Is it a Stockholm syndrome romance ?

My first reaction when I saw the cover was : is he fingering her ? Their positions and faces mimicking the throes of passion can only lead us to think that. I don’t know if I am the only one but this type of cover does not entice me more to buy the book.

Fortunately, I came across this book thanks to this review from Smartbitchestrashybooks. Check out their blog, it’s a great one if you are looking for romances.

As I don’t want to spoil it too much, here is the blurb from Amazon :

For three years, I’ve belonged to Julius King.

Some people would think being stuck on a private island is heaven, but this is my hell.
Because I’m not here as a guest. Not even close. I’m a prisoner. I’m his.

Julius King. Powerful. Wealthy. Dangerous.

There are parts of me he wants that I can’t give him. When he looks at me, there are times I swear he sees someone else. And the scary part is that sometimes, when he touches me, I think he may be someone else, too.

Though my body might be tempted, and he might control everything else, I can’t let him have any piece of my heart. I won’t. But every day, the fight gets harder, and Julius manages to slip past my defenses in the most unexpected ways.

I have to find out the truth about Julius King. Even if it destroys me.

I will try to not talk too much about the plot because it is a case of “the less you know, the better it is”.

The book is ok, I wouldn’t call it a real mind fuck though, mainly because I saw the plot twist coming and guessed it before the big reveal.(And I’m not a Sherlock Holmes, I am terrible at guessing and get clues in mysteries).

I found the heroine too passive about her situation, albeit a dire one, she spends three years doing nothing, not even asking questions. Doing nothing may be a defense to protect herself but it is a very boring one, especially when a book is written about it.

The story is also told from the perspective of Julius 3/4 times in the book but it does not help at all, on the contrary, they are just here to keep the reader on its toes.

If you want a more thorough review, go read the one from Smartbitchestrashybooks, they do a much better job than me reviewing it and appreacited more than me.

If I had to compare,in my opinion, When life happened by Jewel E Ann was a much more riveting and captivating book but in a different style.

If you are looking for a book with a similar storyline, give Black Lies by Alessandra Torre a go.