Dark Captive: Manlove Edition

by Katelyn Uplinger (Editor), Doris O'Connor (Contributor), Michelle Graham (Contributor)

Everyone has a dark side..,

Dark Captive is an exclusive collection of dark erotic romance stories featuring alpha men with fierce sexual appetites. They'll stop at nothing to get what they want. And they have their sights on one man. Possessive and bold, these heroes give their conquests exactly what they crave—to be taken … to be owned. Any resistance offered will be tested, but in the end love rules.


Kidnapping, abduction, and sexual slavery are just a few of the titillating taboo themes in this hand-picked manlove anthology.

Genres: Anthologies, BDSM, M M Romance, Dark, Dark Romance, Erotica, Short Stories

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 18, 2016

Reviews

[James Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

The publisher gave me the pleasure of adding my story to this anthology. All the stories are absolutely fantastic and I'm sporting a...nevermind. The point is they're sexy. *G*

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome collection of some really steaming and hot stories, damn!! Enjoyed every one from single word to single word.

[KnottyGirl Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start off by saying that this book is a departure from my usual faire of books that I indulge in. I’m pretty much your male/female kinda gal, though I do enjoy male/male/female books depending on who is writing them. (i.e Tymber Dalton, Doris O’Connor ect.) So, it was because Doris had a story in this anthology that I grabbed a copy from her and took a bite. I wasn’t disappointed.

Her story, Ransomed, A contract-for hire named Perry is given an assignment to kidnap Danvers O’Flynn, the golden boy senators son. But when he finds the engaged, soon-to-be-married man in a back alley in Soho, London giving blow jobs to undeserving men, he figures out pretty quickly Danny-boy isn’t what he thought he was. After a hot interlude between the two, Perry knocks him out and takes him home, where he ties him to his bed. There he decides to engage in some very hot D/s play while waiting to see if Danny’s father and future father-in-law paw the ransom. The story takes some surprising and not so surprising twists and turns from there, but I really enjoyed it.

So much so, I decided to venture forth in the book and found I also liked Runner by Kai Tyler, Collecting His Debt by Angelique Voisen and Taken by Michelle Graham. The other authors, James Cox, Pelaam, Lea Bronsen, and L.J. Longo wrote equally juicy tales as well. They all did a rather great job at portraying the dark theme of the book and I can’t wait to read it’s male/female counterpart. But for those of you who enjoy a little darkness with your man loving. Dark Captive is it!
4 and a ½ Orgasms for the book, but a big ole 5 Orgasm shout out for Doris O’Connor’s Ransomed!

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 - “Ransomed” by Doris O’Connor - fantastic edging scene - lost points for weird disruptive time gap.
4.0 - “Collecting His Debt” by Angelique Voisen - revenge kidnapping that backfired.
3.5 - “I Love the Way You Hurt Me” by James Cox - prison guard/convict - violent with a sweet ending - lost points for being too short, damn it!
2.0 - “Shanghai” by Pelaam - angry sub who liked dressing up - no manties - emotion didn't come through in BDSM scene - Kim Dare does this type of story well.
1.0 - “Taken” by Michelle Graham - rescued sex slave - S&M - poorly developed - no emotion.
4.5 - “Get Off Hard” by Lea Bronsen - down & out retired masochistic GFY hockey player found himself with younger player.
4.0 - "Uninvited Love" by L.J. Longo - suppressed virgin (Asian) Indian kidnaped prostitute trying to turn over new leaf.
2.0 - “Runner” by Kai Tyler - Russian mob kidnapping/payment - not enough page time for Stockholm Syndrome buildup.

[Kiru Taye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome anthology of dark erotic m/m romance stories

[Daria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great bundle of semi dark to dark, M/M stories Doris topped it off and loved it, I read 5 enjoyed each one of them. Ill be back to add the reviews for the last three. Talented authors, awesome stories

Ransomed by Doris O’Connor

We don’t all get to choose how our lives play out. If you have a power hungry father and he has rich friends. Children of high society/polital front runners has their life taken over by the parents. Its all about whats to be gained.

Danny is just one of the unlucky one with a parent like that, his sole purpose was what he’d bring to his fathers bid for the white house.

Will Danny’s capture be his downfall or his saving grace? Nice quick read, detailed enough for me to keep turning the pages. Enjoyed the characters as well as the story line. A bit of BDSM, a bit of hot, a bit of passion. It was fun enjoy.

Collecting His Debt by Angelique Volsen
4 stars

They say revenge is best served cold, well the Debt Collector had 10 years to let his hate freeze and make him into a monster.
Carter’s dad is a donkey, and that’s the nicest word I can come up with. Carter himself has to hide his feelings, he has to have quick meets in a dark alley’s never getting the chance to love or be loved.
James gets to know first hand the meaning of best laid plans and just how things can change. Things that were once important, just doesn’t matter.


I love the way you hurt me by James Cox
Ah that forbidden fruit and the heaven when find in its taste. Devil is a CO in a male prison, a hard ass and doesn’t have a problem laying his baton upside a head when needed.

The forbidden fruit comes in the form of Sheamus, a quiet first time criminal. There’s more than one set of eyes on the shy little red headed cutie. Fight equals revenge, mess with mine I break yours.


Shanghai Pelaam

I enjoyed this alot, even though it was a quick read the story line was capturing. Two males one semi broken the other all the way broken. How they met and what the Dom did in getting what he wanted. Society always seems to want to dictate what the norm is. But the norm is as individual as any couple can be. Strive to be yourself, trusting when you are so full of fear. Some turn to anger to hide the broken, some turn to loneliness. When a Dom spots the sub he watches, and sees more in him than any other did. Will patience win the night?


Taken by Michelle Graham

There is always a bit of strange in kink, its all good when whatever it is, is consensual. The Warehouse I’m sure doesn’t even know what the word means. All they know is money will get you what you want how you want it.
Diego been there done that, he should be ok with what happened behind closed doors. All of a sudden he wasn’t and chaos reigned. Ty spent most of his young life in the warehouse, being a prize for what ever Dom paid the price.
Even dark sometimes has enough of dark, the sound of a whip a scream of pain and Diego has reached his limit of what he is ok with.

[Kai Tyler]

The Dark Captive: Manlove Edition is out on Friday, 20th May. My story, Runner , is featured in it.

You can find out more about the anthology here: http://www.kaityler.com/#!dark-captive/gc9b6

Join the Facebook Release Party: https://goo.gl/rsKEUL

[Louis Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original review for Kimmers' Erotic Book Banter blog, Contributor: Louis

Teaser
When I realized this anthology included a short story by Pelaam, my excitement level shot through the roof! I’ve been following Pelaam’s work for many years – even from her Literotica days. I remember lying in bed at age 16 reading her stories on my cell phone at night with the cover drawn over my head, and falling in love with her strong alpha men and distressed, dazzling twinks.

So of course I was all over this anthology when it landed in my grubby little hands, and I totally enjoyed Shanghai by Pelaam.

See Full Review Here:
http://goo.gl/AkS6zD

[D.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't help myself and totally dived into this. Pleasantly surprised and couldn't put it down!

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Captive is a multi authored darker MM anthology with some rough and gritty stories inside. Ransomed by Doris O'Connor, Collecting his Debt by Angelique Voisen, I Love the Way You Hurt Me by James Cox, Shanghai by Pelaam, Taken by Michelle Graham, Get Off Hard by Lea Bronsen, Uninvited love by L.J. Longo, and Runner by Kai Tyler. All are really well written and well done stories. In this review I am going to pick out just a couple I liked as to not give away all the secrets inside of this anthology.
Collecting His Debt by Angelique Voisen. Well I would read anything Ms. Voisen wrote so I can safely say I am a huge fangirl of hers. In this book we have Carter he is a very sweet character who has a darkness in him too. He is going into a trap and James cannot help himself he has to save him, but can he keep the man he loves? What kind of world could a rich boy and a cleaner be in love? I liked this one a lot it is gritty and rough. Just like James. I also liked the connection the characters have, that is what kept me reading and cheering. Very engaging and hot sex does not hurt either.
The next story I would say for me stood out is a new to me author.Get Off Hard by Lea Bronsen . In this story we have two hot hockey players who cannot decide if they want to kill each other or well be between the sheets with each other. Their story has many layers to it. One is a rookie who has had a rough time of it. He needs to have faith again. The other is a pro who has a ton of past pain he is carrying around. These two could have had a much longer story, I did feel this short was just a beginning for them. Loved the connection and the whole story itself for this one.
Over all this anthology is edgy and a little dark. But if you like your men rough and tough this is the anthology for you.

Five Shooting Stars

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

RANSOMED – DORIS O’CONNOR

Perry, a contract killer, was given the job of kidnapping a high profile man’s son. He comes across him one night in an ally occupied, doing something his father would greatly disapprove of.
Danny is engaged to the daughter of the man who has the funds to help his father politically, the only problem is that Danny is gay.
Perry finds himself drawn to young Danny and instead of killing him, he has other plans. But first he must prove the young man is dead.
Will Danny be grateful and embrace his new identity and will he embrace Perry as well.

[bopityboo · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 - Ransomed by Doris O'Connor
okay-ish, doesn't really work as a very short story but would have done as a novella or more. Didn't really take many notes because I hadn't anticipated the next two to be meh as well.

2 - Collecting His Debt by Angelique Voisen
same as the first short story, the relationship develops far too quickly and inorganically to be believable (for example the unoriginal pet name coming out of nowhere and staying until the end, both characters using the same, jolted me out of it each time it was written).
didn't really like the writing, found it a bit underworked with some clichés and awkwardly used words or expressions.
big pet peeve (especially when someone is writing dark stories in the US where they are *very* present): guns make a hell of a lot of noise, even with silencers! they're actually more and more called suppressors because they *suppress* some of the noise of the gunshot but don't *silence* it. so no "I screw the silencer on and can shoot without the nextdoor neighbour IN AN APARTMENT BUILDING hearing it.

3 - I Love The Way You Hurt Me by James Cox
Typical prison story "all the prisoners are animals and the guards are The Good Ones putting them in their place except for the love interest who is The Poor Innocent"
Spelling errors or missing words. Inconsistencies, which is both distracting and frustrating. Details that don't really serve the story or character building—wich in a short story is especially wasteful. Average writing style.
pet peeve (explicit so put it in spoiler): when deapthroating the penis goes into the oesophagus, NOT the trachea: first, the trachea has a diameter of ±2cm with cartilage rings around it so it cannot extend, second, if any fluid get into it you wil at best choke and at worse drown

At this point I was strongly considering not finishing the anthology.

4 - Shanghai by Pelaam
Writing is ok, a few spelling mistakes. The story is better than the first three: it takes its time and let the characters and their relationships breathe and build. The internal monologues are bit cliché though and it is far less dark than the three first stories.

5 - Taken by Michelle Graham
Read it in one sitting without getting distracted or taking my phone out to make notes on it like I did for the other short stories. It felt shorter than the others, but maybe the fact it was better also played a role? Once again I would have enjoyed it more as a novella, it felt rushed because so much had to happen in just a few chapters —notably the deeply traumatized MC getting better, but it was way more well paced than the previous ones.
Only thing I think: when Diego has a meltdown because he enjoys and craves hurting his partner, Ty says he knows a lot about kink because the men who came to The Warehouse needed a kinky outlet, the only problem being that this outlet was underaged captive kids and… no? It lacked a big part of the story all of a sudden: Ty having been captive and horribly abused for eight years and suddenly talking about the concept of kink and healthy kink, as If 1) it would've been something he would've learnt in this environment and 2) the men coming to this sort of place came for the kink and not the abuse.
By far the best one yet, on one hand because of the complexity of the characters and on the other because of the contrast in quality with the four stories that came before it.

6 - Get Off Hard by Lea Bronson
Was ok, at the level of the last one and better than the others. Some bits and pieces of the narration when the MC reflects on his life are a tad convoluted but nothing major. The story in itself is dark but doesn't really fit with the 'captive' part of the anthology.

7 - Uninvited Love by L. J. Longo
The story takes place in Galway, described as a city "half near the beach" with a green domed cathedral: it's clearly Galway in Ireland. Despite that one of the characters gets asked when he came "to the US", it's sais his parents told him to go live "in America" and the money is in dollars, not euros…
Despite this annoying detail that typically comes from American writers, this is a nice story.

8 - Runner by Kai Tyler
I think this is the worst one… the writing isn't great (at all), the story is more than rushed, the main character and his feelings don't have any time to develop and just seemed to appear out of nowhere, and it's so, so, so cliché.

[Leslie OBrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

DARK CAPTIVE: MANLOVE EDITION is a compilation of eight MM stories from some of our favorite BDSM authors. All of the stories have a centralized theme involving kidnapping and non-consent but what results is pure decadence as we are witness to some scintillating taboo scenes that will result in nothing less than a happily ever after. Granted, getting there is most of the fun.

Described as dark erotica, some of the alphas in these stories are the type of men that chances are, when you see them, the hairs on the back of your neck rise and you suddenly want to be anywhere but here. Others would fit right in at a political fundraiser. They all have a bit of darkness in them and it’s through the light in their submissive counterparts that reminds them that they’re truly alive.

To borrow from Doris O’Connor’s story, All the men “simply oozed leashed
aggression, and dominance” and that’s exactly how we like it.

LIKES: While the stories have generalized themes, they’re unique. Each story is well told with incredible interactions between the two men. The respective internal dialogues helped to keep the stories moving and the intent clear. The interactions between the characters, particularly the battles of will (there are many) and the eventual coming around. The happily ever afters helped to soften the darkness in the stories.

For those who enjoy stories with strong male characters, taboo BDSM, and scintillating interactions, this was a great read and admittedly, I devoured all of it. More, please.

This review originally published by me on The Romance Reviews

[Tena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this anthology because it includes 2 authors I have recently discovered - LJ Longo and James Cox - and neither story disappointed. Overall, I consider it a solid 4 star collection with 2 standouts. One, unfortunately, was a DNF, but the other I would give 5 stars. Runner by Kai Tyler was an intense read for me from start to finish. I can't put my finger on any one thing, but I was immediately interested and then invested all the way through.

[C Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vade and Sal story was the best in the book.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some were good, some just okay.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super twisted but so well written

If you like dark twisted M/M stories you'll love this book. But be warned there's a lot of non-con and kidnapping so if that's not your thing this might not be a good anthology to read. But if you like the dark stuff these stories are very well written. I highly recommend them.

[Lea Bronsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm proud and very honored to be part of this anthology. My co-authors' stories are dark, hot, intensive, and they all deserve FIVE STARS each!!