Actual rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.75
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️.5 (though you know more is coming)
Holy smokes. What a ride this book was, and I was here for it! Please check TW's before diving in as there are some dark elements to this one.
Snatched is the beginning of a new series from Blake Blessing. It has links to her Cardinal Sins and Bastard Brothers of Carnage series, though you do not need to read to understand the world Blessing has created (I personally hadn't read them, and felt it did not hinder my reading experience at all).
This was definitely more of a set up/exposition novel for the series, but did not lack in it's own action and drama. Cressida (Beasty) and her boys, Lake, Kim, Atlas and Joaquin were amazing to read about in this way as I feel you really got to know them, to understand them, whilst also having them all keep an air of mystery to them. The depth of their characterization was amazing, and the diversity in the leading cast - to me - absolutely made this story. I've honestly not read something like this (in sense of diversity) and I loved it - and Blessing wrote it in a way where it was needed to be diverse, not just a throwaway addition to the story.
The set up of the book, with it's time skips and POV changes absolutely helped move the narrative along, whilst exposing little snippets of background and plot devices without giving us too much in one go. There were a few occasions where I got a little lost - four males and one female, with chapters from their childhood to present day does get a little confusing. But it also added to the experience in a way that made you want to keep reading, to find out what was going to happen and if the issues would ever resolve.
I love Beasty and her strength. Her passion for helping the boys and just wanting to get to know them. Wanting to escape the world that she was thrown into but doing it on her own terms. And the boys... yeah, they're rough around the edges. Mildy (okay, very in some cases) toxic. But also very misunderstood and with a past that makes it understandable why they act the way they do.
I loved little Quilliam. Seriously, that was a cute little highlight for me and now I want a Quill of my own.
The book was definitely left on a cliffhanger, but not one that makes you want to throw the book across the room. In saying that, I'm already hooked and cannot wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.