Donovan Callahan started a relationship with the married Claire Dubois as a teenager. He was attracted to her beauty and raw sexuality, letting his hormones take control of him. He couldn't resist the woman all the guys at school could only dream about.
As time went by, she sank her claws in deep, keeping his heart in a vice grip and toying with his emotions. He longed to be free, but was terrified of what this crazy woman was capable of. She had a way of keeping him in line, either by physical or mental force. She is manipulative, conniving, and just plain evil. She pulled him back in as he tried to push away. Donovan felt trapped in a web of lies and deceit. If Donovan was in a web, just call Claire the proverbial black widow.
Find out why Donovan is the way he is and how Claire screwed him up in more ways than one. Donovan has to take back control of his life. He wants Claire to release him, for good.
AC Marchman lives in Virginia with her husband Dan and their three children, Hannah, Jacob and Sarah. By day, she is a wife, mommy, and an x-ray tech for a doctor's office. By night (and nap time) she is a writer. She loves spending time with her family. She also loves to read. Her favorite authors being EL James, Sylvia Day, James Patterson, and Tess Gerritsen.
This book is like a prequel, we finally get the back story of Donovan Callahan. After reading Overwhelm Me and Stay With Me, we get the general feel of Donovan’s relationship with Claire Dubois, but you never really got to understand the dynamics or the why’s and what’s that forever came into my head whilst reading. You never really appreciated what Donovan went through.
Claire Dubois was a cougar…she preyed on Donovan and would not have stopped until she got him. Any horny teenager would have done what he did, given the chance, especially as she was the stepmom that every boy at school was talking and fantasising about. What initially started out as a bit of fun and ego boosting for Donovan soon developed into a relationship that he so badly wanted to escape from.
To say that Claire was unhinged is an understatement, the woman is totally nuts!! She became a stalker, she was extremely manipulative, she would attack him, she would mentally torture him and she used her body to the best of her ability to get what she wanted and that was for him to stay. She knew that Donovan couldn’t resist her body so used it as her ultimate weapon, Donovan was always upset at how his body betrayed his mind and couldn’t understand it. Stockholm Syndrome was mentioned in the book, whilst I have never seen it related to this type of relationship you could definitely see the similarities. Claire had managed to put the fear of god into him and he was too scared to walk away.
I felt really sorry for Donovan, whilst I was not impressed that he actually started this relationship to begin with as I said above you could understand why he did. He so wanted an “out” and every time he tried Claire pulled some stunt to make it impossible. Forever being the gentleman, Donovan would never hit back and I actually felt extremely sorry for him. He reached out for help so many times, but never went the extra mile to make sure he got it, was never direct enough so I was so glad when he finally met with his therapist, at least he got him to see what Claire was really like.
I was so happy we got to see the goings on in court, I enjoyed this part of story so much, especially when you finally see Donovan grow a pair.
This book was emotional in parts but mainly it was so enlightening, you finally got the last piece in the Donovan Callahan puzzle and you can now really see why the man is the way he is and what a really lucky escape he actually had. Although, as we know from Stay With Me, I feel that this story is far from over and I for one cannot wait to read what Donovan and Claire are going to do to each other next, however, as long as he stays with Allie, I really don’t care, I just hope that she gets her just desserts and ends up back in prison!!
I did not pay close enough attention to this one to realize that it was the prequel to the story. In this book we see the history of Claire and Donovan. From the first time he slept with his friend's step mom until Allie runs into him on campus.
I was happy that the second book in the series had improved so much and I was hoping that this would follow the same lines. I ultimately found myself skipping over parts and in the end I could have been happier with a few pages summarizing the past until the trial scenes and him meeting Allie.
I know that it is not politically correct but who cares... Donovan needed to grow a pair. I get that he was not going to hit Claire, but he was just so weak. I love strong men, in and out of books - so having to deal with Donovan struggle with not knowing what to do with an abusive woman was just too much.
All I have to say is Claire is a crazy BITCH!!!!!! It was great to read how Donovan is how he is and what Claire put him thru. Loved the book and can't wait for the next one in the series.
The more I read of this series by AC Marchman, the more I love it! Release Me is the Prequel to Overwhelm Me and Stay With Me. It gives us a look at Donovan and Claire’s relationship from the very beginning to the very end. Its starts with the affair while Donovan is in high school and ends with Claire’s conviction. This is all pre-Allie. If you have not read Overwhelm Me or Stay With Me do not read this review. We all knew that Claire was crazy! But in Release Me we learn what a crazy, psychotic bitch she really is. We also learn just how much she damaged Donovan with their relationship. Release Me is a very quick read like both Overwhelm Me and Stay With Me and AC’s writing style continues to grow. I really could not put this book down. It was fast paced, written well and kept my interest from beginning to end. I have grown to love Donovan even more and man is Claire certifiably CRAZY! I can not wait to see what Claire has in store for Donovan and Allie in the next book, if I were them I would be terrified. Great read and I look forward to the continuation of this story
I really loved Release Me.....Prequels are just eye-openers that help us understand so much of the history of characters and the story better and that's what Release Me did for me, I definitely understood Donovan and his actions better. 4 stars.
Release Me is the prequel to Overwhelm Me and Stay with Me we get Claire and Donovan's story. Claire is a older married woman who wants Donovan. Their relationship is full of lust and forbidden temptation. They are having a great time until Claire turns manipulative.....she will stop at nothing to keep Donovan. This is where their relationship because extremely unhealthy and turns sour.
This was a quick read for me but a great book and a definite must read story and series!
Great Book. 4.5 stars I had to take half a point off for the Claire sex. I hated having to read Donovan with that witch. This book gives you a whole new perspective on what Donovan went through. Claire really messed him up. I did get frustrated with him every now and than for thinking with his dick rather than using logic, but Claire really was psychotic. Who knows what she would have done if he did use his brain more often. I hope Claire gets hers in the next book. I really hate that bitch. I hope Donovan can protect Allie. I also hope Donna gets whats coming to her too. There are so many people to hate. I love this series!!! Can't wait for the next book!!!!
wow claire is deffo one CRAZY B**** loved that we went back on the story of Donovan and claire and how things happened
i really felt sorry for Donovan how he tryed to get away from claire he wouldnt defend himself after what he put up with from her
loved the book
I can not wait to see what Claire has in store for Donovan and Allie in the next book, if I were them I would be very scared she is a women that likes to get what she wonts just happens that its Donovan she wonts and she will make sure nothing stands in her way
I love how the author made Claire intimidating and of course evil!! The author brought the characters to life really well. I love how she made each character unique and how she made you get attached to them.
There was a time that I wish I can choke Claire to death, she really pisses me off..
I was happy how the story ends!! Gah!! It's so worth to read and time!!
I had the pleasure of editing this book, cannot tell you much about it until it is closer to release date. However look at the 5 stars and know I think this is the best of the series so far. Hard to edit because I kept getting so lost in the story. I'm anxious for the next one now too! Great series by a young author that we are going to hear a lot from in the future.
It was good to get Donovan's story out there so as to set you up to continue with the rest of his and Allie's. His was a little like another I've read but also very much different, especially the violence. I am ready to move on to the rest of their story.
omfg CLAIRE is one seriously fucked up bitch... i did wanna slap DONOVAN a couple of times though..lol.. loved DONOVAN SERIOUSLY DONNA CLAIRE AND FRANKIE need to be killed off in the next book so DONOVAN and ALLY can have their HEA in peace.....
Love Donovan and love this series...but this book was hard for me to get into because of the whole Claire thing...I know this explains why Donovan is the way he is, but reading about the sex just didn't do it for me and I skipped over those parts.. Sorry. Can't wait to read the next one.
I liked this one a lot better then the other 2, Allie seems to whine a lot.. But i liked hearing Donovan's story about Claire! Do women like that exist?? Wow... Good book but he should of confessed about the underage sex.
I definitely do not like Claire and glad the author wrote this book so us as readers could put it all into place about Donovans past! Cannot wait for the next one :-)
Todo versa sobre la historia del pasado de Donovan y su relación con Claire hasta el momento en que conoce a Allie.
El libro en sí, está bien. Lo malo es que siendo una serie de libros, los dos primeros tratan sobre la historia de Allie y Donovan, haciendo mención obviamente de quién es Claire, de su historia con Donovan y en sí, de lo que es la trama esencial de la serie. Y cuando termina el segundo libro, comienzas éste que es el tercero, dándote cuenta de que es una precuela a la historia, que te interrumpe totalmente el hilo de lo que vienes leyendo en los dos primeros.
Por eso, a mi consideración, está bien el libro y que tratara de ser una precuela, pero pienso que hubiese quedado mejor que en los dos primeros, estos detalles de ese pasado, quedaran plasmados para que no hubiese la interrupción en la historia con este libro, porque tampoco está escrito de una manera en que te puedas leer la serie con el orden 3, 1, 2 y 4, para que no haya problemas con el seguimiento de la historia.
Le doy un 1.8 de estrellas porque está bien el libro pero no me gusta su orden.
This is like a prequel to Overwhelm Me and Stay With Me as it goes into the details of Donovan's relationship with Claire. There's very few books in which I felt like strangling one of the characters, but Claire is one of those characters. I didn't enjoy reading how Claire treated Donovan in their relationship, which is why I'd love to strangle her--too extreme, well read and find out for yourself. I've loved Donovan in Overwhelm Me and Stay With Me, so to see this side of him was really unsettling for me. I understand now the effects his relationship with Claire had on him and was glad to see him take back control of his life and walk away a stronger person. I don't like the weak Donovan that lets others control him, this makes me sad. I absolutely did love the inside story of Claire's trial, muwahahahaha is what I was thinking. I think this is where he stood his ground firmly of walking away and showing the strong man he will be. I thoroughly missed Allie in this book so I was asking myself if I should've read this before reading Stay With Me, but what's done is done and honestly it's as though I needed to read Stay With me first to truly understand, so I have no advice for you there other than READ THEM ALL. I was glad to see the history that led Donovan to his place today but I'll tell you again, I DESPISE CLAIRE!! And my biggest excitement will be seeing how the rest of Donovan & Allie's future turns out in the next book!! Give it a try!
It was difficult and disturbing to read how the relationship between Donovan and Claire developed. Claire is a sexual predator and I HATED seeing her manipulate and abuse Donovan. At the same time, I wanted to shake Donovan. It was so frustrating to hear his POV when it seemed that his reasoning was primarily ruled by his dick. More disturbing yet was when he thought their relationship was love too. That is one twisted relationship.... It is clear Claire has Donovan completely brainwashed before he ever had a chance to become his own man. He couldn't break that tie. It was hard to keep that in mind when Claire manipulated him so easily as an adult with sex though. I had to keep reminding myself this started when he was 16 not 26. One strange little thing that bugs the crap out of me tho is.... Why in the h*** would you keep the house she bought you? I don't care if you got her name off the deed and paid it off. GET A NEW HOUSE! Why would anyone want to be reminded of that sick relationship? And later bring the girl you fall in love with to the house you had sex with Claire? Ugh! I hope he at least bought a new mattress!
This is book 3 in the Callahan Series. I didn’t realise this was a sequel, in fact it was a prequel to two other books. As I didn’t realise it then it is fine to read it as a stand alone book.
This book deals with a couple of good gritty issues, ie:- underage sex; affairs with married women and abusive relationships amongst others.
We follow Donovan Callahan through high school and college and see how his relationship with Claire Dubois progresses along with it.
I thought the storyline was very predictable and there was an opportunity to make this more than a novella and really guide the reader through the emotional subject of abusive relationships. I understand this is a prequel to other Donovan Callahan stories, but I felt that this book was lacking the “meat on the bone”.
I only give this book 3 stars as I thought there were definitely lost opportunities during the book for the author to draw the reader in.
This is obviously only my opinion and maybe if I had read the other two books then this book might have answered a lot of questions which I need to have the answers to.
was lucky to receive an early advance copy of this book as an ARC/Beta reader.
Donovan, I fell in love with you all over again. I loved you in Overwhelm Me and Stay with Me but I have to say this book really summed up the reasons why I love you, as well as why Allie loves you. Claire is CRAZY and A.C. Marchman delivers all kinds of crazy Claire in this book. This book is all about Donovan and Claire's interesting start, crazy middle and ending story. It leaves you wondering how the following sequel to this book will take the reader. Through all the crazy twists and turns, I saw a strong Donovan at the end of this book, which then bring the readers to the present day with him and Allie. I can't wait to read the next book in the Callahan Series. I am hoping for a happily ever after for Donovan and Allie and I am excited to see where they turn up and what things progress between them with their respected families and crazy crazy Claire!
Really don't know if you could consider this a stand alone novel if you hadn't read the other three but, seeing as I have, I can't judge that one properly. The book is told by Donovan's perspective. It is his backstory on how he got involved with Claire. I love the fact that it touched on the fact that men can be the victim of abuse every bit as much as a woman can be. This doesn't leave the reader hanging. Book two leaves us hanging for book four. I love the backstory as it helps to understand why Donovan was so protective of Allie. The only problem I have is that fact that he is so blind to the events and the strange relationships people have with each other. It's as if he stuck his head in the sand. Let's hope in book four a light bulb turns on. I recommend this book especially if you've read books one and two and you should read those as well. As with anything numbered you should read them in order.
I am so glad AC gave us a prequel to explain how Claire and Donovan happened. Up until now we have been given just enough to have a thousand questions! At least I did. Just about all of my questions have been answered. A few more have been created, I am sure those will be resolved in the next book, I hope.... Two things are for certain... One Claire is controlling, abusive, and completely off her rocker NUTS! And two I think I fell a little harder for Donovan, with everything he has been through, its amazing that he can love at all, let alone love Allie as deeply and purely as he does. I am a huge fan of this series and I will be sad to see it end. So excited for the next book to be released!!
I'm probably not being fair to this series by rating this book low. I honestly believe in the writer and myself as a reader that I get Claire is cray cray, I didn't need a prequel. I mean, we heard Donovan explain it and saw glimpses of her in the first two books. I wanted to advance the story and get on with it. I hate paying for these little novellas that just prolong, what could have been a full length novel, the $ale$ and take away from the depth of the story with the waiting game.
This is a great story and has very good characters and a complexity that works well, but GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!!!
*note to self...do NOT read another novella series until allllll books are released. Ever. Life is too short!
bueno por una ladofue bueno ver cuan profundo era la relacion de claire y doinovan! pero mas q profunda era mas jodida! el abuso fisico y sicologico querecibia donovande claire parece increible pero sucede! sobre todo considerando que donovan era apenas un adolescenre cuando todo inicio tuvo mas que tiempo suficiente para plantar ideas miedos y toda la merda q pasaba lo hacia mas inseguro! me encanto q al final x su hermana el salio del circulo! claire de verdad bien loca y obsecionada con el! no puedo ni imaginar lo q hara cuando salgade lacarcel!