Captive in the Dark (Platinum Edition) (Dark Duet)
Please heed all warnings. ****This is a series about captivity in a FICTIONAL and EROTICIZED setting. It contains very disturbing situations, dubious consent, strong language, and graphic violence.**** OVER 150,000 COPIES SOLD!This edition of CAPTIVE IN THE DARK features a new cover that when combined with the other books in DARK DUET: Platinum Edition series makes a lovely addition to any bookshelf.It is NO DIFFERENT in content from previous editions of the series. CAPTIVE IN THE DARK (BOOK 1): Caleb is a man with a singular interest in revenge. Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but vengeance. For twelve years he has immersed himself in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one man he holds ultimately responsible. Finally, the architect of his suffering has emerged with a new identity, but not a new nature. If Caleb is to get close enough to strike, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was.Eighteen-year-old Olivia Ruiz has just woken up in a strange place. Blindfolded and bound, there is only a calm male voice to welcome her. His name is Caleb, though he demands to be called Master. Olivia is young, beautiful, naïve and willful to a fault. She has a dark sensuality that cannot be hidden or denied, though she tries to accomplish both. Although she is frightened by the strong, sadistic, and arrogant man who holds her prisoner, what keeps Olivia awake in the dark is her unwelcome attraction to him.SEDUCED IN THE DARK (BOOK 2): What is the price of redemption?Rescued from sexual slavery by a mysterious Pakistani officer, Caleb carries the weight of a debt that must be paid in blood.The road has been long and fraught with uncertainty, but for Caleb and Livvie, it's all coming to an end.Can he surrender the woman he loves for the sake of vengeance?Or will he make the ultimate sacrifice?EPILOGUE THE DARK DUET (BOOK 3): It didn't happen exactly as Livvie said. She's been very kind to me in the retelling of our story. The truth is far more...complicated.DARK DUET THE BONUS MATERIAL (BOOK 4):1) The NEW 32,000 word novella DETERMINED TO OBEY, featuring secondary characters Kid, Felipe, and Celia. 2) Eight scorching-hot fan-written Dark Duet short stories hand-selected by the author. 3) CJ's favorite interviews & Reviews Author Endorsements: "'This series is the most incredible mindf**k I've ever experienced.' Or something along those lines. Write whatever you want and slap my name on it. I loved it that much.' - Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author"I have never had an author move me to the point that I felt I needed to get in my car and go after someone who was fictional." --Tina Reber, NYT and USA Today Bestselling Author of the LOVE series"Absolutely amazing! I have not been this captivated by a book, by a series, in years! Thank you to everyone who told me to read these." -- Aleatha Romig, NYT Bestselling Author of the Consequences series"I'm very stingy with five stars. I usually only give those to modern classics or books that I am absolutely crazy about. Here is why I think CID deserves five...." -- Tarryn Fisher, USA Today Bestselling Author of the Love Me With Lies series"Just know that I think it was an exhilarating (albeit somewhat exhausting) reading experience and I LOVED it. And... I appreciated it even more once I was done. I felt mostly... complete. Crazy right? Ahhh but sometimes, it just is what it is. It was rich, well rounded, uncomfortable, exciting and scary (in multiple ways). Emotionally affecting. I lived it, I didn't just read it, although I was VERY happy to be on this side of the book. *phew* I may enjoy the fictional thrill and I may like it crazy at times, but I'm very content on the "safe" side of life." -- Maryse, Maryse's Book Blog
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Community Reviews
This book is definitely not for the faint of heart. Many reviewers on here is stating that this is a disgusting piece romanticizing rape by labeling it BDSM. Let me start off by saying THIS IS NOT A STORY ABOUT FETISHES OF DOMINANT AND SUBMISSIVE!! Caleb is not a master trying to convince Livvie "Kitten" to be his sexy submissive. We are looking into the dark world of kidnap, slavery, and abuse. This exists. Women most likely fapped to the idea of sex games because of the pathetic version illustrated in the Fifty Shades travesty. Never once was it indicated that this was another crappy dive into BDSM. CJ states in the very beginning that Caleb was in search for a girl that he could "train" to further his own plan on revenge.
This book is darkly gorgeous... I'm not just talking about the cover. I'm talking about a mindblowing, breathtaking, wounded, sexy-as-all-hell hero and a strong, beguiling, spunky, smartass heroine who both fights against her fate and learns to accept it. I was less disturbed by this story as I thought I might initially be. This isn't my first foray into stories featuring erotic extremes, but I am not necessarily a super experienced (ha!) erotica reader. Maybe it's that numbness to shock value/extreme situations (since I've read this sort of material before and have attempted to read The Story of O, which I have yet to have the balls [so to speak] to finish) combined with my willing suspension of disbelief that made this story much more appealing and sexy and less creeptastic. This book is also dirrrrrrty as heck. (And I love it for both of these reasons).
Some reviews mention that this is not for the faint of heart. Truth be told, I didn't find the material overly shocking or terrifying. Sure, I felt Kitten/Olivia/Livvie's fears and I believed her, and yet being given the POV of her captor/tormentor/trainer Caleb somehow soothes the reader into believing that he isn't truly trying to cause her harm. He means to do as he says he will--he means to train her into a sex slave. Of course, there's that pesky matter of emotions and his own heart that come into play. Oh! And I can't forget the tragic past he's had to overcome himself. With those scenes included, it's not hard to feel for him, knowing that he has walked the steps he's forcing Kitten/Olivia/Livvie to walk herself.
Okay, so she didn't ask for it. And she doesn't really deserve what she's been dealt, but in a story that could easily have been twisted to be horrific, terrifying and distasteful, C.J. Roberts humanizes everyone in this tale so that you can see what Kitten sees, feel what she feels, and realizes, as does Kitten herself, that she doesn't quite hate everything that she's being forced to endure. (Rather, she does glean pleasure from it, as well.)
This said, I would say if you've never read a dark erotic tale featuring things such as: questionable consent (meaning, well, Kitten/Olivia/Livvie doesn't really say 'yes' and isn't exactly a willing participant in the power exchange at play...and I understand that's supposed to be like, a big no-no in the BDSM world, but I let it slide given the set-up of this tale), spanking as punishment, [light?] bondage, things that might be interpreted as humiliating (I didn't think so, but I'm sure someone else might disagree), and anal sex... well, consider yourself warned.
I am so glad that Roberts describes the confusion and conflict that both characters feel as their emotions complicate their very defined positions. Caleb, as a sex slave trainer and kidnapper, and Kitten/Olivia/Livvie, the unwilling captive and sub-in-training. Roberts's characters are well-rounded, fleshed out, and individually motivated. Though the situation itself is, well, a little out there in Absurdia, I am so thankful for her crafty writing skills that have convinced me to roll with it. I've been able to buy into this plot about a broken man who was once stolen and used in unspeakable ways as a boy, formulating a revenge upon his enemy that would require that he facilitate the same traumas done to him. Except he's less cruel, by far. Except maybe he's starting to figure out what l-o-v-e might be. Except maybe he shouldn't have picked a girl he wanted for himself to be the offering he's going to give to his own personal demon.
And part of why I buy into this hook, line, and sinker, is because the characters are handled with such fragility and laced with such strength.
Plus, the sex is hot. I mean, HAWWWWTTTTTT.
I will say this: I've never bought a self-published book before, but this one was so well done I think I'd be willing to risk buying more. My one critique of the book would be that I still felt like things were a bit unresolved by the book's end, but I think that comes from my disappointment in an absent sex scene I have been basically waiting the entire book for (and I imagine may come in book 2? God, please.), and--more importantly--stems from my desire for MORE. I can't tell you how relieved/excited/thrilled I am that book 3 is being released this freaking weekend cuz I'm expecting to read through book two before then.
Some reviews mention that this is not for the faint of heart. Truth be told, I didn't find the material overly shocking or terrifying. Sure, I felt Kitten/Olivia/Livvie's fears and I believed her, and yet being given the POV of her captor/tormentor/trainer Caleb somehow soothes the reader into believing that he isn't truly trying to cause her harm. He means to do as he says he will--he means to train her into a sex slave. Of course, there's that pesky matter of emotions and his own heart that come into play. Oh! And I can't forget the tragic past he's had to overcome himself. With those scenes included, it's not hard to feel for him, knowing that he has walked the steps he's forcing Kitten/Olivia/Livvie to walk herself.
Okay, so she didn't ask for it. And she doesn't really deserve what she's been dealt, but in a story that could easily have been twisted to be horrific, terrifying and distasteful, C.J. Roberts humanizes everyone in this tale so that you can see what Kitten sees, feel what she feels, and realizes, as does Kitten herself, that she doesn't quite hate everything that she's being forced to endure. (Rather, she does glean pleasure from it, as well.)
This said, I would say if you've never read a dark erotic tale featuring things such as: questionable consent (meaning, well, Kitten/Olivia/Livvie doesn't really say 'yes' and isn't exactly a willing participant in the power exchange at play...and I understand that's supposed to be like, a big no-no in the BDSM world, but I let it slide given the set-up of this tale), spanking as punishment, [light?] bondage, things that might be interpreted as humiliating (I didn't think so, but I'm sure someone else might disagree), and anal sex... well, consider yourself warned.
I am so glad that Roberts describes the confusion and conflict that both characters feel as their emotions complicate their very defined positions. Caleb, as a sex slave trainer and kidnapper, and Kitten/Olivia/Livvie, the unwilling captive and sub-in-training. Roberts's characters are well-rounded, fleshed out, and individually motivated. Though the situation itself is, well, a little out there in Absurdia, I am so thankful for her crafty writing skills that have convinced me to roll with it. I've been able to buy into this plot about a broken man who was once stolen and used in unspeakable ways as a boy, formulating a revenge upon his enemy that would require that he facilitate the same traumas done to him. Except he's less cruel, by far. Except maybe he's starting to figure out what l-o-v-e might be. Except maybe he shouldn't have picked a girl he wanted for himself to be the offering he's going to give to his own personal demon.
And part of why I buy into this hook, line, and sinker, is because the characters are handled with such fragility and laced with such strength.
Plus, the sex is hot. I mean, HAWWWWTTTTTT.
I will say this: I've never bought a self-published book before, but this one was so well done I think I'd be willing to risk buying more. My one critique of the book would be that I still felt like things were a bit unresolved by the book's end, but I think that comes from my disappointment in an absent sex scene I have been basically waiting the entire book for (and I imagine may come in book 2? God, please.), and--more importantly--stems from my desire for MORE. I can't tell you how relieved/excited/thrilled I am that book 3 is being released this freaking weekend cuz I'm expecting to read through book two before then.
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