Enslave: The Taming of the Beast [Paperback]

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I wasn't thrilled. I wasn't drawn to the characters. The story was ok but could have used more depth. There were many sex scenes which were ok, but I wasn't drawn in emotionally. There was one event which didn't make sense to me. Dominic and Nadia like and enjoy each other, but he decides to return her to her home. This causes Nadia to feel rejected. He ends up taking her back, but I found it unnecessary. It was an illogical source of conflict. The Jelena story was a little more interesting, but again I wasn't drawn into the characters enough to enjoy it.

A minor problem: the cover picture is wrong. Dominic has a disfigured face. Cover guy does not.

STORY BRIEF:
Dominic is disfigured with scars on his face and body. Alexis had something to do with causing them when he broke up with her a few years back. She wants him dead and has a contract out on his life. He lives in a remote fortress-like home. Mikhail steals Dominic's car and sells it. Dominic comes to Mikhail's home threatening violence. Mikhail's daughter Nadia offers herself to Dominic saying she will live with him and do anything he says. He is intrigued and takes her home. He requires that she always be naked. They have a lot of sex which includes bondage, spanking and sex toys.

A second story is about Nadia's sister Jelena. She married a wealthy older man Henry. He pays a monthly allowance to Jelena and also to her father. Jelena asks for more money to help Nadia which Henry refuses. Jelena knows Henry will probably divorce her for someone younger and leave her with no money. She takes steps to get money and power. She uses sex to make this happen. There are several Jelena sex scenes in the book which include 2 women, 2 men with 1 woman, and rear door activity.

DATA:
Story length: 243 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious words. Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: 16. Total number of sex scene pages: around 67. Setting: current day Nevada. Copyright: 2009. Genre: erotic romantic suspense.

Forgetting the fact that "Beauty and the Beast" told in the many different ways (culturally) has always been one of my favorite fairy tales, this book by Cathy Yardley is really good. Told with and in an excellent voice, composition, and new detailing, "Enslave" gives an erotically modern retelling of the story most of us have known since childhood. It isn't a story that is told with heavy emotions or incredible depth, but it does have a view that is by far spicy, sweet, charming, and interestingly nice in all the right ways.

Centered around three main characters this story begins similar to the old "Beauty and the Beast" in where the first main character, a Russian beauty, named Nadia Bessonova's father has stolen "the Rose" from the Beast. That "beast" being Dominic Luder who is an ex-criminal, killer, and mobster. It is because of that Dominic has come to brutally collect from the patriarch Bessonova, whose main course in life has been to steal, cheat, lie, and cast off his daughters through any means productive for him (such as marriage and sex). Bravely, Nadia makes the decision to go with Dominic so that she can buy her family sometime. While in captivity, she learns about satisfying lust and that Dominic is more than she expected. She learns that he is a trapped person who has created a prison as safety, and he learns through his regained lust and reopened vision how to trust and care for another again. However, as a new twist to the tale, the sister of Nadia, Jelena, comes to narrate the distressful and empowering attempt of helping her sister. With each narration you see every character grow and change (Nadia being the least to have to change) as their experiences happen to them.

In a nutshell, this book seriously won't let you down. However, that is all based upon the fact of your liking a "good" erotica and tale mixed together as one.

There were parts to this novel I absolutely loved and it did entertain me from start to finish. Therefore, it easily deserves three stars!

I really enjoyed the Bessonova family in general. Reading about a Russian immigrant family in a romance novel was unique and refreshing. I find the "mail order bride" thing in modern day America to be fascinating. The story introduces us to the family... a father and his three daughters. One of the daughters found a wealthy husband through mail order, and he brought the rest of her family to America. The second sister was married off soon after, also for wealth. The third sister, and youngest, is our heroine Nadia. She was a fun character to read about. She was sharp, clever, witty, funny and brave. I admired her loyalty and open mind. The girl was definitely not squeamish.

The father of the girls is a real loser. Basically, he's involved in illegal activities to make money. And doesn't mind putting his family (his young wife or his daughters) at risk. He also uses the daughters as a source of income. The older two daughters provide money from their husbands, and the youngest, Nadia, has been forced to submit to men intimately in exchange for goods/debt payoff. Yes, totally despicable.

In come the hero, Dominic, who literally bursts into the heroine's life when he comes looking for his precious, priceless car that Nadia's father has apparently stolen. Once again, Nadia is offered in exchange for the vehicle's value and... you can take it from there. What we have here is an exciting twist on the traditional Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. Dominic is big, bad and scary... with physical and emotional scars to boot. Nadia is innocent, young and abused... and totally at his mercy.

So why the 3 stars? Basically, this novel needed work. Lots of work. It's unfinished. Far too short and too simple. At the end I was left with questions, and I didn't like that. I wanted to know what the heck ever happened with the car... after all... that was intro to the story. We were led to believe Dominic valued this car at all cost. I either wanted them to locate it OR for them to recognize its loss. I didn't enjoy the idea that most of the story lines introduced were left unresolved. I wanted to know what happened with the sisters, for example. And the dad... he just gets away with it all?

The biggest flaw to me was the lack of character/ emotional development. There is something AMAZING to work with her for both characters that is largely overlooked. For example... Nadia has been abused sexually and used as a prostitute by her own father. I expected that to be a part of the story line. I wanted to understand how Nadia, despite the fact that she is strong, could tolerate the early situation with Dominic since she's been mistreated by men. I despised the fact that the conversation never comes up with Dominic, besides a light-as-a-feather touch in passing. Considering how dominate and possessive Dominic was, I expected him to throttle her father once he discovered his misuse of Nadia. I wanted them to heal in each other's arms... but ultimately it's only him that does the healing and Nadia is magically mentally healthy despite it all.

There was SO much potential to make this novel go from ho-hum to WHAM. As it stands right now, it's an above-average amateur ebook that any romance lover of fairy tales would enjoy (especially if you enjoy a touch of BDSM in your novels that doesn't go over the top). But it really could have been so much more. I would only recommend this on a forum or to a friend if someone specifically was looking for fairy tale spins. It just doesn't do enough stand alone without further development.

Enslaved offered many four to five star elements, but failed to deliver ultimately.