Reviewed by Carol
Rated 4 out of 5 Stars
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.
Romantic Thriller
Stand Alone (no cliff-hanger). The sequel is coming Summer 2014.
Content warning: Graphic sex, violence, and psychological abuse. Age 18+ only.
Review by Carol
Book – Deliver
Author – Pam Godwin
Publication Date – February 26, 2014
Type – No Cliffhanger Series
Genre – Romance, Erotica
Rating – 4 out of 5 Stars
Book provided by Author (Blog Tour) in exchange for an honest review.
Review
The first thing I thought when I saw that Pam was releasing another book was….ohhhhh I’m fangirling and gonna stalk till I get an ARC ---- especially since it was tagged as “Dark”. I thought I was in the mood for a really dark, twisted read but I was pleasantly surprised when this story did a complete turnaround and Liv wasn’t the same character as she was in the beginning.
For a reader to be searching for a book that takes a VERY disturbing and dark subject and have the author totally switch the bitch up – search no more – this is the PERFECT book to read. I realized about half way in that this was what I was searching for….Dark to Light….Sadness to Happiness….Sin to Redemption….Hate to Love.
Let’s switch this up girls….it’s the woman this time who is the slave trainer….it’s the woman who abuses and tortures and it’s the woman who lives her life in misery – trapped in a life she has no say in. Pam made it easy to step in Liv’s shoes and empathize with the dilemma she lives through. I was sucked in and captivated with each turn of the page. I thought I had the book all figured out, but again I was surprised with the turn of events that made me love Liv more and more.
Now Van…..ahhh to love a man, to be scared of a man, to hate a man – a man obsessed, a man in love, a man abused – this is our Van – how Pam? How did you take a man who should have been despised in this story and make all the readers fall in love with him? Granted there were times I wanted to bash his brains in….but then there were the times I just wanted to grab him, pinch his cheeks and eat him up!
What problems did I have with the book? Well, I know that Joshua is supposed to be a God fearing – Bible quoting man….but it was a bit too much in the story. Now don’t get me wrong – I loved how Pam tackled the subject of God and Joshua’s beliefs versus how his faith started to totter, but the beginning of the book could have had a bit less “quoting”.
Another problem I had was the ending – it just cleaned up too fast and too easy. It just seemed a bit rushed to me.
Oh and can I tell you that the trailer for this book is FUCKING HOT!!
Re-Cap
Liv is a Deliverer – She delivers slaves to their owners after she has trained them as the perfect submissive. The operation of training is handled between herself and Van in which they work for a mysterious man who goes by the name of Mr. E.
Liv was originally a captive herself – kidnapped by Van and trained to be a slave but things went wrong with the exchange and Liv must now work together with Van until the tight hold of Mr. E. We find Liv stalking a college student who is a football star and studying to be a minister, this is personal for Liv; there is something about Joshua that calls to her; something more than just a trainer searching for slave material.
Liv was originally a captive herself – kidnapped by Van and trained to be a slave but things went wrong with the exchange and Liv must now work together with Van until the tight hold of Mr. E. We find Liv stalking a college student who is a football star and studying to be a minister, this is personal for Liv; there is something about Joshua that calls to her; something more than just a trainer searching for slave material.
Joshua is suddenly thrown into a situation which will test his faith and his will to live. He must choose between breaking God’s commandments in order to survive or to stand his ground. Slowly Joshua fights against Liv and tries to break down the many masks she uses to hide her true feelings. Joshua can feel that there is something special about Liv and he refuses to give up on her which leads him to try and submit and do what is necessary.
They slowly build a trust between them and then when you think everything is going perfectly with the plan……Oh wait – sorry – read the book!
Wrap-Up
What do you get when you mix a thriller, romance, romantic suspense, mystery, and erotica together?
You get Deliver – now get your asses in gear and see for yourself!
On
his back, muscles bared, bound, and stretched the full length of the box, he
was an erotic picture. She was a criminal, and as ashamed as she was by that,
the disgusting, fucked-up part of her anticipated spending the next ten weeks
touching every inch of this man.
She
dragged her gaze from his body to his face, and guilt slammed into her.
He
stared up at her with so much pain in his eyes. “Don’t
hurt my parents.”
Her
gut twisted. She knew that pain, lived it every day. She leaned in, lips
hovering a breath away, and repeated what Mr. E had said to her. “That’s up to you.”
Resolve
hardened his face. She knew that emotion, too. Her time in the box was
permanently carved in memory, which had made Van’s
threats of returning her there an effective form of control in her training.
Tendrils
of resentment coiled around her throat. To dwell on her or the boy’s predicament would only bring irresponsible hesitation. So
she did what she always did to distract her thoughts.
She
reached into the cold place inside her, searching for something yearning she
could sing with dispassion. The beginning verses of “What It Is” by Kodaline fell past her
lips and shivered through the room. She sang with an icy pitch as she removed a
blindfold from the trunk by the box and tied it over his wide, glaring eyes.
To
deprive smell, a swimmer’s nose plug went on next. He could
breathe through his mouth, and the cracks in the box allowed airflow, but it
wouldn’t feel that way to him once she shut the lid.
The
skin on his face was hot and damp, the muscles beneath jerking against her
fingers. She continued to sing as she cuffed headphones over his ears, plugged
them into the tablet outside of the box, and activated the timer. Twenty
minutes of heart-hammering silence.
The
music in her voice strangled, stopped. Twenty minutes alone with his thoughts.
Then the misery would begin.
“It’s just the way it is,” she
murmured with an ache in her throat.
His
body was motionless, but she didn’t
miss the goosebumps creeping across his skin or the slight tremor in his
cheeks. The sudden desire to comfort him drew her closer, bending her at the
waist, until her mouth brushed his, softly, unjustly. His lips pulled away in a
quiver that she felt throughout her body.
She
straightened and rubbed her breastbone, unable to soothe the ache beneath it. “I’m so sorry.” A whisper, too low to pass through the
earphones.
Then she closed the lid.
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5 winners will win a signed copy of Deliver by Pam Godwin (Open International)
Fantastic review. Thanks so much for reading and participating in the blog tour!
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