• Book Review

    Netted – The Beginning (The Silent Red Room Saga Book #1) by K.T. Rose

    **Thank you to Booksprout for an ARC in exchange for an honest review**

    WARNING: This book deals with the delicate subject matter of human trafficking and the Darknet

    There is a lot to unpack with this book despite it’s relatively short page length. For some reason even after reading the description I wasn’t fully prepared for what the story would deliver and even after I began reading it I still felt unprepared. If there is one thing that can send cold shivers down my spine it is the thought of the Darknet and the fact that it is actually a real thing. I have read plenty of things and listened to a number of crime podcasts that deal with this subject matter, but no matter how many times it is brought forward into my plane of understanding it still leaves me weak with nausea.

    Granted, I would hope that K.T. Rose wrote Netted – The Beginning from a purely fictional point of view, but that’s the thing with this subject matter, you never really know for sure. I give kudos to her for taking on something such as this with that horrifying fact in mind and I am sure I won’t be the only reader who thinks so.

  • Book Review

    Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge by Lisa Jensen

    Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

    WARNING: This book contains a graphic rape, attempted suicide, and abortion.

    I’d like to think of myself as one that doesn’t get offended. That when the story calls for it I can deal with dark subject matter that comes out of the pages from an author hoping to add a twisted element to their story. These tropes work on occasion giving the story a deeper component that makes the story irresistible. I have encountered many stories of this kind and have enjoyed most, if not all of them if memory serves me right. I accept them for what they are and try to find their balance in the story being told.

    What I cannot abide by though are these dark tropes thrown in without a care for what they can do if done with no forethought. It’s sad to say that Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge by Lisa Jensen is just such a culprit. It is so disappointing to me because the premise of this book was fantastic. My hopes were high that I was in for a treat, as Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite stories and I wanted my first retelling experience of the story to be fantastic. This was not to be the case.