Ashleyjo's Reviews > Blyss

Julianna

Meet the beautiful Julianna. I know
she's beautiful because I'm told on repeat throughout the story and with more adjectives than I ever thought could possibly exist. Lest I forget how she really does "look every part of a princess straight from a storybook" and the many times I'm told of her "long blonde hair."

Her character is designed to be this warring cake mix of:

• naive twit and virginal girl
• emo fighter and wanton woman
• sensible thinker

The problem is her personality cake batter didn't ever get mixed. All these traits never coherently blend or transition in and out smoothly. It makes the FMC a spastic mess with a lot of contradicting thoughts.

Of course, she should be confused somewhat by being kidnapped and told she's a sex toy in training. BUT, this goes beyond confusion to just unbelievable personality swings ...

One minute she's mouthing off and kicking people like she's not being held as a sex slave... The next minute she's starved for attention like a wanton woman... The next minute she's ingeniously discarding her drugs... And the next she's crying like a dumb twit cause the bad guy really is bad.

Likewise, some of these personality swings can be attributed to the aphrodisiac drugs they forced on her. But, it's unbelievable that a drug to be TAKEN TWICE A DAY & that she only had a couple of doses of over a two week period is completely to blame for her spastic behavior, especially considering she says shit like this before she's even given the drug:

"Your lips look very dry. You must be thirsty." It was a statement, and he was not asking if I wanted a drink. He didn't give me a choice. I find a straw resting on my lips in an instant. "Take small sips for me." Who am I to say no? Oh, my God, what is wrong with me?

Being taken by strange men and waking in a strange place with no answers is beginning to upset me.

I guess I should be thankful they are being nice criminals and not evil ones.

The poor guy had spent the last twenty-four hours taking care of me.

What I need to do is find a way out of here and not let myself become preoccupied with decor, fabrics, and paintings.

Nick MMC #2

Runs a sex trade that uses aphrodisiac drugs to tame women.

He has been obsessed with the FMC from afar for years. He kidnaps her. The FMC now belongs to him, but since he has anger issues, he's leaving the breaking of the FMC to his charming associate, Travis.

Nick's screen time here is small.

Travis MMC#1

The first thing I notice is that his few POV chapters sound like a cross between a horrible Shakespearean actor that can't quite get out of character offstage and a 45-year-old woman.

He calls the FMC's boyfriend a "young man."

He waxes poetically....

In my mind's eye, I remember she had the look of love permeating through every bone in her petite body"

His voice is better at 'sounding male' in her chapters, which make up most of the book.

However, even then, his dialogue is very stilted and stiff, spending most of his words as either the nice guy 'shhhhush's' and 'trust that I have you' OR the dirty talking charmer.

He also does not make a very believable sex trafficker. I just didn't get it. He's cuddling, coddling, and pleasuring her. I thought he was supposed to be breaking her?!? Teaching her how to be a submissive? Dude isn't even putting up a pretense of filtering her, much less breaking her, until the very end of the book.

It felt like the author was going for Disney'fying a sex trafficker. The character just didn't work for me.

However, I think a lot of readers who are looking for candy coated dark tales (dark subject that's whitewashed) will absolutely love this guy and the storyline.

Sex spoiler

(view spoiler)[ No sex in this book. Her virginity is taken via vibrator, which I found odd considering Nick is obsessed with her; why wouldn't he want her virginity? Oral, making out, and fingering. She's tied up and left for a couple hours ... That's about as kinky as it gets. (hide spoiler)]


Blyss

This plot point is what originally drew me to this book. I've never read this particular storyline elsewhere.

I was kind of torn on this drug thing. It was a very interesting concept, but it wasn't explored and presented well.

She didn't take much of the drug, and because she would have the urges and then mentally squash the shit when she was alone, it made the whole excuse of the drug being to blame for her connect with Travis and lust nothing but an excuse for wanting to fuck the hot sex trafficker.

FSOG

In her captivity, the FMC reads FSOG. Need I roll my eyes?!?

Anyway, as she's reading it, she has this thought:

"I have to remind myself this is the reason they call it fiction; it's all a farce, meant to provide people with one thing only .. Entertainment.

This is the third time I've seen this thought from the author, and I couldn't disagree more.

I read books to feel, whether that be sadness, happiness, lust, anger, empathy, love, confusion, etc . Books for me are not mindless entertainment where it's okay to completely abandon the truths of logic for pure fantasy.

In other words, no one is going to buy some BS like a virgin has a 2L bottle of soda shoved up her vagina and thinks it feels good. Even fiction has to be grounded in truths, or as Stephen King said....

"Fiction is the truth inside the lie."

Bottom Line

Mindless entertainment? Success.

I'll give it 1 1/2 stars for that.

But, if you're looking for depth, darkness, dimension, even kink ... This doesn't deliver.

It's an interesting premise that overall fails to deliver a storyline and characters congruent with the dark subject of sex slave. The MMC is too whitewashed and bleached to be believable as a sex trafficker. The FMC is too spastic for me to get a handle on how she feels, much less how I feel about how she feels. Again, those lucky for a candy coated dark romance will probably like this much better than I did.

*** Full disclosure: I downloaded this book on my Kindle hours before finding out that this author engaged in very unprofessional behavior toward a reviewer. Like an athlete and their socks or jock strap, I have one superstition regarding my Kindle... If I download it, I have to at least try to read it. I say this because I want readers and the author to know that this review is fair, honest, & unbiased by the aforementioned incident.