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Imprisoned #1
Shackled
If you commit a crime on Vaharis 6, there’s more than one way to work off your sentence…
Matthew knows today is his last chance. If he doesn’t get an offer to work off his sentence outside the prison’s walls, he’ll be sent deeper into the hellish place and left at the mercy of the other prisoners.
Varan only wants someone to do his grunt work for him, but when he sees Matthew, something from his past takes hold of him again. He wants to make the man submit in every way, and the prison warden’s greed makes it possible for him to buy the chance to do exactly that.
So Matthew is saved at the last possible moment … only to find himself bound to a man who seems determined to break and possess him, body and soul.
Matthew knows today is his last chance. If he doesn’t get an offer to work off his sentence outside the prison’s walls, he’ll be sent deeper into the hellish place and left at the mercy of the other prisoners.
Varan only wants someone to do his grunt work for him, but when he sees Matthew, something from his past takes hold of him again. He wants to make the man submit in every way, and the prison warden’s greed makes it possible for him to buy the chance to do exactly that.
So Matthew is saved at the last possible moment … only to find himself bound to a man who seems determined to break and possess him, body and soul.
122 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 14, 2016
90 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Vallo
82 books49 followersVictoria Vallo has written under many names and ventured into almost every genre. When darker and spicier tales beckoned, she decided to follow.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 3, 2020
Not much to this book. I expected a much darker story. Instead I got a love story. I couldn’t believe how snarky Matthew was to the man who saved him from prison. It was too short to really develop the characters.
June 13, 2024
1.75⭐
Whaaat?😄
I mean, don't get me wrong, when I was reading m/f books, I loved alien/monster romance, especially if it was happening on another planet. I always wanted to read similar books but with all male MCs, so I'm really excited to find series, where the author takes this on and writes short novellas with human men on other planets with the prisoner/sex slave trope, yeah, I'm all for that.
This story goes on on a planet Varharis 6, a mining planet with prisons, where human male prisoners are being handed out to rich men from other planets (human, humanoid or completely alien), where these men serve as household staff or sex slaves to work off their sentence.
In this particular book we follow the journey of Matthew, who's a beautiful young guy stuck in prison because of his poverty; Varan is a very rich human male who decides to take him in as a potential lover. They eventually fall in love and stay together after Matthew's sentence has been worked off.
So, the book was not written well, let me just tell you honestly. The story or the series itself has absolutely no world building, we know nothing about who lives on Varharis 6 and how did these men get there, we basically know... nothing.
Varan and Matthew's story was supposed to be D/s, if I understood that correctly, but then again maybe not, because there's just so little said and explained about their dynamic. It all revolves around the slave collar, so did Matthew really want that or was he just saving his ass? I have no idea, because their romantic, emotional relationship wasn't well developed either, their dialogues were stiff and right now after reading it I just have no idea what to think.
I'll continue with the second book, let's see what happens.
Whaaat?😄
I mean, don't get me wrong, when I was reading m/f books, I loved alien/monster romance, especially if it was happening on another planet. I always wanted to read similar books but with all male MCs, so I'm really excited to find series, where the author takes this on and writes short novellas with human men on other planets with the prisoner/sex slave trope, yeah, I'm all for that.
This story goes on on a planet Varharis 6, a mining planet with prisons, where human male prisoners are being handed out to rich men from other planets (human, humanoid or completely alien), where these men serve as household staff or sex slaves to work off their sentence.
In this particular book we follow the journey of Matthew, who's a beautiful young guy stuck in prison because of his poverty; Varan is a very rich human male who decides to take him in as a potential lover. They eventually fall in love and stay together after Matthew's sentence has been worked off.
So, the book was not written well, let me just tell you honestly. The story or the series itself has absolutely no world building, we know nothing about who lives on Varharis 6 and how did these men get there, we basically know... nothing.
Varan and Matthew's story was supposed to be D/s, if I understood that correctly, but then again maybe not, because there's just so little said and explained about their dynamic. It all revolves around the slave collar, so did Matthew really want that or was he just saving his ass? I have no idea, because their romantic, emotional relationship wasn't well developed either, their dialogues were stiff and right now after reading it I just have no idea what to think.
I'll continue with the second book, let's see what happens.
January 12, 2022
This felt like a bait-and-switch to me. The cover suggests a dark romance and the beginning is dark, but then it gets very sweet in the second half. Wasn't for me.
October 10, 2016
I kind of expected more... of the dark side.
Tags: Forced seduction, Bdsm elements, spanking.. that's not ALL just the ones I want to look at.
Forced seduction... More or less the first day Varan has him bound and teases him into hardness. But he doesn't actually FORCE him into anything besides being bound. He tells him what to do and Matthew chooses to do it more or less.
Bdsm elements... ok so besides the first day or two where he's 'always' going to be bound except pee pee time didn't last. Then the only other time is the spanking time.
Spanking... ok so yes we have a spanking. One. Not sure that was enough for a tag...more or less.
For the implication from the blurb and at the very beginning, this ended up a lot softer than I thought it would. Almost forgot too, this is futuristic with different planets and aliens and Varan is... human... two humans...
Tags: Forced seduction, Bdsm elements, spanking.. that's not ALL just the ones I want to look at.
Forced seduction... More or less the first day Varan has him bound and teases him into hardness. But he doesn't actually FORCE him into anything besides being bound. He tells him what to do and Matthew chooses to do it more or less.
Bdsm elements... ok so besides the first day or two where he's 'always' going to be bound except pee pee time didn't last. Then the only other time is the spanking time.
Spanking... ok so yes we have a spanking. One. Not sure that was enough for a tag...more or less.
For the implication from the blurb and at the very beginning, this ended up a lot softer than I thought it would. Almost forgot too, this is futuristic with different planets and aliens and Varan is... human... two humans...
June 23, 2021
3.5 stars, it's cute enough
Let me start off by saying that I quite liked this book. It's short and smutty and even sweet at times. But while I enjoyed reading it, it didn't leave me...fulfilled. Let me explain.
First up, don't go into this expecting a dark romance like I did. Now nowhere is it explicitly said that this is a dark romance but based on the blurb and the cover and even the first chapter, that's where my mind went. That's not what this is at all. This is a very SSC sweet romance. This isn't a slave fic, the prison aspect is downplayed, even Varan turns into a sweetheart for seemingly no reason. Which brings up my next point. The characters.
While not cardboard cutout caricatures, these two barely scratched the surface. Their characterization is very inconsistent. As a result, outside of titles and early exposition, I have no clue who Matthew and Varan. I know what they are, but not who they are. Which is kind of a bummer honestly because I love sci-fi alien romances (I mean they're both human here but you get the point).
And because these characters aren't cemented, the pacing of the book is also a little wonky. There is an HEA but how we got here, I'm not sure. Motivations are there but I can hardly say I understand the reasoning behind the whys and conclusions. I wish a little more time was spent nurturing their character and personality because expositional backstory does little more than provide expositional backstory. I also wish that during dialogue and character interactive moments we had a couple more adjective thrown in so it was clear with the tone of the scene was supposed to be. I don't know how to feel about a lot of things because it just wasn't there. This book needs a lot more padding so that we can feel what's going on. Emotional scenes need time so when they hit, they hit. otherwise, as a reader, you're just kind of going through the motions.
Am I going to read the next book? Why not. It's short and I'm trash. Plus there was nothing egregious or terrible happening here. The book doesn't overstay its welcome nor is it so "out of this world" you can't follow along. So 3.5 stars because I'm not mad.
Let me start off by saying that I quite liked this book. It's short and smutty and even sweet at times. But while I enjoyed reading it, it didn't leave me...fulfilled. Let me explain.
First up, don't go into this expecting a dark romance like I did. Now nowhere is it explicitly said that this is a dark romance but based on the blurb and the cover and even the first chapter, that's where my mind went. That's not what this is at all. This is a very SSC sweet romance. This isn't a slave fic, the prison aspect is downplayed, even Varan turns into a sweetheart for seemingly no reason. Which brings up my next point. The characters.
While not cardboard cutout caricatures, these two barely scratched the surface. Their characterization is very inconsistent. As a result, outside of titles and early exposition, I have no clue who Matthew and Varan. I know what they are, but not who they are. Which is kind of a bummer honestly because I love sci-fi alien romances (I mean they're both human here but you get the point).
And because these characters aren't cemented, the pacing of the book is also a little wonky. There is an HEA but how we got here, I'm not sure. Motivations are there but I can hardly say I understand the reasoning behind the whys and conclusions. I wish a little more time was spent nurturing their character and personality because expositional backstory does little more than provide expositional backstory. I also wish that during dialogue and character interactive moments we had a couple more adjective thrown in so it was clear with the tone of the scene was supposed to be. I don't know how to feel about a lot of things because it just wasn't there. This book needs a lot more padding so that we can feel what's going on. Emotional scenes need time so when they hit, they hit. otherwise, as a reader, you're just kind of going through the motions.
Am I going to read the next book? Why not. It's short and I'm trash. Plus there was nothing egregious or terrible happening here. The book doesn't overstay its welcome nor is it so "out of this world" you can't follow along. So 3.5 stars because I'm not mad.
September 21, 2020
Good but...
This is a good story but it could have been so much better. There’s no real angst or conflicts they overcome and it makes the story kind of slow and dull. The sex scenes lack heat and I think that’s mostly due to the overall simplicity of the characters.
This is a good story but it could have been so much better. There’s no real angst or conflicts they overcome and it makes the story kind of slow and dull. The sex scenes lack heat and I think that’s mostly due to the overall simplicity of the characters.
April 29, 2020
Really good book
Very interesting and hot.
This is the kind of dark story that keeps you sodding a little but wanting to read more.
I recommend
Very interesting and hot.
This is the kind of dark story that keeps you sodding a little but wanting to read more.
I recommend
April 14, 2022
Beware with click bait. The story I mean.
Read
May 7, 2022Weird ra kaayo
May 3, 2023
lol, did this story have all the flaws mentioned by other reviewers? Yes. Was it a fun read anyway? Also yes. 3.5☆
February 11, 2020
Enjoyable ... there were some time gaps and some things left to assumption, but overall and enjoyable read.
September 13, 2022
Probably my least fave of the series.
Now that I’ve gone through all 8 Imprisoned books, I feel like this one is the one I liked the least. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, because it was. I just didn’t feel the two main characters had that good of chemistry. You get a little bit of dubcon with the main character being purchased as a slave off a prison planet and a whole lotta seggsy time! Despite being what the author hails as “dark,” I find that most of VV’s books are what I consider to be lower on the angst scale. Each books gets better, so it highly recommend going through the entire series before making a judgment call.
Now that I’ve gone through all 8 Imprisoned books, I feel like this one is the one I liked the least. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, because it was. I just didn’t feel the two main characters had that good of chemistry. You get a little bit of dubcon with the main character being purchased as a slave off a prison planet and a whole lotta seggsy time! Despite being what the author hails as “dark,” I find that most of VV’s books are what I consider to be lower on the angst scale. Each books gets better, so it highly recommend going through the entire series before making a judgment call.
August 29, 2019
Different love story
I don't normally read MM romance but I figured that i would give this one a chance. It was certainly interesting. The relationship starts off unbalanced as Matthew faces getting killed or worse in prison. His only other option is to trade his time in jail for time as a errand boy which entails all ants everything. He gets lucky in that his master doesn't abuse the power, but its there. I wouldn't truly call this an alien romance as both characters are human and not much time is spent creating the surroundings.
I don't normally read MM romance but I figured that i would give this one a chance. It was certainly interesting. The relationship starts off unbalanced as Matthew faces getting killed or worse in prison. His only other option is to trade his time in jail for time as a errand boy which entails all ants everything. He gets lucky in that his master doesn't abuse the power, but its there. I wouldn't truly call this an alien romance as both characters are human and not much time is spent creating the surroundings.
September 6, 2019
Good quick read
This was a good quick read from a new to me author. The storyline was good, and I enjoyed reading about Matthew finding love and his sexuality. And Varan getting over being used and finding love with someone younger and so different than him. It was a good read.
This was a good quick read from a new to me author. The storyline was good, and I enjoyed reading about Matthew finding love and his sexuality. And Varan getting over being used and finding love with someone younger and so different than him. It was a good read.
September 9, 2016
The premise sounds quite gritty but it quickly turns into quite a sweet, even fluffy story. A nice, quick morning commute read.
October 31, 2019
First time reading...
This is the first time reading a book by this author, and so far I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series.
This is the first time reading a book by this author, and so far I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews