Rage

The Vengeance Series #1

by Lilith Darville

A doctor with a broken heart. A captive with a dark past. They have a thirst for vengeance… and each other…

Jaden is on a quest for revenge. After his fiancé’s murder, he traded his surgeon’s scalpel for hacker hardware to search for her killer. When he infiltrates a secret auction held by human traffickers he’s one step closer to his goal; but when he sees Rayne bruised and bloodied, he risks all to save her…

A lifetime of abuse hasn’t broken Rayne’s spirit. When she’s taken into slavery, she fights tooth and nail to escape. The handsome stranger rescues her and claims he wants to save her. She’s not sure what to believe, but Jaden’s plan for revenge is too tempting to refuse…

As their search for retribution heats up, so do their unspoken desires for each other. When Jaden and Rayne journey deeper into the underworld, they begin to wonder if in the midst of their suffering, they’ve found a steamy cure for heartache…

RAGE is a dark romantic suspense story in the tradition of Pepper Winters and Logan Chance. If you like sizzling chemistry, complicated characters, and nail-biting action, you’ll love Lilith Darville’s provocative tale of passion and love.

Genres: Romance

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 21, 2018

About the author

I’m a USA Today bestselling author and one of those lusty ladies who happens to love reading and writing dangerously delicious romances. I’m hot in the middle of another sizzling paranormal reverse harem series that’s guaranteed to make readers flush and blush. You can stalk me on social media, join giveaways and explore @ https://lilithdarville.com/links/

Reviews

[Daniella Marchand · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

Jaden in needs to revenge his fiancé's murder, infiltrating a secret auction for sex trafficer and finding Raine (aka Destiny), bruised & bloodied, she & her sister 'ummer' being sold to pay off their father's debts. Jaden saved Raine from a basement. Growing with a evil stepfather who raped her and more sexual assault. When safe in Jaden'house, they try to know each other better. After finding where Viper lives, they'll plan a revenge to seek the highter 'Boss' & find Summer.

Addicting, captivating dark story with complexivities characters but oh so appealing HOT.
Face paced, curiosity & inviting to read more, enticing & wicked. From the beginning I was invested in the story, sometimes I was mad because of mishandle the girls in it. Sometimes because someone wouldn't do thinks they had to accept doing. It was fascinating how the main characters where sparring & amused.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really enjoy this book.
*SPOILERS*
There was no real dynamic between Jaden and Rayne. I felt like they really didn't have any chemistry and his dead fiance was constantly on his mind. I thought that Raynes character clashed with herself and that she really didn't have an identity. Jaden's thoughts didn't match his actions. No matter how many times he thought that Raynes meant more to him than his dead fiance, he pushed Rayne away. He knew how broken she was and she constantly asked him how he felt about her, he always gave excuses on why they couldn't be together. I was really disappointed in this book, it left me wanting more.

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

[Emmie · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I requested this book from Netgalley I did not realise that it had a BDSM element to it. To me it detracted from the rest of the book because it felt as if the author got stuck on the sexual BDSM element and forgot about the rest of the story. In short too much sex.

The rest of the premise was excellent. It dealt with human trafficing and a vigilante doctor out for revenge and to rescue and rehabilitate as many victims as he can find. I truly enjoyed that part of the tale.

I do doubt however that I would read a sequel, basically because I'm not a BDSM fan. Otherwise I think it would have a lot of potential.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intense, dark tale of vengeance and romance. This story unfolds around human trafficking and the abuse of those enslaved, but it is also the story of the redemption and path to love for Jaden and Rayne. I loved both of these characters...flaws and all. Rayne's feisty spirit and sass, despite a horrific upbringing, brings a smile to your face. Jaden, the man who rescues her, also finds he may have just rescued his heart as well. Jaden has a past that haunts him and in many ways is just as broken as Rayne. If you like dark romances, then you would enjoy this book. (I was given a copy of this book for my honest review.)

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dark and intense read. I liked the story and characters. It was a very captivating plot that really sucks you in and keeps you engaged. I liked Jaden and Rayne's story. He saves her and in the path of their revenge find each other. I liked the suspense, mystery and danger in the romance story. I liked the chemistry between these two characters. Although the story is dark and deals with some tough subject matter I really enjoyed this story.

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

[Debbie Ballard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly loved reading the extraordinary and suspenseful first book in the Jaden Rayne Adventure Book series. Jaden's mission in life is to kill all the human traffickers that had anything to do with his fiance's death. Jaden saves a young woman who has been tortured, raped, and abused, Rayne, who is going to help him capture the kingpin, Viper. Read the highly recommended and wonderfully written full of romance, mystery, heartbreak, and intrigue. Can't wait to read the next book in the Jaden Rayne series!
I reviewed a copy of the book through NetGalley.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story circles around human trafficking and it is a dark romance. This book was not what I expected but I really enjoyed reading it. Jaden and Rayne meet as Jaden is investigating a tip off that there are women being held in a warehouse. She is being held and makes a deal to save her. To know more you must read and you won’t be sorry.

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

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is different but without spoilers it’s hard to tell you why. Suffice to say it’s an unexpected personality with regards to bdsm. The best bit about this book is that the romance and the thriller are equal in story time. Added to that that it not only has a rarely used race and personality for bdsm makes this book uniquely amazing on many levels. Read this you won’t be disappointed.

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

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is looking for revenge on the people who killed his fiancee and he comes across a human auction. She had been beaten and bruised but she was still fighting. He rescues her and they are soon on their way to find revenge. They are growing close. Can they have both the revenge they need and the love they deserve? See if they can

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

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written book on the darkness of man enslaving others for profit and torturing for pleasure, it centers around a male investigator and a enslaved woman. Jaden is investigating a human trafficking ring when he sees Rayne a captive and bargains for her release to him, as they search for her sister and more. This books really shows the darkness that some people embrace.

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

[Amelia Foster · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is honestly the hardest review I have ever written. I am a writer myself and I know the pain of hearing hurtful things about your work. I went into this ARC wanting VERY MUCH to like this book. It contained so many things I am a fan of based on the blurb, category, and tags. I love romantic suspense, alpha males, and BDSM (that is well portrayed) in stories.

RAGE, very sadly, missed the mark in nearly every aspect.

There was no suspense. I suppose this is labeled a dark romance because rape and sex trafficking are mentioned, but that is exactly what they are… mentioned. There is very little on page action and even the things that are described are done so emotionlessly. That is a fine line to walk, and I do appreciate the author/publisher being thoughtful enough to label this dark as to avoid triggering people. I tend to be on the more sensitive side of reading and even to me this felt rather boring. There were opportunities for the bad guys to list all the things they would do to Rayne to turn this more dark, if that is the author’s intention… and those opportunities were not taken. They faded to black.

The closest this came to being dark was when they found Sasha, but even then I had issues. I had a lot of issues with the Sasha subplot. It was NOT made clear how Viper’s crew even got Sasha to begin with. I didn’t even realize that she had been taken until the one goon made a threat against Jaden’s “trans dyke friend” which is also when we are introduced to the fact that Sasha is mid-gender reassignment surgeries. I appreciate the diversity of having a transgendered character, but I dislike how this was presented. Additionally, I wish we would have seen Sasha as more of a hero than a victim to show an empowering transgendered character.

Neither Rayne nor Jaden had very distinct voices. I had to pay attention while I read to see whose head I was supposed to be in at the time. And their interactions were VERY confusing and muddled. Their conversations jumped erratically and were hard to follow.

There were so many conveniences in the plot, Jaden himself being a huge one. He is a doctor. Who happens to be a hacker. Who happens to be a government contracted vigilante. Who happens to also have these amazing, deadly knife skills. I love getting lost in fiction, but I need a realistic basis for this. Grounding. And even though his exact net worth is never revealed, he owns a helicopter, has a ridiculously unbelievable compound, and handed over 100k to Rayne without batting an eye. Clearly his bank account is, once again, well beyond the realm of belief.

With that, this brings me to the hardest part of this review. I completely understand and believe in the healing power of intimacy, sex, and recognizing and owning what you like in those areas, however the timeline of those revelations is not just unbelievable, but insulting. With a woman who has been through what Rayne has feeling the desire to submit to Jaden is extremely troubling. This insults an entire community of people who practice healthy and controlled BDSM. A good Dom/Top/whatever he wants to be called would NEVER have a rape, trafficking, and abuse victim watching porn with him within a few days of being rescued ESPECIALLY when she has not had any form of therapy whatsoever. Not to mention the fact that they then have sex repeatedly and learn some BDSM ropes, again, without Rayne getting any help. And the entire timeline of this book is only a few weeks.

A major point made at the beginning of this book is the fact that Rayne has never had an orgasm, even during consensual sex, and is rather asexual. In the span of a few days in Jaden’s presence she not only has a supposed sexual awakening, but also immediately wants kink. Immediately. And when she has her first ever orgasm with Jaden… the mental and emotional aspect of that moment was completely glossed over.

I had numerous other issues with the storyline including random little sub plots that are mentioned and abandoned without being dealt with. The East of Eden bit at the end came so far out of left field I got whiplash. Why was this not threaded through earlier? Additionally for someone “immune” to the effects of drugs, Rayne (and apparently also doctor/hacker/vigilante Jaden) is incredibly dependent on weed. Nearly every interaction between the two involved both toking on a joint. Again, in the BDSM community, playing, setting rules, and even asking if you want to be each other’s Dom and sub are NEVER to be done with any type of impairment. Not while drunk or high. Fully aware and fully consenting.

I would love to say that technically this was clean… but again I am sad to report there were major, glaring issues. Word echoes repeatedly, to the point of distraction. Misplaced quotation marks which threw off my ability to follow their internal thoughts versus their conversations. One of my biggest issues came when I saw Rayne’s name misspelled. This is something that can easily happen, but this is the power of having beta readers, critique partners, and editors in your corner.

It truly hurts my heart to have to say these things about something an author poured their soul into, but I would love for this to serve as a learning experience and turning point. Please invite people into your world who can read your work before you send it off to publication. Build a good, solid reputation for yourself as an author by tapping into the online writing community or your local RWA chapter and find people that can help you grow, learn, and produce quality work.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darkness abides in this book about a revenge filled Doctor intent on killing those who killed his fiancé. The story weaves an intense, hard-to-read tell of sex trafficking and a group of people led by the doctor with the conviction of taking the perpetrators down. Though hard to read, this book is well written and I look forward to reading the next book.

[Chelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different read

This is a new author for me. Not sure what i was expecting...... Something a little more dramatic maybe? I loved the story line i just feel for dark romance it was missing in the dark parts. I will read more from this author looking forward to the next book in this series.

[Kathleen Bradbury (Bulfon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written book with an interesting story line. The characters are strong and the story flows quickly and smoothly. I enjoyed reading this story.

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

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a dark intense romance that is an engaging, suspense, mystery, drama storyline. The characters are intriguing, developed nicely. It was a good book to read.

[Nadea Croix · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bask in the story it was quite an experience reading it with steamy scenes and tender but creative scenario as hidden secrets unfurl and brings climatic
conclusions.

[Ane Margaux · Rating 1 out of 5]

Upon initial reading of the summary of this NetGalley ARC book I was very excited to receive it and hopeful to have found another dark/suspense romance that I could write home about. Unfortunately this was not that book. To be truthful, I have to market as a DNF because after a week of trying to get through the book, I only got 33% into it. I feel the author had a good idea and potential but it completely missed the mark.

Both of the characters seem quite erratic but that could be attributed to how their thoughts and feelings are conveyed. They seem to be quite all over the place. It's hard to separate their entities and characteristics and often I had to re-read portions to try to understand what was being conveyed. Rayne has so much potential as the female lead in this book but I found she was vastly in mature for the age in which she was described to be and her sexual interests, or dis-interest for that matter, didn't match to how she behaves around Jaden. Jaden, as great of a guy that he is, isn't quite believable as the male lead as he just has far too many outstanding things attributed to his character .

I think the author could really have something here if the book was more organized and more time was spent on character development of sub characters like Sasha. Sasha has so much potential but we really know nothing about her or really understand her.

I do have to say editing wasn't an issue for this book. Meaning it wasn't fraught with grammatical errors.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about two people trying to rescue human slaves from the Ontario slave network. They are able to rescue a 25 year old woman who had been kidnapped, drugged, tortured, raped, etc. There is lots of action as they search for her missing sister who had also been kidnapped at the same time. Once rescued there was some scenes of her liking the BDSM methods of her rescuer, which did NOT seem realistic to me. A quotation from that part: "There is great pleasure in pain," but I just did not think that would be the case with someone who had been so terribly treated in captivity. There was more blood and vicious action but it all leads to an HEA, thankfully.

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

[Jenny Hockings · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG IT IS THEIR THIRST FOR REVENGE THAT BRINGS THEM TOGETHER!!!
Jaden is broken hearted after the murder of his fiancée, and Rayne has been enslaved for years but the slavers have not broken her spirit. Jaden saves Rayne and it is their desire for revenge that brings them together is their quests to find justice for themselves.
Can they find those responsible for their pain and defeat them before they are found and the tables are turned on them????
It tears at your emotions and tries to bring forward the best of both the fictional and real worlds. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did as I read through the book.

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

[Arlyn Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me preface this with 2 things. 1- I read every sub gene in the romance category, but dark is one of my favorites. 2- I devour books, I read them so quickly. However, I spent over a week trying to read Rage. This may be a case of it is not you, it is me, because it seemed to be pretty well written with no glaring editing issues that can take me right out of enjoying a book. But, I really disliked both of these characters. Jaden was unrealistic, how did he have time to be a surgeon and a brilliant hacker? Rayne, who should have nothing but my sympathy, was petulant and childish. But going into this review, I was torn because maybe it is just me. That is why I am giving 3 stars.

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

[Debbie Caswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very dark book but at the same time it is about things that actually go on in our depraved world

Jayden Rayne is a man bent on revenge he lost his fiance to human traffickers led by a man called viper, now he tracked them down to a warehouse. While there he discovers a woman Rayne who they have held for years she has been drugged and raped he negotiates to get her handed over to him So begins the quest for revenge from these two. She is searching for her missing sister he just wants revenge at the same time they are fighting a growing attraction between them Will they get revenge will they get a HEA you need to read tp see

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

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will their rage ruin their future
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. This is my 1st book by Lilith, and I love authors who write in dual point of view. Jayden is a modern day avenger of women who are trafficked by Viper after he lost his love. When Jayden rescues Rayne from Viper’s nest, there is an attraction between them. But both have jaded pasts and there is still the pressure to rescue Jayden’s friend and Rayne’s sister from Viper. Will Jayden and Rayne enjoy themselves among the outside forces against them? You have to read to find out.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jaden is on the mission to hunt down those responsible for his fiancé's death but one look at Rayne and he decides to rescue her. Thus begins their rocky relationship. I really liked how spunky Rayne and how both Rayne and Jaden are complicated creatures. There were elements of BDSM-type references but nothing that really consumed the whole book. I liked the writing style of the author. Definitely different...in a good way.

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

[Tammy44 · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredibly dark and intense read. The story centers around the underground, human traffickers and slavery of young women. Jaden and Rayne cross paths while he is investigating a tip of women being held in a warehouse. She is one of the captives and Jaden makes a deal for her to be released to him. This was a well written, engaging read with a well thought out storyline. The characters were interesting and well developed. If you like dark romance you will enjoy this book.
I voluntarily received an advanced arc copy through Booksprout for an honest review.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredibly intense book and exactly what you would expect from Lilith Darville. As you read her books you are filled with wonder and awe at her ability to convey a story that has themes of realness that pull you in and captivate your attention. You feel the sorrow, pain and hope as you read. Amazing.

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

[Rosario Barrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is a very dark book, and a really good one. The story is really gut wrenching, both hero and heroine are broken. It steps into a very dark world where you don’t know if anyone is getting out. Nevertheless. It is engrossing. Highly recommended

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

[Brenda Moser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dark romance filled with drama,suspense,intrigue,mystery and danger. The characters are strong and well developed and the story moves quickly and smoothly. It's well written and had me hooked from start to finish. I enjoyed this book and would recommend reading.

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

[DENICE · Rating 4 out of 5]

RAGE IS NECESSARY TO GET JUSTICE FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T

Captivating mixed-race story about one of the biggest problems in the world – abuse, sex slave trade, female abuse and racism. Lilith brought all these things into a great story and kept me reading. Great sex scenes and revelations that makes the reader want to join forces with Jaden as he goes through his different emotions and battles.

[poppy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If like me you enjoy a good dark read then you need to give this a read I was completely hooked and just could not stop reading it. It was so well written and with a good storyline, this intense read will have you reading right into the night. It is tough to read at times though so may not be for everyone.

[Cat Ziman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't really get into this book. Most parts of it felt kind of far fetched, as if it was trying to be a dark romance without getting too dark. I didn't like Jaden or Rayne as characters, they both seemed pretty flat.

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