Captive Heart

Pride of Uttor #1

by Tali Spencer

A vengeful emperor conquered her country…now he’s after her heart.

Julissa has only known life as a sheltered princess in Sebboy's opulent but restrictive society, ruled over by strict parents and the righteous Prophets of her god. She is all but destined to a marriage of alliance until her brother kidnaps a foreign princess as his bride, and Julissa's country becomes the target of the girl’s vengeful brother. Gaspar Leonnte may have a big nose and be the subject of ridicule at Julissa's family table, but he doesn't have any trouble conquering Sebboy.

While fleeing the city, Julissa falls into Gaspar's hands and everything she ever knew changes. When a misunderstanding brings Julissa to his bed, the victorious emperor sees no reason not to enjoy his pretty captive for the night. Julissa should refuse him and honor her duty to her family and Prophet, but how can she fight the passion Gaspar awakens… even if doing so might mean her life?

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, M M Romance, M F Romance

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 2012

About the author

I am fascinated by swords, mythology, and everything ancient and magical. Sword and sandals? I'm in! But I also love bodice-rippers, Regency romances, magical realism, pulpy detective stories, cozy mysteries, and South American literature.

Though I grew up as a bit of a nomad, I currently live in Pennsylvania with my husband and travel whenever I can. Every destination yields a story or three.

When not writing, I read everything (really, everything), experiment with food, and take long walks with my loving, if slightly neurotic, poodle.

Reviews

[Andrew Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! That was really a great read Tali! I don't usually stay up late on work nights - especially when I have to be in court the next day, but you had me up every night this week trying to finish.

I hate doing 'public' reviews because I'm always worried I'll spoil things for people deciding to read or not so I'll try to be good. Gaspar was so perfectly written as a character - you kinda hate him at first, though not really under the circumstances, but you see his good soul even at his 'worst'

Julyssa was the perfect foil for him, though I have to say I think I loved Adora more - she's just so my kinda person - I just loved her heart.

Okay so I have to say this and I'm sure you're gonna laugh, shake your head and call me a dork, but I kinda was turned off by the m/f sex - yeah yeah yeah - book two is more my style, but you were such a tease - the beautiful Petra and nothing . . . nothing - he's caught in the act, but WE don't get to see THAT? C'mon, you're so bad. shesh what is this a m/f fantasy boo..... oh yeah it is :P

Anyway, great job. There is SO much more about this world I want to know, not just the little bit about Uttor, Sebboy or Bannari. The mysterious Koth Kingdoms are - well a mystery and the rest of the world is there, but we barely get a glimpse of it. Such a broad canvas left for you to paint.

Thanks again and on to the next.

AQG

[Julie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Prince Lorant kidnaps his potential bride, Adora of Uttor, rather than going through the proscribed courting ritual, all hell breaks loose. Her brother, Emperor Gaspar Leonnte, isn’t about to stand for that, and he declares war on Sebboy.

Princess Julissa of Sebboy has led a sheltered life, among her many siblings and her parents. She knows that someday she’ll be married off for the good of the country. But things at home are not what they seem, including the way Lorant abominally treats his captive bride and no one stands up for her, and the warranted harsh treatment meted out to her brother Petraeus.

The imminent arrival of Uttoran forces sends the royal family scattering in different directions. Julissa is sent off with her timid cousin Aurelia, who is as gentle as they come but has been treated badly by men in her life and fears them. Unfortunately, the two young women find themselves deserted and captured. Through misleading circumstances, Julissa finds herself in Emperor Gaspar’s bed—and despite herself, she finds herself drawn to him. He doesn’t seem quite the beast he’s been painted to be. Can she reconcile her growing feelings with the duty she owes to her family? And can ill-chosen words, spoken in anger, tear them apart before they’re barely begun?

This book drew me in from the beginning. Julissa is a great heroine—she’s lovely, brave, and open-minded. And I loved that she isn’t your typical thin as a rail heroine. She has curves, and she is beautiful with them. Gaspar is everything one could ask for in a leading man—handsome, sexy, brave, intelligent, just, and hot-blooded. I loved every scene between these two, whether involving sex or not. Their give and take crackles with the exploration of initial attraction, despite their perceived circumstances, and the sex is hotter than hot.

Ms. Spencer has a way with words that conveys a great deal in a smooth, flowing style. She kept me guessing until the very end what would happen. There is sex, drama, suspense and more. This is a book I would happily read again, a definite keeper for my book shelf.

I can’t wait to read the second book in the Pride of Uttor series, which is m/m. A great start to what I anticipate will be a great series.

[Tereza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chasca defend me, this was good.




I’ve pretty much given up on MF books. This one made me rethink my opinion. So... yeah.



!!! - Beware: super long review with WAY too many gifs and some spoilers!



Now...



► What I liked:



1) Well written fantasy book



2) Enough information to satisfy the reader’s thirst
- The world building was really good



3) Religion
- the clash of two countries with two very different set of religious beliefs and religious systems in general with different gods...



4) The inner struggle
- this one was connected with religion mentioned above



- Jules struggles between her faith/what she was raised to believe is right/with her duty and what she desires for a large part of the book. And even after she overcomes some things, there is still a strong sense of duty in her.

5) Consequences
- The book isn’t just a series of events that are not connected at all.



- The most noticeable event was when Gaspar lies and tells Lukacz that he raped Jules. Inevitable consequence is another event later on when Lukacz tries to strangle Jules because of this information.

6) Side characters
- Although not all of the Sebboyans are presented in detail to the reader, there are some side characters that are noticeable and very interesting, like Aurelia and Adora. Or Brazzi, the pervy-ish artist. I’d love to read a separate book about these characters. Well, about Brazzi for sure!



7) The initial misunderstanding
- Maybe this is used more often in books than I know of, but in this one it worked very well for me.



8) Jules is not flesh and bones
- The book repeatedly states that Jules is not slim. This honestly made me very happy for so many reasons. The fact that Gaspar likes her the way she is and considers her perfect and a goddess is even better.



9) The initial (and later) seduction
- the whole “I’ll not rape you, I’ll seduce you” was very appealing to me. There is really no noncon, not even dubcon (I think)





10) The main characters are not flat and lifeless
- the main characters actually have likes and dislikes

- they have weaknesses and character flaws

- the characters even pray to a specific god depending on what their view of life is



11) The sex was real good









► What I didn’t like:



1) Too much explanations
- on page 69, I believe it was, Gaspar was explaining to Jules that there are other things he has to do and said it like this: “You and your princess are not my only concern. I am at war and I have dispatches to read, with more pouring in by the hour. I have listened to them being dropped nonstop into the bucket just outside the entrance the whole time I was watching you eat. I plan to catch up while you bathe. My job consists of making decisions.”

- This felt like too much information to me. I don’t believe it was necessary for him to explain himself to a common maid/servant (and at the time Jules pretended to be one and Gaspar believed this).





► What made a VERY lasting impression:



1) The prick of a father and the cold-hearted bitch of a mother



My god, and I had issues with my father who was an alcoholic... But Lukacz... this man....





Ugh!



He was a complete and utter fucked-up person... and a father. I am amazed how his children could have loved him the way they did. Well, there was a lot of fear conditioning... but Julissa, she LOVED her father.... how is that possible is just beyond me.



And even the mother, Elbeata, is a cold bitch. There were some things she said to Jules that were just too cold and I wonder how it’s possible that there was no resentment or at least more pronounced negative feelings toward her from Jules.

At times it felt like Jules was so starved for affection from her parents that she was deliberately ignoring the things they did and said to her.



World is strange sometimes...



And their behavior towards Petraeus was just so abominable I’m at loss of words.







-----





Well done, dear author, well done.



5 Stars!

[AE · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this after having read the second book, because that one appealed to me more, and because it wasn't a trainwreck of a second book, I decided to do this one.

I'm 40% into it, and I'm hating the female lead? She seems so spineless. I approached this book with caution because I feared a loud mouth, bossy princess. However, I'm wishing that what I got ended up a little closer to my fears, because I'm rather bored of her and semi-critical of her, "Oh, I'll just fall into his bed because... he's handsome? to me? BEcause the author writes here that he's only comely, so I have all this flowery nonsense and horny virgin urges that simply have forced me to jump into bed." /:

Imma say it, it feels like a magic dick plot, and that is not good to me, when this could be an intriguing relationship developing.

Okay, 50% this is picking up. I think the sex at the beginning was junky, but this is working out for me more. But it's still overly cheesy.

Side note: The Endre in this book seems way different from what we get introduced to in book two, which annoys me.


And yeah, the sex comes off mildly dubcon, and NOT in the so bad it's good smutty erotica style.

WAIT WAIT WAIT. Game changer that seriously enrages me. He says, if he had know she was the princess when he first met her, his angry boast to her parents that he raped her would have been true? No joke that sentence literally means: I WOULD HAVE RAPED YOU. What the hell? I'm supposed to *like* this guy? Fuck this noise.

Just say no on this one. Apparently M/M with this author serves way better.

[Crystal Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars from Me!

Before I got on my recent reading kick, I absolutley loved the historical romances. This book is one that I would have read back then for sure! It has everything that a reader could want; murder, sex, romance, drama, kidnapping. It has enough of everything that it kept me turning the pages and wanting to read more.

One thing that I completely enjoyed about Julissa's character is that she wasn't some “itty bitty” woman. She had size to her, and she was okay with that. She also showed an amazing amount of strength during the course of the story. Willing to put herself in harms way to save the people she cares about, she ends up finding something that she didn't realize she was looking for.

Gaspar was willing to risk war to save his sister who had been kidnapped. He shows how much he cares about his sisters well-being and that of his country when he invades Julissa's families lands. I really enjoyed watching the torture that he was going through during ending of the book. It showed that there was more to him than just a hardened King.

This book was very fast-paced which worked out really well with the story. Sometimes I don't enjoy the fast-paced stories, but this one, I did. The story kept the me turning the pages and wanting to find out what was going to happen next. If there is more to come from this author, I will be sure to keep my eye's open!

I would recommend this book to all of my friends who enjoy reading historical stories!

Review provided by Crystal's Many Reviews

[Sara Testarossa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captive Heart is a highly entertaining romance, with rich worldbuilding, excitement, political intrigue, and drama. Julissa is a strong heroine who had her own ordeals to go through, what with surprises from within her family and from the developments with Gaspar. I enjoyed that Gaspar isn't perfect, not fairy tale prince handsome and he certainly made mistakes. I feel that the book got better the further in I got when reading it, leading up to an exciting climax. The supporting characters were quite real and I particularly loved to hate Lorant, and loved to love Aurelia and the kickass Adora. The sex scenes were enjoyable and hot, rounding out an excellent novel.

[Olga · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow........Jules is a spineless dumbass and I'm pretty sure Gaspar suffers either from schizophrenia or is bipolar. Overall I hated both characters and wished after 30% of the book that they would die in a very tragic and slow death, that involves very cruel torture.
- Stereotypes: check
- stupid damsel: check
- powerful douche: check
- meaningful message as, if you are a good looking man and you have money, you can push yourself on any woman: check
- another meaningful message as, if you meet a good looking man with enough money, it's good enough reason to spread your legs for him (forger intelligence and self pride, no one needs that)

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a epic drama with sex thrown in. Enjoyable enough.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read