Anjasa was an Elven assassin and courtesan who is now out of a job and out of money. I don't know how awesome she used to be before this novella but in this story she simply wants another drink and some bad boy sexy time. I am all for rough sex and Dom/sub relationships but this is not what happens here. My main issue with this book wasn't that Anjasa wanted sex with the three different men, I don't give a rat's ass about that - you get it girl! No, my issue is that Anjasa is obviously a strong female character (at least I assume that considering she was an assassin...) and she allowed these three men to manipulate, demean and use her. There were little to no benefits to any of the situations for Anjasa, maybe an orgasm here or there. But I'm sorry, you cannot convince me that a previous assassin is now willing to do anything for some douche bag men. Either Anjasa is a strong woman who used to kill people for a living or she is much more needy and reliant on sex/men.
For the sake of the plot I could see why Anjasa needed to be drawn further into the weird world of the three men but I can't see the bad ass lady I was picturing in my mind take all of the shit that was handed out. This woman didn't walk away from three horrible men, couldn't think of a single way to escape or find a better solution to her problems.
Number 1 man - Sappy McSadpants drowns his sorrows at being unworthy of his title and losing it to his cousin in alcohol and self pity. While he has aspects of kindness, he can be a right aggressive butt face and treats Anjasa like crap to make him feel more like a man. I have so many issues with this I can't even. . .
Number 2 man - Killer von Douche is so self absorbed and treats everyone like shit. Everything is what you can do for him, how he can manipulate you and what random act of cruelty justifies his unreasonable anger at anything you do. He straight up just uses Anjasa by threatening her life and when she does what he wants, still threatens her life. There has to be some kind of bad guy rule against that... Argh.
Number 3 man - Mysterious Dark Saviour bargains with Anjasa to save her life, only to seduce and demand she dedicate herself to being with him because he's more interesting - "Oh and my orgasms are better than theirs" (me as him).
I just want to smack my head on a desk to rid myself of such horrible male characters with not a single ounce of kindness toward Anjasa and SHE'S THE MAIN CHARACTER, DAMMIT! This book seemed to be about all of the guys and Anjasa was just the unfortunate piggy in the middle. In fact she was so irrelevant that they could have just written the story from the three male perspectives. Maybe I'm just off on a girl power rant but I don't think I am wrong. I wish I could have seen the sassy assassin who peeked out a few times because that was why I wanted to read this book. Unfortunately, I got an overload on dickhead testosterone and a shallow female character... The sex scenes are probably it's shining glory so give it a read if you want (it's cheap!) and maybe you will have a different view.
P.S. The cover of this book is horribly misleading, I would have made it black with three men's faces and a silhouette of a woman lying at the bottom.
2/5
xxx
George
Buy: Amazon, Kobo
Thank you to NetGalley, J.E. and M. Keep and eXcessica Publishing for the copy.
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*ugh* nothing gets to me worse than misleading covers and blurbs! I probably wouldn't have enjoyed Torn and Seduced all that much either, so thank you for your review!
ReplyDeleteGreat going on your COYER challenge, Amber :) Happy reading.
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
Thank you for stopping by! I'm glad I could help :)
DeleteSorry you did not enjoy the book, Amber. The character of Anjasa is an ongoing one that's popped up in our shorts and series before, and I can fully understand why you got the impression of her from this novella that you did.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first part to a trilogy of novellas we're putting out, where after a long retirement that's left her listless and without purpose, she finds herself pulled back into a more eventful life. I think you would be more likely to enjoy the second part which we are soon to release, so if you care for a free copy just let me know! Contact me on twitter @jekeep (or my partner @jmkeep) or send us an email at admin@jmkeep.com
And for the record: I loathed the men too! Only one of them has any hopes for redemption in my view, but I won't say which. : )