3.5 thought-provoking but HUH? starsI read Wanderlust a while back and absolutely LOVED it, so imagine my excitement when I found out the author has a “dark erotica” series! It's supposed to be:Dark?Kidnapping?Dubious content and maaaaaaaaay have some Stockholm syndrome plus kinky business going on?Well, this lady is SOLD! Especially with the first few lines… “There were lies people told you. Like when the case worker said, ‘You’re going to love your new home, Samantha.’Then there are lies you tell other people. ‘My father passed away.’But the darkest lies were the ones you told yourself. They lurked in the shadows of your subconscious, undermining you and twisting your perceptions. They hid the answers in plain sight, right when you needed them most.” ...but I didn’t feel it. I mean, this book was certainly twisted, but not dark nor erotic in my standards. Then again, I’ve read countless number of books that truly mindfucked the brains out of me so this one was…tamer compared to others. While certain twists and turns left me ‘ooh-ing’ and ‘ahh-ing,’ the feeling I got the most was confusion. I felt mind-boggled. And lots of ‘huh?’ This is exactly what I looked like:Now let me try to explain...This is one of the rare books where I valued the intellect of characters over the romance (GASP, I know!!!). Don’t get me wrong, I totally dig kinky sex, but here, in this book , I was WAY more interested in the thought processes and reasoning behind characters’ actions. The analyzing, the internalizing, and the projecting, I devoured it all. “Every criminal, every man, every woman can be dangerous if their back’s against the wall. If you’re standing between them and something they want, you’re the enemy. Pretending otherwise, pretending you can be safe, is just a way to get yourself killed.”“Like Peter Pan, he could fight and put on a good front, but he was just a boy at heart, never quite grown up. And who did that make me? Wendy Darling, thrust into a world she was unsuited for, in constant need of saving.”“Only then did I realize the mockery he’d made of sex. Using the flogger to mimic a lover’s exploration. Blocking my senses. Using an object on an object, like making a doll fuck another doll.” These scenes? I absolutely CRAVED. I just love it when the book makes me think, and makes me see behind the scenes so this aspect of the story? 5+ stars!Now here comes the not-so-glowing part. I’m just going to say it: the character development is a big bummer. Most of the time it was very contradictory, and I honestly had no clue how to reconcile the personalities the author presented. Let’s start with the heroine Samantha. SamanthaShe’s a junior agent BUT she’s described as “top of her class” and an agent who can “outrun and outshoot every one of [her] male counterparts.” That’s pretty impressive for a rookie.She’s also “heartless.” She can’t be “swayed by a bribe or intimidated by some crony..”Yet when she’s sent out to her missions, she’s the complete opposite. She truly acts like the junior agent she’s branded as, and got a little too helpless for my tastes. Each spoiler tag details the differences between what she’s described as, and what she acts like. See scene where she and Ian are questioning Fuentes See scene where she’s interviewing Mia and she feels guilty for not inviting Ian. Where’s the killer attitude? Where’s the heartless actions? In many ways she’s still a child. See scene where she draws a hasty conclusion just from listening to Ian hum in the shower. The very next moment she runs to her supervisors to turn him in, BUT WAIT! She chickens out of her decision and protects him instead….How can she be so decisive about one plan, then suddenly switch gears so fast? #confusionI don’t know if it’s because of her naïveté or controversial personality, but Samantha was a mood killer in this book. On a scale from 1-5, she rates a 2. The "hero" Ian HennessyThis guy is a BUNDLE of contradictions. This is what he’s described as: “Ian is one of our best agents. He’s closed a hell of a lot of cases. The Di Mariano family. And the Mencia? Maybe you’ve heard of it. Big jewel heist in Manhattan. A lot of high-profile cases, and now he’s going to give this one a try.” Ian responds to that statement by saying: “I’m not going to try. I’m going to close the case.” Whenever he’s in a room, Samantha and others feel his ferocity. The shivers start. The trembling begins. Everyone’s jumpy and careful around him. The main problem I had with his character was how quick and fast he fell in love with Samantha when he's depicted as a guarded man. Right from the beginning, whenever he looks at her, he has a “soft gaze” for her, and isn’t really as cold or harsh to her as he is towards everyone else. This “insta-love” between the two caught me unawares, partially because there wasn’t much romantic development between them that I could pinpoint. It was mainly directing heated stares to each other and only after Samantha is kidnapped and rescued was when Ian suddenly developed more feelings for her. I just couldn’t make the connection here.The ending left me raising eyebrows because it was like okaaaaaaay, that’s it? I didn’t feel like their story ended, and the scene it ended on wasn’t a place where I felt satisfied in letting the characters go. And the biggest question I wanted an answer to, but never got was since Ian is obviously with Samantha now, will he and Mia’s paths ever cross? Though she’s not an agent any longer, I feel like someday the two couple’s lives will intersect, and how will that be explained?A good read, but not one that totally wowed me. However, this book made me super fascinated with Mia's character and her experiences so will I be reading her book?Rating breakdownSamantha: 2 starsIan: 2.5 starsCarlos: 4.5 starsScenes that made me think: 5+ starsRomance: 3 starsCharacter development/descriptions: 1 starFinal rating: 3.5 starsThank you Skye for sending me a copy!