“You will always own me and I will walk through hell to keep it that way.”
What a wild ride! I wanted a dark read and boy did this one ever deliver!! <– hehehe, no pun 😉
His name was Joshua Carter. Now it’s whatever she wants it to be.
She is a Deliverer.
She lures young men and delivers them to be sold. She delivers the strikes that enforce their obedience. She delivers the sexual training that determines their purchase price.
As long as she delivers, the arrangement that protects her family will hold.
Delivering is all she knows.
The one thing she can’t deliver is a captive from slavery.
Until him.
And her stubborn slave thinks he can deliver her…from herself.
If you’re a fan of dark romance, Deliver is definitely a book you should add to your list!! It’s dangerous, suspenseful, erotic, and at it’s heart, it’s a love story. I’m not going to lie though, it definitely made me uncomfortable at times but that’s kind of what you should expect from a darker romance so again, in every way, this book delivered.
The story was told in alternating POVs and the author really did a wonderful job of strongly distinguishing the two voices. Both Liv and Josh had a very distinct personality and ways of thinking that really stood out in their sections of the book and I really appreciated seeing how vastly different they were.
I have to admit, even though I do love a good dark read now and again, what drew me into this one was the uniqueness of the scenario — I mean, the woman was the captor?? Totally had my attention!
“She was stolen innocence, following the rules of monsters. Somewhere along the way, she’d become one.”
But interestingly, even though at first she came across as the villain of the story, we quickly learned that despite her role as his captor, she was every bit as much a victim as he was. The same thing that was being done to him had been done to her and now what was being held over her head ensured that she would continue to perpetuate this cycle and carry out this despicable job in order to save her family.
“Trapped in paranoia, she was terrified to make a mistake, her every action watched, judged, and used to threaten her family.”
I really want to say how much I loved Josh. What an awesome guy. Seriously, I dare you not to like him. He was smart, kind, and his quiet strength tugged at all my heart strings.
“He would concentrate his attention on observing what she was hiding and hearing what wasn’t being said. He would study her face and learn her expressions… What were his limits? How much could he endure before he despised her so much he lost himself in hate? …. To win this, he’d play her game until, eventually, hopefully, they played on the same side.”
It was heart breaking to see him go through the panic of being taken but I loved how he really never lost himself. Throughout it all, despite everything she was doing to him, he saw something in her that made him care for her. He genuinely wanted to save her and, regardless of their situation, this selfless guy was falling for the girl who’d destroyed his life.
Please pay attention to the content warning on the blurb though. This book is not for the faint of heart but underneath everything, it was the story of what happens when good people are put into terrible situations. It shows their true colors in the face of dangerous and sometimes deadly situations. In this case, it was about one man’s care for a woman who had stolen him from his life, violated him, subjugated him to cruelty and despite it all, he was still determined to save her from a life not that different than his new one.
“Don’t you see how wrong I am? I’m a kidnapper. A murderer. A fucking monster.”
“I see all of you… I claim every jagged piece of you.”
Ohhh also there was a really cool twist in the second half of the book that I honestly never saw coming. It wasn’t even an idea I had entertained and I really loved the direction it took the story in.
All in all this story turned out to be much more complex than I originally expected and I really appreciated how well developed the plot was. And I also loved that the ending was not rushed in any way. It took it’s time to let you heal a little from the darker elements of the story and overall, I found this book to be both well balanced and well written. I would highly recommend this for any fans of dark romance.
“I — ” she kissed the spot over his heart, leaned up, and kissed his lips, softly, breathlessly, “– you.”
His heartbeat catapulted, strumming every cell in his body. “You, too, girl.”
Rating: 4.5 stars. Standalone.
Both are standalones.
Rachel Hill says
your review of this book was what made me pick it up!
Thank you 🙂