

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Έχει προοπτικές αλλά η πένα της Crescent για ακόμη μια φορά δεν κατάφερε να με συγκλονίσει.

[Romance Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS!!

OMG, this book was a pleasant surprise!

I start to read it with not so much expectation, to be honest, but the book description caught my attention and it's a short one, so I give it a shot, but honestly it's just way better than I thought!

Wayne Brown is ruthless when it comes to business, and with a nickname of "The Beast", no one dares to challenge him. What he wants he gets.

Wayne Brown was just WOW, totally alpha male, sexy and with a nickname like THE BEAST, can you imagine?... well, he always get what he wants, and he wants her:

Lily Jones is sweet innocence and despises men like Wayne. But the Jones family is desperate, and he offers them a solution to their problems. Only he wants something in return...Lily. She either marries him or her family answers to the debt collectors. With no choice left, she agrees and begins life as his wife.

So, like I say, he always get what he wants, so Lily has no protection against him, BUT!... There's much more to Wayne Brown than what meet the eyes!... he's super protective of Lily and he's always trying to please her(swoon!)... ok, sometimes he fails miserably, but he tries.

The bad part of this book was that it's too short!... I think there was a lot of potential in the storyline to explain a little bit more of Wayne's past and other things that were mentioned but not in to much detail.

There's a lot of steamy scenes, and for me the combination of the sweet girl with the possesive alpha guy was actually good:

“I love that sassy mouth, but I think I can put it to better uses like wrapped around my cock.” He wanted to turn her on. Wayne saw her eyes dilate, and her breath hitch up a notch.

Bingo.

“I’ve never done that.”
Wayne knew there was a lot she hadn’t done, and he looked forward to teach her everything he liked. He stroked a thumb over her luscious lips and pressed to gain access. “Then that’s something we better rectify. I want these lips, red and puffy, swallowing me down.” She sucked his thumb like a lollipop and licked along the tip. “You’ll be a natural at it.”

There's a book 2 & 3, not about the same characters, but the epilogue shows a little bit of the second book story.

[Wayward Child · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story opens in medias res and the first few chapters do a really poor job of setting the scene and introducing us to the characters and their relationships. Who are these people and why should we care about them? If we’re in London, why is everyone using American slang? Why do we open up on a girl peeling potatoes, whilst staring at a man she seems to simultaneously both hate and desire? Ugh, it’s all so confusing.

Anyway, our protagonist appears to be Lily, a young girl with a cartoonishly villainous family who all despise her for some reason. Both her parents and her older sister come across as more of caricatures, as moustache-twirling parody-villains, than as real people with any kind of depth or nuance to them. For some reason, a guy named Wayne, a rich, cocky asshole, is staying with them. Lily’s once wealthy family has fallen on hard times, so Wayne offers to pay off their debts and provide them with a comfortable life if Lily will agree to marry him.

Naturally, she has some reservations about this. Wayne is more than a decade her senior and is known in the business world as “the Beast”. He’s far older, far wealthier and far more experienced than Lily in basically every conceivable aspect of life, whereas she is this Cinderella-like virgin he has to come along and rescue from poverty and her vicious family. Yawn… Haven’t we seen this dynamic a million times by now in romance and erotica?

If I were penning this, I’d at least try to introduce a few twists to the tired formula. I’d have Lily refuse his offer and tell her family to shove it. Why should she sacrifice herself for them if they don’t give two shits about her? I’d have her get a job, any job – waitressing, bartending, teaching English to asylum seekers, whatever – and attend Uni at the same time. I’d have her tell Wayne she is attracted to him but, if he wants her, then he has to prove himself, date her like a normal guy and give her space, not immediately try to buy her and trap her in marriage with a merciless pre-nup. Her actions would in turn inspire Wayne to seek a life beyond luxury as well and, as they got to learn more about one another, they could eventually get married of their own volition and depart to travel the world or something. But, naaah… What we get instead is the same exact story we’ve seen before, of a girl bereft of choices and agency and a man who acts as her saviour.

Anyways, after a frankly boring scene that’s supposed to be… Steamy, I guess, Lily agrees to marry Wayne and moves in with him. Several weeks later, they get married and move into a newly purchased house. Nothing much happens beyond this point until the very end.

Lily is shown to have a great singing talent, but doesn’t want a music career and tells Wayne as much. He, however, doesn’t listen and arranges for music producers to come to their house to help her record a demo. Distraught, Lily gets into a fight with him and then leaves. It’s implied she gives up on their marriage entirely, although this may only be Wayne’s opinion. Anyway, Lily is attacked by a mugger and ends up in the hospital.

This event prompts not only Wayne to sort out his priorities and put his love for her first, but also leads Lily’s father down a redemption arc of sorts. He reveals Lily’s real mother was the true love of his life who died in childbirth, so the reason Lily has led such a miserable life is because she was a constant reminder of the patriarch’s infidelity. Her father regrets his actions and seemingly turns his back on his cruel wife and Lily’s stepsister. He and Lily start to rebuild their relationship.

Additionally, they all discover that Lily is pregnant. Whilst in hospital, Lily learns the true nature of the prenuptial she signed, but never even bothered to read – among other provisos, in the case of divorce, Wayne is to receive full custody of any and all children born into the union. This revelation completely shatters Lily, but then Wayne hands her all of the copies of the pre-nup and she burns them, the two of them declaring their love for one another and renewing their relationship.

Look, basically, this book is unreadable. The plot is nonsensical even at the best of times and downright insulting at the worst. Early on, the newlyweds have a huge falling out because Lily doesn’t want children. Then, a couple of chapters later, she tells Wayne having a family and children of her own is everything she ever wanted and dreamed about. Her sister Stephanie appears in Wayne’s office one day with the sole purpose of seducing him, but nothing ever comes of this, no consequence, no relevance, nothing. Wayne lets Lily destroy all the copies of the merciless pre-nup but, instead of saying something along the lines of “I love you and am giving you full agency here, I want you to stay with me but, ultimately, it’s your decision”, he instead resorts to emotional blackmail, telling Lily she’ll never find anyone who’ll love her more than him, in much the same way her family used to control and manipulate her. Her father’s heel turn is beyond implausible and serves the sole purpose of moving the plot along and providing a flimsy excuse for the behaviour of Lily’s family, already a bunch of one-dimensional, cartoonish villains. So yeah, basically, nothing here makes any sense whatsoever and is intelligence-insulting to boot.

However, as if all the plot inconsistencies and the terrible writing weren’t enough, there’s also the language itself. Should you ever decide to torture a trained linguist such as myself, all you have to do is force them to read this sorry excuse for a book. The amount of lexical, grammatical, discourse, spelling and errors of other types in this e-book is hyperventilation-inducing.

I cannot believe this is the final draft. I cannot believe someone could’ve gone through this manuscript, said “It’s fine” and then released it into the world. If it was done by an amateur, then that amateur needs to hire an experienced copy editor. If it was done by a professional copy editor, then he or she should get fired. If I were to compose a list of all the linguistic errors that plague this very short manuscript, that list would end up being longer than the damn e-book itself. Even if I were reading Dostoyevsky, the staggering amount of linguistic errors would make me cringe and turn away, and Blackmailed by the Beast is no Dostoyevsky.

I certainly expect no Pulitzer-winning quality of these romantic/erotic books I pick up, but some standard is to be expected, regardless of how low we set the bar, and if even that isn’t met, then there is really no excuse. I was hoping the sex scenes might at least prove to be fairly entertaining and offer some redeeming qualities, this being an erotica and all, but the author drops the ball on that account as well. They’re boring, uninspired, boring, trite, clichéd and BORING.

Utterly unreadable trash, both by linguistic and storytelling criteria, would be my final verdict. Life is short and time is precious, so do yourselves a favour and read anything but this sorry excuse for a narrative. Ugh, if only the system allowed for zero stars…

[♛✨Christine ♛✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me just start out by saying DAMN. I came across the blurb and knew I had to have it. I knew that it would have the same plot line of similar blackmail books. Even though it did it still somehow managed to surprise me. It started out in a similar fashion to books of blackmail but changed unbelievably quickly. The whole thing with the pre-nup was... messed up in a I-Love-You-Too-Much-Way-That-I-Am-Never-Ever-Going-To-Give-You-Up. I absolutely loved all the major massive stipulations that he made just to ensure that whatever did happen down the tracks she would always be next to him. This narrative play was brilliant by the author.

There was one thing that took me so unexpectedly by surprise. I never ever and I mean ever get surprised in books. The scene where she was in the hospital. What he said. What he does. Such a short scene and yet it brought tears to my eyes. I have absolutely no idea why! But any author who can do that with the power of their own words is truly exceptional! The feelings it invoked in me were as if I had been sitting in that hospital room actually watching what happened. I think what made this even more special that it made me tear up was she changed the dialogue to his two friends. This made you see how it looked from an outside perspective and made it that much more real.

My first read by Sam Crescent and it won't be my last. I don't usually take time out of my schedule to write a long review for just anyone. Ms Sam Crescent you are most certainly a unique author.

[The TBR Pile *Book review site* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enter contest here: http://thetbrpile.weebly.com/1/post/2...

A thoroughly enjoyable story, I loved reading about Wayne and Lily's fight to create a family against strange odds, and how they both fought against admitting their growing feelings for one another. Lily also continually struggles with insecurities from growing up a full-figured person in a world of size zeroes, especially because her older sister uses that fact to torment her. Both main characters felt like real people, broken by their pasts but trying to heal
within the chance of love. As Lily becomes more secure and Wayne softens, their relationship appears to be the best possible circumstance, but waiting too long to admit his feelings could cause Wayne to lose Lily for good. My only real issue with the whole story was some editing issues where misspellings or wrong words pulled me out of the story. However, I still really enjoyed reading this and will read more by this author.

[Charity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the details of this story. Even though “Beast” is in the title do not let that make you think this is a paranormal story, but wowzer if it was. I do love Wayne’s possessive nature, but the high handedness of his blackmail without truly knowing her as a person is a little chauvinistic. It would have been understandable as a shifter finding his mate, but a regular guy seeing a regular girl- a little weird. That was my only real issue with the story. Lily’s character was just the right amount of vulnerability, low self-esteem, and feisty all rolled into one. I liked seeing the love grow, and the family secrets coming out. I can’t wait to read Richard’s story.

[delica. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely expected more, the story looked interesting, but it was.. I don't know just something about writing style didn't sit well with me, the plot was somehow rushed and the whole thing didn't sound well. Three stars are too much I think, but well it was still not that bad and I liked Tony whose story is written in the last book of the series and someday when I have nothing else to read, I'll read his story. Fingers crossed that it will be better then this one.

[Viv “BookVixen” Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good, solid romance.

Tropes galore (nothing wrong with those!) abound in this story of a Cinderella-like heroine who gets sold off to the evil villain...or is he her Prince Charming in disguise?

Loved the fact that the heroine was a virgin, that made it so much more connected and emotionally-binding her to the hero. And I liked how strong and obtuse the hero was...until he suddenly woke up and saw what was really going on in his heart.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this quick read. Wayne Brown becomes enamoured with a lovely girl named Lily several years younger than him. Her family is not only mean to her but they are also broke. Wayne has a marriage contract drawn up that will guarantee Lily will marry him and her family's debts will be paid off.

[Mandy Beyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review: http://thetbrpile.weebly.com/1/post/2...

[Laura's Book Addiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it want the rest of the series NOW!!!!!

[*MariaA* · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 stars for this genre..not how I generally rate my books!
ReAllY HoT Gurl on the cover;)

[Julie Dalglish · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it couldn't put it down

[heart · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars… AT MOST

i had a few problems with this book. First off another annoying heroine who’s a push over. Like she completely forgot/ignored that he tricked her into signing a contract that made her have to give up FULL custody of the baby and her becoming his “whore” if the marriage didn’t work out AFTER… like is she stupid? then she burned it when he made changes to the contract and confessed her love like that? wtf? Like she completely ignored it and acted like nothing happened… she rolled over and took all of the shit every character in the book did, i also did not give one fuck about the lawyer at the end… like i’m not here to read side characters. The heroine could have at least made the hero grovel, he deserved nothing she gave him, bitched liked to get used… wtf?

Hero is unbearable and inconsistent. Like in the beginning we are led to believe he loves her, which he does but then makes a whole contract that… doesn’t at all align with his views of loving her. if anything i’d make more sense that what he tricked her into singing was that she COULDNT get a divorce if the marriage “didn’t work out.” also wtf was that about? “not working out” he’s literally been preaching since the first chapter that he’d make sure she could never leave him so what could possibly happen that she would have a way out? it just don’t make sense. that was a complete turn off from him.

like ahhh yes, so romantic, let me roll over and let him do what ever he wants because i have no back bone, also let me ignore that i’d have to give up my rights to my baby and become his whore LEGALLY when we divorce… So romantic, i’m in la la land!

this was a waste of time

also, next my shelves/tags for more info on the book