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Darker Shade of Pale #1-2
Darker Shade of Pale: Her Escape, Her Freedom
Selesta Haytham made a mistake when she married her husband, Jakob. He's brilliant, handsome, and just a touch crazy. After enduring abuse at her hunny's hands, then being told she'd be the mother of a new civilization, Selesta feels the need to get out.
But Jakob won't let her go. Alive, anyway.
With the help of Selli's new security detail who has an agenda of her own, the escape is made. Twists and turns keep them on their toes as the need to disappear becomes more urgent.
With the help of finger-licking good Tyb, a new future is forged. But will they live long enough to witness it for their own?
But Jakob won't let her go. Alive, anyway.
With the help of Selli's new security detail who has an agenda of her own, the escape is made. Twists and turns keep them on their toes as the need to disappear becomes more urgent.
With the help of finger-licking good Tyb, a new future is forged. But will they live long enough to witness it for their own?
166 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
1 person is currently reading
375 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 1, 2014
3.5-4 stars.
Darker Shade of Pale: Her Escape, Her Freedom is a twist on the recently popular series, Fifty Shades of Grey. Ms. Serra's story, however, continues where the series left off but does so as if Ana Steele has a lot more sense than she does in E.L. James' series. Selesta (or Izzy, as she later becomes) is Ana, but in this version, she is tired of her husband, Jakob Christos (Christian Grey), and his abusive ways. She is no longer blinded by his sexual advances. After two years of marriage, she is ready to get out, but Christos' need for control has taken a new height, and Selesta realizes her only true way out is to fake her own death. With the help of Zarama and her brother, Tyb, she narrowly escapes Christos' clutches. But while hiding in the mountains, she discovers that Christos is even more crazy than she originally thought. He is creating a super species at his job--a race of super human vampire/zombies that can spread the disease with one bite and become explosive (and glittery) after being infected. Very Twilight vampire-y. And to top it all off, Christos has been infected and is coming for Selesta's head! Can Tyb--her new love interest and her only hope of survival--be able to save her from the overpowering force that Christos is? Or will he be able to finish what he started?
I wasn't a fan of E.L. James' Fifty Shades series (yes, I read them). I thought it had poor writing, terrible sex scenes, and one-dimensional characters. Saying that, I love reading parodies off it. Darker Shade of Pale threw me for a loop, however. It wasn't only a twist on the story, it was a continuation with its own plot. To top it off, it was written hell of a lot better than the crap E.L. James spewed. Ana/Selesta had a backbone. She had a mind! She had a personality. She felt more real. It was refreshing to think that E.L. James' Ana Steele could actually think for herself. Darker Shade of Pale was action-packed. It had a bigger problem than a relationship. It still had kinky sex too and not the abusive kind. The book delivered in the sexy department. I hope E.L. James finds this version and reads it. She could learn a thing or two.
The reason for the 3.5-4 stars is this: The author has a very distinct voice and personality, and it is very strong (that's not bad!). However, the characters began to seem to mesh together. The personalities became too similar. The author is sarcastic and really funny, which I LOVED, but the dialog between characters began to be just that. They all became funny and sarcastic. Their personalities blended together into the same person. Alisha, Tyb, Mara, Izzy. They began to talk the same way. They were all hilarious though. I laughed out loud a lot reading this. Also, a lot of the action/resolution to the plot happened in the background. I expected Typ and Izzy to have their great battle at the end and Izzy to have her revenge. They were prepared for a fight, and after all their preparations, that's what I expected and wanted. But the information of Christos becoming super vamp/zombie, the island, etc., and then the final big bang all happened in the background without the main character involved. It made the situations feel too convenient. The focus was on Izzy and Tyb's survival and budding relationship, and all the action happened in the background. I wanted to be there when it happened.
If you read and liked Fifty Shades or even if you didn't, I suggest you read Darker Shade of Pale by Mandi Rei Serra. Either way, you will gain a new perspective on the story and possibly learn something about abuse and the BDSM style. Darker Shade of Pale is exciting, steamy, suspenseful, and filled with memorable characters. Mandi Rei Serra succeeded in the places E.L. James lacked.
Darker Shade of Pale: Her Escape, Her Freedom is a twist on the recently popular series, Fifty Shades of Grey. Ms. Serra's story, however, continues where the series left off but does so as if Ana Steele has a lot more sense than she does in E.L. James' series. Selesta (or Izzy, as she later becomes) is Ana, but in this version, she is tired of her husband, Jakob Christos (Christian Grey), and his abusive ways. She is no longer blinded by his sexual advances. After two years of marriage, she is ready to get out, but Christos' need for control has taken a new height, and Selesta realizes her only true way out is to fake her own death. With the help of Zarama and her brother, Tyb, she narrowly escapes Christos' clutches. But while hiding in the mountains, she discovers that Christos is even more crazy than she originally thought. He is creating a super species at his job--a race of super human vampire/zombies that can spread the disease with one bite and become explosive (and glittery) after being infected. Very Twilight vampire-y. And to top it all off, Christos has been infected and is coming for Selesta's head! Can Tyb--her new love interest and her only hope of survival--be able to save her from the overpowering force that Christos is? Or will he be able to finish what he started?
I wasn't a fan of E.L. James' Fifty Shades series (yes, I read them). I thought it had poor writing, terrible sex scenes, and one-dimensional characters. Saying that, I love reading parodies off it. Darker Shade of Pale threw me for a loop, however. It wasn't only a twist on the story, it was a continuation with its own plot. To top it off, it was written hell of a lot better than the crap E.L. James spewed. Ana/Selesta had a backbone. She had a mind! She had a personality. She felt more real. It was refreshing to think that E.L. James' Ana Steele could actually think for herself. Darker Shade of Pale was action-packed. It had a bigger problem than a relationship. It still had kinky sex too and not the abusive kind. The book delivered in the sexy department. I hope E.L. James finds this version and reads it. She could learn a thing or two.
The reason for the 3.5-4 stars is this: The author has a very distinct voice and personality, and it is very strong (that's not bad!). However, the characters began to seem to mesh together. The personalities became too similar. The author is sarcastic and really funny, which I LOVED, but the dialog between characters began to be just that. They all became funny and sarcastic. Their personalities blended together into the same person. Alisha, Tyb, Mara, Izzy. They began to talk the same way. They were all hilarious though. I laughed out loud a lot reading this. Also, a lot of the action/resolution to the plot happened in the background. I expected Typ and Izzy to have their great battle at the end and Izzy to have her revenge. They were prepared for a fight, and after all their preparations, that's what I expected and wanted. But the information of Christos becoming super vamp/zombie, the island, etc., and then the final big bang all happened in the background without the main character involved. It made the situations feel too convenient. The focus was on Izzy and Tyb's survival and budding relationship, and all the action happened in the background. I wanted to be there when it happened.
If you read and liked Fifty Shades or even if you didn't, I suggest you read Darker Shade of Pale by Mandi Rei Serra. Either way, you will gain a new perspective on the story and possibly learn something about abuse and the BDSM style. Darker Shade of Pale is exciting, steamy, suspenseful, and filled with memorable characters. Mandi Rei Serra succeeded in the places E.L. James lacked.
July 27, 2013
This is a spitefic of Fifty Shades of Grey, originally published under the title "Intervention of Ana."
Having read both, I'll say DSoP left enough clues for a savvy reader to follow the 'let's make fun of Twilight and FSoG at once' trail.
SPOILERS WITHIN
Ana = Selesta/Izzy
Jakob Christos = Christian Grey
The Escape:
Selesta doesn't like her husband. He's a jerk, abusive, threatens to kill and hide her body, yet has a yearning to create a 'perfect species' with Selesta as the mother of it all. She didn't realize how whacked out he was when they married; now she's paying for the mistake.
She makes a deal with her crazy husband; she wants a female bodyguard so Jakob's henchman doesn't have to tail her everywhere. So she does so, incurring Jake's wrath because she didn't hold the interviews where he could spy on her. :(
Anyhow, she finds a female bodyguard with some interesting ties of her own; the bodyguard's twin sister used to be Jakob's sub and is now missing. In exchange for helping the new bodyguard, Zamara, find her twin sister, Zamara will help Selesta escape her crackpot jerkoff of a hubby.
A trip to San Fransisco and a death threat later, Selesta gets the gumption to fake her death and escape Jakob. Zamara's ties come in handy for faking a death and trying to start anew.
Her Freedom:
Selesta goes under the wing of Zamara's brother, Tyb. He's a recluse living up in the mountains on a homestead, avoiding those looking for him and enjoying a simple life. Selesta hides her identity from him, per Zamara's instructions, and adopts a new identity, Izzy.
Izzy comes to a new world; being a city girl means hitting the store for milk, not groping goats. Tyb schools her on survival and firearms and introduces her to a world of self-sufficiency.
It's discovered that Izzy has been tagged by Jakob with an implant that will bounce her position to him via radio signal. After emergency surgery to remove the implant, the sexual tension gets kicked up a notch-- best line (imho) is when Izzy asks Tyb what grit sandpaper is needed to make sure the dildo she plans to whittle doesn't have splinters.
So Izzy and Tyb get all hot and bothered and kinky (high heels and corsets, spankings, role play) and they get some feels for each other.
But then Zamara tells them that the twin sister has been located: alive with Jakob. Oh? And the California Bay Area is now shrouded in nuclear fall-out. Yay, right? Not so much.
Internet porn for the rescue. Really. Tyb and Izzy make some porn and send it to Jakob who totally shits a brick wall. Isn't long before he's heading their way, the missing twin sister in tow. But she's not really okay; she's been infected with a serum made from a bacteria and virus rolled into one; makes the infected crave blood, feel no pain and give super-human powers. Downside is if two infected bite each other, a terciary affect happens: they go boom after glittering like Twinklepires, leaving a salted bomb effect over a large area.
It's now up to Tyb, Izzy, and Zamara to stop Jakob (now infected) from going apeshit and messing up the world on his quest to create a new eden to populate with zompires.
Having read both, I'll say DSoP left enough clues for a savvy reader to follow the 'let's make fun of Twilight and FSoG at once' trail.
SPOILERS WITHIN
Ana = Selesta/Izzy
Jakob Christos = Christian Grey
The Escape:
Selesta doesn't like her husband. He's a jerk, abusive, threatens to kill and hide her body, yet has a yearning to create a 'perfect species' with Selesta as the mother of it all. She didn't realize how whacked out he was when they married; now she's paying for the mistake.
She makes a deal with her crazy husband; she wants a female bodyguard so Jakob's henchman doesn't have to tail her everywhere. So she does so, incurring Jake's wrath because she didn't hold the interviews where he could spy on her. :(
Anyhow, she finds a female bodyguard with some interesting ties of her own; the bodyguard's twin sister used to be Jakob's sub and is now missing. In exchange for helping the new bodyguard, Zamara, find her twin sister, Zamara will help Selesta escape her crackpot jerkoff of a hubby.
A trip to San Fransisco and a death threat later, Selesta gets the gumption to fake her death and escape Jakob. Zamara's ties come in handy for faking a death and trying to start anew.
Her Freedom:
Selesta goes under the wing of Zamara's brother, Tyb. He's a recluse living up in the mountains on a homestead, avoiding those looking for him and enjoying a simple life. Selesta hides her identity from him, per Zamara's instructions, and adopts a new identity, Izzy.
Izzy comes to a new world; being a city girl means hitting the store for milk, not groping goats. Tyb schools her on survival and firearms and introduces her to a world of self-sufficiency.
It's discovered that Izzy has been tagged by Jakob with an implant that will bounce her position to him via radio signal. After emergency surgery to remove the implant, the sexual tension gets kicked up a notch-- best line (imho) is when Izzy asks Tyb what grit sandpaper is needed to make sure the dildo she plans to whittle doesn't have splinters.
So Izzy and Tyb get all hot and bothered and kinky (high heels and corsets, spankings, role play) and they get some feels for each other.
But then Zamara tells them that the twin sister has been located: alive with Jakob. Oh? And the California Bay Area is now shrouded in nuclear fall-out. Yay, right? Not so much.
Internet porn for the rescue. Really. Tyb and Izzy make some porn and send it to Jakob who totally shits a brick wall. Isn't long before he's heading their way, the missing twin sister in tow. But she's not really okay; she's been infected with a serum made from a bacteria and virus rolled into one; makes the infected crave blood, feel no pain and give super-human powers. Downside is if two infected bite each other, a terciary affect happens: they go boom after glittering like Twinklepires, leaving a salted bomb effect over a large area.
It's now up to Tyb, Izzy, and Zamara to stop Jakob (now infected) from going apeshit and messing up the world on his quest to create a new eden to populate with zompires.
March 30, 2014
It had a nice start and then I lost interest when talk of zombies started..but I finished it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews