To be honest, I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted to blog about this book series or not, mainly because the subject matter is so icky. For me personally, it wasn't that big a deal though because I've read/seen a lot of weird shit and it's come to the point where I think I'm like, 100% desensitized. Don't get me wrong - I don't go out to find this stuff, it somehow manages to find me by accident. I get lured in by a cool cover, I read the book and then I realise that the subject matter is taboo. Haha. I think that's what's happening with Fifty Shades. My sister said her friends wanted to read it because everyone was talking about it. I asked her if she knew what it was about and she said "no".

 

Well... have fun discovering what it's about.

 

Anyway, I think I'm getting sidetracked. What I wanted to say was that I recently read a book series called "The Dark Duet". Actually, I'm not sure if you would even call it a "series" - there are only two books in it after all. This is what they look like:

(Source) 

 

Book 2: "Seduced in the Dark" by CJ Roberts

Are you starting to get a clue as to the subject matter? Judging from the title of the first book, it wouldn't be hard to guess - this series is about HUMAN TRAFFICKING.

There were two main things that made me start the series:

Without giving too much away, the book was about an 18-year-old, Olivia aka "Livvie", who gets kidnapped by a man, Caleb. As a child, Caleb was kidnapped and sold into slavery. 12 years on, Caleb is so close to getting his vengeance but to get closer to the architect of his suffering, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was. 

In some ways, the story can be seen as a romance BUT - and this is a ginormous BUT - what I liked about the story was that, in no way does the author try to romanticize what is happening. A lot of the stuff that happens to Livvie is horrible, disgusting and demeaning. This is a story about HUMAN TRAFFICKING (I'm sorry, I don't even know why I keep putting those words in caps) - not a story about a normal girl and a normal guy. There is a lot of dark/taboo erotic content in these books and unfortunately, not all of it is consensual. I was on goodreads and one of the reviewers said that at the end of the first book, they were feeling so many things, they couldn't even figure out whether they wanted Caleb and Livvie to end up together. C.J. Roberts is a fantastic writer, I think. She was able to balance very well the romance part of it and the horror of the whole situation. A lot of authors would have somehow tried to justify Caleb's actions by making him out to be a good guy in disguise and I guess to some extent he is, but there is just so much more to it than that.

 

Usually I would end up by trying to convince everyone to read the series but in this case, I don't think that would be a good idea unless you're absolutely sure you can handle all the messed up situations of the book. Definitely not for the faint of heart but it is still an intriguing, well-written, fascinating story. Kind of like a train wreck I suppose - something that fills you with horror but you can't tear your eyes away from it.

 

Click on the link to learn more about the first book 'cause this review sucks shit:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12513614-captive-in-the-dark