Since this book was actually my favorite in the series so far I will try to make this an actual review.The book begins were the previous one left us with Raoul invited at a "mini" slave auction were there are only three "damaged" women and three buyers. Raoul goes to this auction with instructions from the FBI not to buy any woman so he will be invited to the larger auction later. But when Raoul spots Kim, Gabi's friend among the women he can't resist buying her. After that Kim is forced to play the slave role so the slavers won't suspect Raoul's cooperation with the feds to catch them.
Knowing this it's easy to understand that the book comes heavy with emotion. Kim is scarred inside and out by her time in captivity and Raoul is a Dom who sparks her worst fears as a PTSD case and her most secret desires as a sub.
Kim is a very strong woman(okay fictional woman). Although the idea of even pretending to be a slave wakes her worst nightmares she does the brave and honourable thing and does what it takes to free the other women. I don't thing there was a moment that I didn't like Kim. Most times there is an instant when you say "wish this wasn't here" but Kim didn't have one. She was brave and loving even after all the things she went through. She has a lot of fear which only emphasises her courage even more. Just the fact that she was brave enough to admit that even after all she went through she still craved someone to dominate her was enough to earn my respect.
Raoul was very different than I thought he'd be from reading the previous books. I thought he'd be more easy-going and less demanding than the other masters but that wasn't the case. Raoul liked the rules to be clear. He knew what he wanted and went for it even when he had to sacrifice things to get it. He has the usual traits we've seen in the Dom's in the series, protectiveness, determination, affection for those who needed it and a mean punch for those who deserved it. He also came with some emotional baggage from previous failed relationships.
The book was awesome. My favourite in the series so far. It has emotional depth and you could actually see the bond forming between Raoul and Kim. It was obvious how Raoul stole Kim's hurt by caring for her and treating her as a person who didn't need just cuddling but a motivation to try harder too. He pushed her to expand her limits in both her day-to-day life and her love-life.
I have to admit that if I had gone through what Kim went I would probably be a quivering mess afterwards so I can't say how much of this I find believable enough. The fact that not only she moved on but she actually decided to become Raoul's "slave" males it kind of hard for me to believe it possible but since this is fiction I have to admit that the story was touching and tear-worthy.
I also liked how the whole D/s, M/s relationship was explained. I didn't realise during the previous books how many things were involved in this kind of relationship. It seemed kind of one-sided and brutal to me but seeing it through Kim's eyes changed my view. I still wouldn't want someone else to make the decisions for me but I can see the appeal to it.
The slavers were disturbing but that was expected. How can someone who sells people like they are animals not be?
Generally the book was beautiful with almost none "oh shit" moment and lots of hot sex scenes to keep even the worst perv satisfied and lots of emotional stuff to keep the romantics attention as well.
I can't wait for the rest of the series.
