Trapped: Until The Darkest Of Night

by Mila Olsen

Haunting and A Dark Romance
(Standalone novel. Can be read independently of Book 1.)Haunted by a past that never leaves me, I've spent years in the Yukon's unforgiving solitude. Nothing in my life has ever made sense—until I stumble upon Louisa online. With her light and laughter, she seems untouchable, perfect. From that moment, she becomes the center of my universe. Obsessively, I watch her every post, save every photo. She never knows, but she is everything to me.
Then, one day, she vanishes from the online world, and my fragile sense of happiness shatters. Driven by desperation, I concoct a wild abduct Louisa, keep her close forever. But can obsession ever morph into genuine love? What if Louisa isn't the girl I've built up in my mind?

This is a story that will both inspire and disturb, a love story that dares to can true affection grow from dark beginnings?

From the

Lou makes herself even smaller. Images flash before me, of her turning and laughing in her white shirt in the evening light. Suddenly, I have the terrible feeling that I will lose her if I continue.
But I want her! Oh, how I want her! I shouldn’t want her, but I can’t help it.
I let go of the lanterns. As if from another plane, I hear the glass shatter.
Before Lou can react, I grab her and press her elbows to her sides. For a moment, she is still, hanging numbly in my grasp.

This is not a sequel! This book revisits the events of "Trapped – Until You Love Me" from Brendan’s perspective and is not a continuation of the story.

422 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 25, 2024

About the author

Mila Olsen is a pseudonym for German author Uta Maier.

Born in the 70s, Mila Olsen is a child of crises, changes and upheavals. Wooden clogs, punk and anti-nuclear movement included Disco Wave, New Age and "We Children from Zoo Station". At the age of 12 she wanted to become a writer, but this dream came true much later.

Today she writes stories about love and life. Because of her education and her interest in psychological phenomena, her novels often revolve around borderline experiences.

Reviews

[A. Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 2 in the Under the Northern Skies series. The first book was told from Lou's perspective. This book is solely told from Bren's perspective. It gives the reader some idea's as to what was on Brendan’s mind leading up to kidnapping Lou and after. Almost all of this book is repeated material, if you've read the first book. Just the point of view is totally different. Personally, I think Brendan was in love with the image of Lou on social media. Brendan thought Lou was full of life and happy. In reality, Lou wasn't truly happy at home. I feel like that's often the case with social media. What you see is not reality. Lou literally said she wanted a change. A change she certainly got. I think Brendan was misguided in his attempts to win Lou over. I did feel sorry for Bren because he was constantly trying to please Lou and believing he was doing everything wrong. Bren was unfortunately a product of his upbringing. That effects Bren still, negatively. Bren thinks he's unworthy of love. Why kidnap someone to hope they fall in love with you? Bren is the most harmless kidnapper I've read though. Bren needs Lou's light to bring him out of the darkness. At one point, Bren decides to make Lou justify her feelings. There's only one way he knows how to do that. I think that Brendan and Lou both need to figure some things out about theirselves. Nothing is more imperative than Brendan’s mental health. I'm looking forward to the next book because we will get a chance to see if Lou and Bren can make it. If so where? Bren told Lou he can't be around people. I would imagine Lou will still have trust issues to sort through. I know I would. Is Lou going to wonder when Bren is going to break out the handcuffs and consider her his prisoner again? I feel like there will be no shortage of issues in the next book.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Claudia |✨Cushin Violeta's Bookish Realm✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting yet hopeful..

𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑷𝑬𝑺/ 𝑩𝑶𝑶𝑲 𝑯𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺 :📑

◾ Captive Romance
◾ Stalker
◾ Obsessed H/ Troubled Past
◾ Secrets and danger

📢 𝑪𝑨𝑼𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑹𝒀 𝑪𝑨𝑳𝑳-𝑶𝑼𝑻: 📢

Please read the author's CW as the H has a painful childhood past and his troubled psyche is heartbreaking to witness. Also involves DID and the triggers behind Brendan's personality, so dive in carefully.

𝑴𝒀 𝑹𝑬𝑽𝑰𝑬𝑾: 📝

Haunting yet hopeful, this was a tale of a man shackled by his painful past, trying to survive, trying to fight his demons and live his life yet barely making it, surviving.

Even though this is book 2 in the series, let me clarify that this one doesn't continue after where we left off in book 1 because it's not a sequel.
But rather this one is an alternate POV story from Brendan's side and we get to delve deep into his past circumstances and his state of mind and what makes him click.

It was oh so painful, horrifying and upsetting to see Brendan having no fault of his still fighting the traumas left behind by the painful scars of his childhood life.

But his entire life changes when he stumbles upon a girl online, who becomes his Obsession and soon his entire world.
Louisa has a perfect life, is what Brendan feels and each and every post of hers makes Brendan's day complete.

His fascination soon becomes a need and when Lou suddenly disappears from the online world, Brendan is driven to take drastic actions.

Even though this follows the same trajectory as book 1, yet it was so interesting and also Heart-Breaking to witness the struggle and pain of Brendan.

Yet it was also beautiful to see how Louisa brings that ray of sunshine into his life and makes his life breathable and makes him want to be more and be a better person.

Witnessing his healing and especially how he goes through it all, all for a girl he's crazy about was truly emotional to see. I'm definitely intrigued to see what the future holds for these two lovebirds. ❤️

[Sho Gideon · Rating 5 out of 5]

when I finished the first book I felt conflicted on if I should read Bren's book or not, because the dark romance novelist in me just wanted more of the story. I find myself SO glad to have read this book before the continuation of the story. I usually find different POV books are just copy paste versions of the first book (the lines are the same and all the rest is mostly filler) Olsen broke this conception for me. She shifts the words and narrative in a way that makes you wonder which one of them is the more unreliable narrator. Sometimes the one word in dialogue that changes between books means more than everything she tells you about the characters directly. I know this says it's a standalone book, which is absolutely true, but I honestly feel reading them both in succession unravels a deeper mystery than I ever expected to find in a dark romance. I picked up this book series expecting to read some smutty trash but I found myself lost in a true, emotional tale about deep madness, teenage grief, and the goodest boy in the world, Grey.

[Adrianna Heaney-velu · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Trapped: Until the Darkest of Night,” by Mila Olsen

He is haunted by his memories, spiraling into darkness, until he stumbles upon Louisa online. Louisa is a bright, happy teen who makes social media content. He becomes addicted and obsessed so when she goes on vacation, he cannot live with that. The only thing he can do is stalk her and try to abduct her.

What a crazy book. It’s like dark romance stalking but seriously mentally ill. I loved being in the mind of a total psychopath. He’s not morally grey characters I usually see but real life crazy. It was so strange to be in his mind space that I was glued to each and every page. What a roller coaster. I did not want him to get the girl but also felt super bad for him because of everything that brought him to this point, which was fun. I really liked this book and can’t wait to read more by Mila Olsen. 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you for the ARC, Booksprouts.

[Rowena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this knowing it was book 2 but also knowing it was a standalone so it was possible to read it. This is in Brendan's perspective. This was a little bit of a slow read for me but it goes into depth with the story. You see him go from this lonely sort of hermit person not wanting to be near people and telling his story you can understand why. You see all these bad traits but one person can turn all that around and he definitely found his person in Lou even when he knew he had to let her go

I received this as an arc and leaving an honest review.

[stephanie cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love stand alone books. It gives you a peak into a world with new places and characters, giving you a moment to decide if it is worth becoming completely obsessed with series.

Brendan's point of view was a amazing. I love how it is a slow read, easing you into the story with so much depth to keep your mind going.

Olsen is a beautiful writer, bringing so much to life in a story that makes your heart beat faster.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

His life is not easy and he is about to find her online where he follows her. His life will get worse when she disappears and he wants to find her. Can he find her? What happened? How will it all go? Follow them to find out
I received an advance copy from hidden gems and I want to review

[Michelle Lafferty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a great book but definitely wanna read the first book in series

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

this story is from Bren POV and shows things from his pov in the kidnapping of Lou, and engaging insight for the series.

[Tina Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

I love the way you told his story in the 2nd book of the series.. Thank you for great read , I can't wait to start the 3rd book...⭐