Hero: Stone. Horrific past and a broken future. While exacting revenge on his enemies, he “meets” (okay, maybe he kidnaps) Brooke. From that moment on they share something that neither can let go.

Heroine: Brooke. From the outside, she lives the life of a rich princess, but it’s all for show. She knows Stone is a bad guy, who does bad things. But she also sees inside his soul and that he is living a life of violence because of the torture and abuse he suffered in the hands of the men he kills.

This story is dark, but also so well told.

I reach out a hand, slide the pads of my fingers along the side of his wrist. His whole body vibrates under my touch like he’s about to shatter. Like he’s made of glass, even though I know he’s got strong bones and hard muscles and an unbreakable spirit.

Higher. I reach his forearm. His skin feels warm, muscles hard as rock.

I can never have a normal life.

Suddenly he closes his fingers over my wrist. “What are you doing?” he rasps.

What am I doing? I’m touching him. I’m feeling him, understanding him, for maybe the first time ever. I turn my hand to grip him back, wrist to wrist. Our hands form links of a strange chain, joined together against everything impossible.

The air pulses with new energy. Frightening energy. I breathe in the salty, musky scent of him. There’s no trace of perfumes or body spray, just pure male beast, surging with pain.

I feel drugged by his nearness. Unable to speak. I just want to touch him.

I just want him.

His fingers brand my wrist with sizzling heat. With every ragged breath, his chest rises and falls under his T-shirt. The open sides of his jacket move, too, grazing his faded blue jeans. Dull metal snaps set deep into his jacket are grayed with age and shift in the dim light that streams in from the other room.

For a moment I think I must be crazy, kneeling in front of him, holding his wrist like a lifeline, imagining he wants me the way I want him.

[…]

I pull my hand from his. Peering up at him through my lashes, I reach down and lift the hem of my skirt. I gather up all the useless fabric, pushing it around my waist to reveal pink panties.

“Holy fuck,” he rasps.

Hostage was released yesterday and I will be posting my review later this week. It’s a dark contemporary about a man who kidnaps a girl at the age of sixteen, releases her and visits her from time to time. Eventually she turns 18 and more of a physical romance develops. I’m almost done the book and I really like it. It will break your heart – they portray Stone, who is a killer, so well. For those who read Prisoner (set in same world as this, but a different hero and heroine), I’m enjoying Hostage even  more.

Content Warning: Although not shown/told in detail, Stone and other boys were kept in a basement as young children and sexually abused.

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