Captive Dreams

Torhtremer Saga #1

by Angela Knight, Diane Whiteside

Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1

Double the heat: the queens of super-sexy paranormal romance join forces for a one-of-kind novel.

Celeste and Corinne Carson are more than sisters-they're bestselling writers, each with a fantasy-fulfilling alpha-male hero. For Celeste, it's Jarred, a conqueror from the future. For Corinne, it's the barbarian Mykhayl from a world long ago. Devilishly sensual warriors, Jarred and Mykhayl have something in common themselves-they're both more real than their creators could have imagined. Fearing that the sisters are about to write them off, Jarred and Mykhayl decide to exact sweet revenge. The plan? Kidnap Celeste and Corinne, spirit them away to the very worlds of which they wrote, and persuade them to surrender to the sublime punishments of their own uninhibited imaginations.

Genres: Romance, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Erotica, Anthologies, Science Fiction

336 pages, Trade Paperback

First published August 23, 2002

About the author

Angela Knight is an American author of mostly erotic fantasy.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK so I only read angela knight's story and you can say I was not disapointed there was alot and I mean ALOT of really steamy really kinky sex scenes.
If you have read angela knights other stuff such as Jane's Warlord and liked it you will really like this.
The storyline wasn't as great as it could be but to be honest with you I really don't care. It's a sex novel people seem to forget that. The purpose to reading it is the sex and this sex was AMAZING and there was ALOT of it. I believe I counted 6 and 1/2 sex scenes.
In case you want to know here's a summary:
Celeste is a sci-fi author who is taken captive by the fictional character she has been writing about for the last 10 years (Jarred.) She is sept up into his world (keep in mind it's the world she created when she wrote about him-now it has become reality) and lets just say at first he isn't to happy with her. His orginal plan is to punish her for all the things she made happen to him when she wrote about him. His punishment- really kinky sex. Now don't worry Angela Knight is really good at making kinky sex NOT look like rape. She makes sure you know that both parties are enjoying what is happening, so if that was a turn off for you-worry no more.
The only reason this got 4 stars and not 5 stars for me was because the story was too short for me I wanted it to be longer it skipped like 2 weeks (all of which I would love to read *hint* *hint*-fan-fictioners)

[Darla Stokes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, boy. This book grabbed me from page 1. I love, love, love the premise: sisters Celeste and Corinne are writers--Corinne writes paranormal romance, and Celeste writes science fiction. Two characters, one from each of their series, get together to bring Celeste and Corinne into their fictional worlds, and they're after revenge. If you've read Angela Knight &/or Diane Whiteside before, you won't be surprised to discover that said revenge takes a decidedly sexual bent.

****½ "Bound by the Dragon" by Diane Whiteside.
This is Corinne's story. Mykhayl has been an ongoing character in her fantasy romance series, and she's found HEAs for all his siblings, but hasn't been able to imagine the perfect woman for him. She's also rendered him sterile to prevent any accidental pregnancies and he's really not happy about that.

Unfortunately, the fate of the entire kingdom hangs on Mykhayl producing an heir. Corinne, as a sorceress in this world, may have the power to cure his sterility, but getting him to trust a sorceress, after what she put him through with the Gray Sorceress, may be even more difficult. And meanwhile, Corinne is worrying about Celeste.

***** "Bound by the Dream" by Angela Knight.
Celeste's story. This one's a little darker. Celeste is divorced from an abusive husband who liked to tie her up, so the bondage Jarred, the hero from her science fiction series, puts her through is more difficult for her. And Jarred is not inclined to go easy on her, because she killed his best friend, and if that's not bad enough, in the last conversation he overheard between the sisters, Celeste was discussing how to kill him off.

Jarred's plan is to tame Celeste, to train her as a sexsub, then give her to his friend, the alien slaver De'Lar. He didn't plan on falling for her, and he fights it every inch of the way. There's a nice twist at the end.

The two stories are linked by a common prologue and epilogue, and by the explicit and very steamy sex scenes. (Where can I get one of those racks from "Bound by the Dream"?!) Both authors are skilled at writing sex scenes--there was no awkwardness or coyness to them, and they actually advanced the plots. Most tellingly, for me, anyway: I wasn't tempted to skim them.

I've probably given each story an extra half star because I enjoyed the premise so much, but then my ratings are all about how much I enjoyed the stories, not anything objective, so I'm okay with that.

[Melodie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good grief!! Can you say AWFUL??? I mean REALLY, REALLY AWFUL?? I think you can! I have a bunch of credits I need to use up on PBS, so when I was over there a while back this book popped up as just listed. Sounded just weird enough to be interesting, so I got it. The good thing about this book? It reminded me why I quit reading romances a long time ago. With this one there wouldn't have been anything at all to these "stories", and I use the term VERY loosely, without the sex. I like sex in my books, as long as it's good sex and well written. This "Me Man! Me take!" shit, though? If there is really a good story to go along with it, that can be just fine....but when it's written like this crap? I don't think so. I need to make a special note of this book somewhere, so the next time I'm tempted to pick up another romance I can refer back to this and stop myself. Life's way too short to waste time on crap like this...even when it's your "purse book"!

[Yz the Whyz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise sounds very promising. Authors captured by their own creations and dragged into their respective imaginary worlds.

Corinne and Celeste got the shock of their lives when the heroes of their respective books showed up and proceeded to kidnapped them. Not only where the men real, they are angry at all the trials and tribulations the unsuspecting writers had put them through, and are ready to extract their revenge.

I was prepared to enjoy this book, but unfortunately it did not turn out as fun as I thought it would be. The characters feel two-dimensional, and even though the sex was hot and kinky, it felt forced and slightly over-the-top. I just didn’t buy the emotional development between each couple.

A note of warning: There is some dubious consent scenes in this book, so if that is not your thing, don’t even bother picking this one up.

[Jamie Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the overall story arch of this one. the idea behind it was very intriguing. I found Diane Whiteside's story about Corinne and Mykhayl was a bit harder to read; between her wording being a bit over embelished and some of the world building seeming missing. I still really liked the overall story though. Angela Knight's story about Celeste and Jarred was much shorter but seemed much more to the point and I very much liked how it tied in together at the end.

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very uneven, despite an intriguing concept. The premise involves 2 sisters who are both authors - one writes romances while the other writes science fiction - who are captured by their own creations, their alpha heroes, and returned to the worlds that they've created. It is an interesting concept, but the execution was lacking. There are basically 2 novellas in this book:

Bound by the Dragon (written by Diane Whiteside) is the one I struggled to get through. There were several problems with this story which involves the romance storyline/world. First, there seemed to be a mishmash of mythologies - there were Oriental symbols (dragons, tigers, turtles) mixed in with Russian names (Mykhael, Ghryghoriy, Yevgheniy) mixed in with pagan sounding rituals (Hunter's Watch, Goddess's Dance). The storyline seemed confused and much was made of unblocking the curse placed on the hero by the sorceress (and of course it must be done via ritual sex) and yet it was almost anti-climatic (pun intended, lol). I simply found this story a slog.

Bound by the Dream (written by Angela Knight) was better, at least in terms of plot and it was definitely less convoluted. This time the other sister is catapulted into the science fiction world that she'd created and her alpha hero/part cyborg Jarred is ticked off. He wants to frustrate her as he's been frustrated in book after book. Of course, this takes the form mostly of some steamy action, but there's also some other action along the way and it is at least more understandable than the first novella. The ending is wrapped up a little too neatly for my tastes, but it fits with the overall book.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot and sexy erotic romances. The heat level was through the roof, and the premise of hot fictional heroes turning out to be real is pure catnip to readers.

The first story (with Corinne and Mykhail) was a lot stronger, just because the world seemed better developed and stakes actually felt really high. The shifts in power dynamic between the couple was super hot, and the rituals sounded beautiful. I also loved the animal elements with the Tigerheart, Dragonheart and of course Mazur the giant cat (a panther, I think?).

The second story (with Celeste and Jarred) started off with much hotter sex scenes, but to me, the heat level fizzled out a bit more quickly. Unlike in Corinne's story, Celeste's magical powers never really went anywhere, and after the Big Bad of the first story, this one lacked teeth. That being said, the 'torture' (read: pleasure) pod is an ingenious invention.

[RealmsQueen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only liked the first half of this book, as it was high fantasy. Mythical medival king with a Dragon for a spirit brother looking for his queen kind of thing. Very up my alley. What surprised me however was how quickly it gets into the raunchy sex scenes, and how many there are. I'm not one to embarass easily, but these scenes made me blush.

The second story I could not get into. Found myself flipping from page to page just to be done, mostly because this one was all sci-fi futuristic space cowboy finds his cowgirl kind of thing. not my style. But hey, if its someone elses, knock yourself out.

[Sahrish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grh! The first story was okay! The second one was so very much disturbing!

[Amber Daulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The two novellas in this anthology collection share a prologue and opens with the heroines, sisters Corrine and Celeste, talking about the frustrating heroes in the romance books that they write. The women never expect those heroes to magically appear and kidnap them, sending them on the adventure of a lifetime.

In “Bound by the Dragon” by Diane Whiteside, romance author Corrine Carson is captured by a gorgeous seven foot tall, red-headed warrior who’s seriously angry with her. He takes her to his home in a mythical land, one that shouldn’t exist anywhere outside Corrine’s mind and the studio that’s turning her books into movies. She’s tortured this poor man time and again (in her books, that is), but once she lets herself realize that this magical world and Mykhayl are actually real, she feels horrible over what she’s done.
High King Mykhayl wants revenge, and he paid a sorcerer dearly for the magic to take him and his friend Jarred to Earth, so they could seek revenge on the women who have tormented them.
Corrine and Mykhayl are awesome characters. He’s tormented over his past and unable to move on, but determined to do so for the sake of his people. Though he has a hundred concubines at his command, he only wants Corrine even though he doesn’t trust her. Corrine wants to make amends for what she’s done and sleeping with Mykhayl is definitely not a chore.
Though I liked the book, some of the descriptive rituals and long, multiple sex scenes slowed the pacing. I loved both the formal and snappy dialogue, the world building, and the slew of secondary characters, especially Kyhber, the Imperial Dragon.
4 Stars

In “Bound by the Dream” by Angela Knight, sci/fi author Celeste Carson finds herself in another universe, a few hundred years into the future. The space captain/government agent she created is sinfully dark, hot, and erotic, a total dominant, and he’s holding her captive on his spaceship, vowing revenge for the death of his best friend and all the torture he’s endured.
Jarred Varrain has dreamed of revenge for years, but he cannot hurt a woman. He will, however, pleasure her to the point of pain and make her beg for release. He never expected to actually like and respect the courageous woman he’s tying up, but he’s determined to rid himself of the obsession he harbors for her by any means necessary, and then discard her.
WOW! What a story! I loved it! Jarred is definitely a tormented hero with a sadistic side, but Celeste is drawing out the honorable man inside him. She’s strong and capable and often stands up to and teases the overbearing man. They have great chemistry, both in and out of the bedroom.
Though there’s not a large cast of secondary characters, Jarred’s friend De’Lar is completely yummy. I love the world building. Most of the H/h’s time is spent on Jarred’s ship, but the sensory detail kept me interested and didn’t feel like padding. The sex scenes are awesome and very kinky with a BDSM edge, and though there were several of them, none felt repetitive. Each scene seemed to progress the H/h budding romance and drew them closer together.
5 Stars

Overall Book – 4.5 Stars

[🌟Star🌟 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a little hard getting through Corrine's story Bound by the Dragon. I found the mix of her modern quips with her more old fashioned surroundings annoying for some reason. There was also not a lot of explanation about how Corrine's teachings in chi'i and martial arts matched with that world's magic and sorcery. I felt like I was missing something that should have been explained earlier or that I needed to have more prior knowledge of chi and meridians and how they worked. Another thing I could have done without were the sex scenes. Literally chapter after chapter, without fail there was a sex scene. There wasn't nearly enough romance between the two characters but I did enjoy their few tender moments.

Celeste's story, Bound by the Dream, was easier to get through. She had a tendency to act rashly rather than think things through but it wasn't a big deal for me. I liked that I could see more of Jarred's view points, that I could see more his thoughts and emotions. It made things more genuine between him and Celeste.

I would have liked more world building and plot but these are short stories. I enjoyed them though and liked the concept Diane Whiteside and Angela Knight wrote about.

[Glenna Kachtik · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise was interesting...2 romantic leads who cross the dimensions to capture the authors who made them up....One an erotic romance writer (who by the way, had never written certain kinds of sex scenes) & one who wrote sci-fy romance. Mikhayl is Corinne's invention & he is a High King. At one point in her books, she had him bitten by an ice serpent & he is sterile now & he is angry at her. Jarred is a cyborg & he is furious with sister Celeste. Unbeknownst to either of them the Dragon Khyber - sets the whole plan in motion because he knows that each couple needs that partner & it will heal the dimension.

It had wayyyy to much graphic sex for me; but some of the situations were interesting. 2 alpha males who found that their subservient females weren't so subservient. 2 Authors who learned that they should be more careful with what they create - but HEAs all around.

[SilverGlass · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. Not even close. The book barely started and the vibes were way off and I went to myself- this is going to get rapey real fast isn’t it.
I was right.
Being taken from my loved ones by a hot sexy alpha male hunk and be made into his sex thing is not my jam.
I wish goodreads had a did not finish option cuz this book was made for it.
(Yes I did read far enough to the sex scenes and the ick vibes never left me so my reaction stands)

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled to understand most of the first novella because of all the magic and mysticism. Knight's story was clearer to understand. Both stories would be considered erotica rather than romance.

Both novellas center around the trope of revenge, which can be murky for some people. The reviews that suggested "rape"-like scenes may not understand the power exchange found in BDSM. At no time did any character not consent to the relationships.

[Krystyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living on the page and now off it

Awesome - two stories in one book. What would happen if an author's created hero was suddenly real. Especially as the author is now going to end the life of their created hero. This is what happens to two sisters. See how they resolve their issues. Highly recommended for all fantasy lovers. (So much better than the "Masters" series.)

[Trudy Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely a steamy read!

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Hadassah Houben · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun romp

[JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book in an overnight read. I do have to say that the concept of two author sisters writing bestselling books have their heroes come to life, grab them around their neck and throw them into the universe they thought they created when writing, but are actually really there, is a nice background for any story.

The first story by Diane Whiteside was really to my liking, though if I hadn't known anything about Chinese mythology and the four Gods of the Seven Kingdoms I would have been lost at all the implications made. I also wasn't sure what to make of the dark wizard with all his snow. The story itself was nicely centered on Corinne's book hero, Mykhayl, with a lot of hurt feelings, trust issues and carnal lust. I also liked how the fight at the end developed though I couldn't relate to Corinne's feelings at the end. The author rushed through the end, made Corinne hurt because Mykh obviously had rejected her and she had to play her part of the story to "save them all", but then she just forgets her hurt feelings and rushes to his side? I really can't relate to story endings like that. I like a little, witty fight and the boy groveling before her feet to get her thrust back. But that's probably my preference issue and not that of the author. All in all, I really enjoyed it - especially since I love stories about kingdoms and dragons and hotter than hell heroes. *wink*

I also really enjoyed Angela Knights novella about Celeste and her character, Jarred, set into the future of another universe. It totally grabbed me, even though I'm not into sci-fi stories, normally. Unfortunately, I thought that some story strings could have been a little better and clearer. She rushed through a lot of sex and abandon and built up a real relationship between the two characters only to have it hanging then jumping nearly 2 weeks ahead in the story to just finish it in a few pages with her sister coming astride a dragon to "rescue" her.

All in all I give the book a 5* rating as the whole idea behind those two stories nicely fit and both stories - though it irks me a little - are well written and captivating. I really had trouble closing the book before I read all of it, from bottom to top.

[Kathrynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not care for the way the women were treated in this one. The sex was borderline abuse and did not feel romantic for This Reader.

The premise: two sisters that write erotica and often put their two main "heros" through horrible ordeals come face-to-face with their main male characters. The book begins as one, then shifts into two separate short stories: one story for each (now) captured sister in two different themes (sci-fi & ancient).

One "hero" has an axe to grind and wants his author to suffer for what she has put him through in the books she wrote about him. This is the sci-fi story and he uses a "sex bed" (weird doesn't even do that one justice) to "punish" her, then decides to give her to a friend that has a sex business on another planet. There is some sharing here.

The other story had more romance and the hero wasn't as much on a mission to punish the heroine. Some really long erotic scenes in this one, i.e., tasting room.

[Circa Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story by Diane Whiteside is completely ridiculous and borders on unintentional parody and I'm still confused with her handling of the character's motivations. Her "alpha male"'s (shudder- is a dominant prick supposed to be attractive?) revenge for being written as a novel protaganist who gets his junk enslaved by an evil sorceress doesn't make any sense. And he refuses to trust Corrine (the submissive female lead- if you want to keep up the references to characters as if they are freaking pack animals) because, no joke, he believes that her vagina will enchant him under a dark spell. 'Nuff said.

The second story by title author Angela Knight however makes up for the awful first story with a logical reason for the male lead to be brooding and tormented and a female lead that has a refreshingly frank and witty outlook on her situation. It's still really over-the-top and trashy but it's fun trash.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

It's a two-fer. Authors Angela Knight and Diane Whiteside had me at the back blurb. The plot of two authors getting sucked into the universes they created by the main hotty males they have created...was awesome. Great idea, loved reading it.

Obviously some more than others. The prologue was a creative way to start off these duel adventures. Then it splits into a story for each sister Corrine and Celeste. One goes to a world of magic, sorceress, and such the other to a sci-fi futuristic space world with some 'interesting' things.

I found the first story to drag on a bit to much but thoroughly enjoyed the second. The first story had more of a secondary plot with some magic and romance. The second caught my interest and didn't let go. Not much of a plot but I enjoyed it.

The sisters were interesting characters along with their male counterparts. Those alpha males with that hint of danger...yum.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many aspects of this book I enjoyed. The writing was good for the genre, the characters were interesting, and I loved the powers the female characters gained over the course of the book. My favourite character actually ended up being the dragon with his constent derision of mortals. The sex was sufficiently steamy and the story plots were enough to keep me interested to the end.

However, the one issue I have is how uncomfortably close the storylines of the first sexaul encounter with each of the female characters with each of the male characters came to rape by coheresion. The writers of each story attempted to skirt around the issue, trying to write the heroines as eventual willing partners before any sex took place but it still got a little too close to coheresion for me to be entirely comfortable with that plot device. This is the only reason I did not give this book a higher rating. I would also give this book a trigger warning due to this fact for potential readers.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bound by the Dragon - 2.5*
- Cute but a bit confusing since it felt like we were thrown in the middle of a story > I wasn't familiar with Mikhael's world, or Corrine's book series, so the different tribes, creatures, sorceresses, warriors, lands, and kingdoms were just a hodge podge of randomly thrown names that I couldn't really make myself remember...it bored me a bit... While there was a lot of sex, it was somewhat boring too... nothing too hot, due to the author's language used...

Bound by the Dream - 4*
- Excellent story and hot, too! I liked both characters and the setting of this romance... It was much better than the first one and way less complicated in terms of the world building... Wish this one was longer (this is the shorter of the two stories)...

[July · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this author and this book sounded so good. But, I could not really get into it. I did read it but I really not love it. It was okay. The author of short stories goes to a summer meet that is held once a year which sounds like a science fiction fantasy fest. She notices a hunk of a man that will be a great fighter in a compitition and from then on they are pretty much a couple well they find themselves the enemies of one man. This man ends up being the cause of them going through space to another time to Torhtremer another land.

[Erin Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Corinne: Names, names, names. It got to the point where I stopped reading the names and started identifying everyone by the first letter. The rest was pretty interesting -- though I did have a bit of a hard time adjusting to the Tigerheart/Dragonheart/throne thing.

Celeste: This is purely a fault of mine. Generally, I don't really like futuristic sci-fi stuff. I started it and tried, for the sake of the original sister storyline, but it didn't interest me. Again, this is no fault of the author or the writing.

[Linda C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Corinne and Celeste are sisters and authors. Corinne writes romances set in a magical ancient world and Celeste writes science fiction set in the far future. Both are suffering writer's block and considering killing of their heroes and starting fresh when their heroes appear and kidnap them. They want their revenge for the 10 years of torture they have been put through. Each takes their author to their world. Diane Whiteside writes Corinne's story and Angela Knight writes Celeste's. Both stories are erotic tales. Not outstanding plots, but sexy.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book held great promise: two sisters who are writers don't know that they are directly influencing the lives of their heroes in other universes. The men get together and find a magical way to show themselves in the women's world and then take them back to their own world's to exact their revenge. Great plotline, unfortunately it was not fleshed out well at all--the book was mainly sex and often fairly graphic. More like erotica w/ barely a story to connect the sex scenes.

[Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story line seemed pretty cool - two sisters are sucked into the worlds they created and have to answer to the characters they write about. I also like Angela Knight's work, so I thought it'd be a fun read.

Um...nowhere in the description was it mentioned that this book was about bondage. In retrospect, "Captive Dreams" should have tipped me off. So even though stories were inventive and fun, I couldn't get around the "simulated" rape or liberal use of restraints.