Official Review: Desperate by Athena Daniels

[ALynnPowers]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Desperate" by Athena Daniels.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In her debut novel Desperate, Athena Daniels tells the story of one woman’s desperate attempt to escape from her terrible past. Once known as Sarah Weston, our beautiful heroine has spent the past few years of her life under the tyrannic control of her emotionally and physically abusive husband, Blake. With the help of a secret organization designed to relocate women in her situation, she moves from her home in England to the city of Perth in Australia and attempts to begin her life again.

Now living in Perth as Ivy Jones, she still doesn’t feel safe. Blake is a shady private detective with a reputation for considering himself above the law, and Ivy knows that he will stop at nothing to track her down and make her pay for leaving him. To complicate matters, Ivy’s new job requires her to work alongside the wealthy, sexy, and completely irresistible Eric Prescott. Although the two have obvious chemistry, Ivy doesn’t want to put his life in danger as well by forming any kind of relationship with him. But like I said, he is completely irresistible, and Ivy has pulled him into her life with more passion than she has ever experienced before. Suspense and steamy romance line the pages of this fast-paced thriller, with action and drama from start to finish.

If Athena Daniels keeps it up with writing like this, I have no doubts that she will establish her place amongst the most well-known authors of erotic literature. The story borderlines between a thriller and a romance, but personally, I would consider it more of a romance with a bit of suspense thrown in to tie the whole plot together. Don’t get me wrong; I loved the story. I was just a bigger fan of the suspenseful moments than of the romantic moments. And there were a lot of romantic and erotic moments, so ladies who are a fan of sexy scenes will definitely find pleasure in this book. Multiple times.

I had my doubts about the direction of the story a few times. About halfway through the book, I was literally thinking to myself, “That’s it?” I couldn’t help feeling that the story had – for lack of a better expression – climaxed a bit prematurely. However, I’m glad I kept going, and I ending up being quite satisfied by the events that followed my bout of apprehension.

What I loved most about the story was the well-written cast of characters. All of the characters were three-dimensional, well-developed, and realistic in terms of their personalities. While everyone did seem a bit too good-looking to be true, they still managed to have faults and flaws just like regular humans. I probably wouldn’t be friends with any of these people if I met them in real life, but I appreciate a nicely written character when I see one. Eric especially was just not my type; while I definitely wouldn’t be chasing after him myself, I was cheering for Ivy to make things work out with him.

Because of the excellent writing and amazing characters presented in this book, I give Desperate by Athena Daniels a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. I might have seen a few typos here and there, but it definitely wasn’t enough to detract from my enjoyment of the story. If you’re a fan of romantic thrillers, I would definitely recommend giving this one a read.

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Desperate
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Like ALynnPowers's review? Post a comment saying so!

[PashaRu]

I'm glad you read past the premature climax to bring us such a nice review. The resolution seemed worth getting to. Romance/erotica definitely isn't my cup of tea - I prefer coffee, to stretch the metaphor to ambiguity - but I enjoyed your insightful and entertaining remarks. Multiple times.

[TammyO]

Great review, Alynn. You made this sound very sexy, erotic, romantic and thrilling! This type of book is even more amazing when the characters are well-developed with an amazing plot to go along with it. Kudos to this author.

[Ryan]

I'm afraid I enjoyed your review more than I would the book itself

[Gravy]

If only one of them were a vampire...I would probably read this
I'm sure it will find lots of readers thanks to your review

[ALynnPowers]

Thanks for the nice words everyone! Glad that I could please you with my review!

I think you guys saw this post before I even did!

[bookowlie]

Great review! I almost selected this book to read/review a few weeks ago. At least, I have gotten to read more about it from your detailed review. Straight-up romance is not my preferred genre, although a thriller/romance is intriguing. I do like the romance to be a little less erotic. I feel too much like a voyeur when reading novels containing erotic scenes. Since the book is also a thriller, the good news is that it will attract a wider audience than just romance lovers.

[debo9967]

Nice and well detailed review. Sounds like an interesting book.

[PashaRu]

Is "pulled him into her (life)" another pun here?

What was wrong with Eric?

[ALynnPowers]

Is "pulled him into her (life)" another pun here?

What was wrong with Eric?

My puns are my own little secret. And my secret is little, unlike Eric's.

Oh, and he's a bit too macho, cocky, must-be-the-protector/provider, alpha male for my taste. I prefer bookish guys. And shy guys.

[Gravy]

Bookish and shy...is that why you joined the site?
Just admit it...you like geeks
Geeks rule!

And on the puns

[ALynnPowers]

Bookish and shy...is that why you joined the site?
Just admit it...you like geeks
Geeks rule!

And on the puns

What could be better than books and geeks? Except for maybe geeks reading books?

[Gravy]

Ryan Gosling? Really?
To each their own
I know of an actor who reads...he actually started a reading group on twitter
And I'll keep the rest of my words to myself

[ALynnPowers]

I think you showed me that before...

And I just used this picture because he's one of those guys all girls seems to fall for (again, not for me) and the text was funny...

[Gravy]

I don't think I did! I totally should
And yet again...we agree