My interest in this flew away pretty damn early on.
This is honestly a reason why I’m hardly interested in reading Stockholm syndrome books. I’m definitely open to reading them, I’m just not a fan of characters giving in pretty easily. And it felt like that happened here.
Part of it is my fault, I guess. I didn’t know this would be a negotiation kind of book where Colin offers sex to Taron, which he does to earn his trust so he can then escape. I think if I had known this, I would have either not read this at all or gone into it with a different mindset. I originally thought Colin would have tried getting close to Taron emotionally, as a person, by being interested in knowing more. You know, by being a captive who slowly starts talking to him. Which, yes, he does, but there was sex involved.
I would have thought Colin would be stronger—mentally and emotionally. Sure, he obviously couldn’t really beat Taron (even though he did try, which I gotta say I was impressed with what he managed to do), but his emotions got to him, and therefore he got a little weak. His inner monologue would be about how Taron looked like and what would he feel like and blah blah blah. He felt like every other SS character I’ve read about, which isn’t a lot, for reasons like these. So to me, this wasn’t a slow burn.
The first sex scene was outside on the muddy, wet, ground. Unprotected too. Which, I get it, Taron is pretty damn primal, so it wasn’t that what bothered me (although, ew, unprotected sex on a puddle). It was just the first sex scene before Colin offered sex, and I was over it. It was 25% in. I was like, Colin, buddy, you’ve been here a couple of days and you’re already whimpering and gasping over this bearded, huge man who has a collar wrapped around your neck. I would have expected Colin to try and fight Taron one way or another during this scene. After all, he was kidnapped, is living in a cage, and is being washed/sprayed with a hose at this moment. I was hoping something would happen to show resistance. But no, the moment those meaty hands touched his body, he was a goner. And I get it, it was pretty much a dub-con scene. This is tagged as dark, so the dark elements (like violence/murder, kidnapping, dub-con) make sense, although not as dark as some might expect. Still, my issue wasn’t all that, it was how Colin started lusting and became aroused by it all early on. Even with dub-con, the development, tension, and denial would have been explored better if Colin went from someone who truly didn’t want anything with Taron, to not understanding how or why his body wants it even if his mind and heart say no, to the complete attraction he would then develop.
*Sigh* Okay so my issue is sex, clearly.
Their relationship timeline also felt so inconsistent. I didn’t understand how the two, but especially Colin, formed a romantic attraction toward each other. Taron said “I love you” and I was like “WHY?” Like, genuinely, I don’t know where they came from. One moment Colin said he hated him, then he was lusting over him, then he thought he was nice, then he was mad again and apparently hated him, then he was starting to like him again, then he hated him again, and it just went on and on. A repetitive cycle of hate to like. Felt more inconsistent than a push and pull and I’m only saying that because push and pull dynamics can be consistent.
The suspense was pretty boring.
Anyways, not for me. I was bored early on and couldn’t care what happened after the first sex scene. The second one was my breaking point.
I already forgot what happened, to be honest, so if anyone asks what the characters were like, what the plot was, or what happened, let’s blame it on the fact that it’s finals season for me.