Explicit Instruction (Explicit, #1) by Scarlett Finn
Erotic Romance/Dark/Suspense
E book
June 26, 2014
Self Published

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’

Felicity ‘Flick’ Hughes should have listened to the voice that repeatedly warned her not to enter the bar. Maybe if she had listened then she wouldn’t be in the nightmare she is in now.  But Flick was having a horrible day and her cab breaking down was the last straw. Now she finds herself in every woman’s worst nightmare and her only hope of survival is a man who she scares her the most.

Rushe never wanted to be anyone’s savior and fights it every step of the way. He’s crude, dirty mouthed, domineering, and vicious. He takes what he wants, how he wants it, and when he wants it. He warned her, she didn’t listen, and now she has to pay the price. But that price may be higher than either of them imagined.

As Flick and Rushe maneuver their way through the landmines that litter the landscape, trying to stay alive, a connection forms. The further Flick falls down the rabbit hole, the deeper she becomes entangled in Rushe and the pleasure he gives her. When their time together reaches a pinnacle point and danger surrounds them from all sides, Flick knows her life isn’t the only thing she will be fighting for…she’ll also be fighting for her heart.

When I picked up Scarlett Finn’s Explicit Instruction, I was intrigued by the dark captive romance with the premise of a single bad decision changing a woman’s life in the most dangerous and horrific fashion. How often are we warned but choose to go against advice due to pride and or anger? I did it quite a lot when I was younger and paid some heavy prices. Our heroine in here pays the heaviest of prices…she loses her freedom.

Flick is having a very bad day. Bawled out by boss at work, run in her hose, broken heel, late for dinner date, phone goes dead, and cab breaks down. When she sees a bar, she goes to enter only to hear a disembodied voice tell her, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”  Flick ignores the voice’s repeated attempts to stop her from going in only to find out she should have listened. The bar is being used for meeting and Flick finds herself surrounded by men who tell her in explicit details what they are going to do to her before they kill her. Flick is saved from certain rape by Rushe. Only he is the scariest one of the bunch. Large, dark, and grumpy with dead eyes, Rusch “claims” her in order to keep her safe. Only…who’s going to keep her safe from him?

“I’ll uncuff you, but you’ve got to stay close to me,” he said. “Do as you’re told.”
“You’re going to let me go?”
“No. I haven’t had my fun with you yet.”

The first half of the book revolves almost exclusively around Flick and her captor. This is not a typical romance. There is no insta love or the trope that a good woman can convert a bad man. This becomes readily apparent by the pains the author takes to let us see just how fundamentally different Flick and Rushe are. Flick comes from an extremely wealthy family and Rushe was raised in foster care. Flick is an innocent in both personality and sexuality while Rushe has seen and done it all multiple times. Rushe sees Flick as a convenient lay and Flick tries to create good will where there is none.

“You’ve been nice to me,” she whispered and he immediately stopped.
“What?”
“You haven’t threatened me,” she said. “If I shot you, I’d lose my only ally.”
“Im not your ally,” he said.

A flat disconnection in the beginning both in story and characters had me wondering if this was just another book of soft porn with a loose unstable storyline. As I was drawn deeper into their story, I began to see the method to Finn’s madness. She breaks our protagonists down, piece by piece, in order to rebuild them as a plausible unit. The shift in the dynamics of their relationship is subtle and I almost missed it. Flick becomes more than a simple captive. She doesn’t change herself but instead releases hidden facets of her personality. Flick reveals a wicked bit of snark and naughtiness to her and in her submission, she discovers her power over Rushe.

“Why do you refer to my dick in the third person?”
“You don’t like it if I’m nice to you, and you don’t like being nice to me. So I’ll be nice to your dick, he seems to like me.”

Finn doesn’t sugarcoat Rushe to make him more presentable as a hero. Rather, she uses his reactions to Flick to slowly peel back the layers and reveal the potential in him. He has issues that foreshadow his actions. He is not a nice man. He is a criminal. He is a jerk. His past stinks of violence and death. He does and says things that did not sit well with me and made me question his ability to be in a relationship. Our ability to even remotely relate to him is completely dependant on Flick’s perceptions and gradual surety that they belong together. I admit he pushed many of my buttons, but I applaud the author for keeping his personality in sync with the storyline while allowing us to see the cracks that form in his armor due to his growing regard towards Flick. He fights his attraction for her for as long as he can. He insults her, degrades her, and demoralize her. Anything to get her to run from him as fast as she can.

“Take off your clothes,’ he mumbled.
“You want to have sex? A woman is dead and you—‘“
Rushe stopped to glare at her. “I warned you I’d fuck you anytime I wanted. I want you naked, that’s all you’ve got to concern yourself with now.”

Slowly we begin to see a different side to him. His dry wit and rare attempts at tenderness leave readers watching in wonder at the minute changes affecting him. More of his past is revealed that show him to be far more dangerous and complicated than suspected. He and Flick develop a delightful repertoire that is steeped in playfulness and dripping with sexual undertones.

“They’re my breasts,” he said, opening the motel room door. Flick paused to look at him. “What?”
“Your breasts?”
“Yes,” he said without shame. “Your tits mean more to me than they do to you, so why haggle ownership?”
Flick was sure if she hadn’t scared his smile away it might have poked its head over the horizon again. “You’re taking ownership of the breasts attached to my body.”
“Yeah. Problem?”
“No,” she said, with few other options……..
“Can I have your penis,” she asked.
“Now?” he asked.
“If you own my breasts…”
“We’ll work out a time-share,” he said, swinging them out of the lot and through the dark city streets.
“That hardly seems fair. You’ve already laid claim to my vagina, and now you’re claiming my breasts.”
“He takes a lot of looking after,” Rushe said.

The storyline is a mixture of lies, deception, and manipulation as Flick learns exactly what Rushe is a part of and why. Fast pacing and intense action whips us through the last part and all the puzzle pieces fall into place, illuminating the entire picture. While the main conflict is somewhat resolved, this is a trilogy and hints are given that nothing is ever over.

There were some issues concerning grammar, spelling, odd phasing/word choices, and some set up confusion. They don’t take from the story but do give you pause.

All in all, Explicit Instruction is a reluctantly engaging romantic deviation with it’s dark content, violent undertones, and unsure conclusion.  A dark erotic romance with a psychological suspenseful bent. Though it took me a little while to get Flick & Rushe and some belief suspension was required, I eventually settled in the story and came to see what the attraction of this dark horse was for Flick. I admit I am now more than a little curious to see where Finn will take this unlikely couple in the future.

RATING: C

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