Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Anchored
SERIES: Belonging #1
AUTHOR: Rachel Haimowitz
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 204 pages
BLURB:
Network news anchor Daniel Halstrom is at the top of his field, but being at the bottom of the social ladder—being a slave—makes that hard to enjoy. Especially when NewWorld Media, the company that’s owned him since childhood, decides to lease him privately on evenings and weekends to boost their flagging profits.
Daniel’s not stupid; he knows there’s only one reason someone would pay so much for what little free time he has. But dark memories of past sexual service leave him certain he won’t survive it again with his sanity intact.
He finds himself in the home of Carl Whitman, a talk show host whose words fail him when it comes to ordering Daniel into his bed. Carl can’t seem to take what he must want, and Daniel’s not willing to give it freely. His recalcitrance costs him dearly, but with patience and some hard-won understanding, affection just might flourish over fear and pain. Carl holds the power to be an anchor in Daniel’s turbulent life, but if he isn’t careful, he’ll end up the weight that sinks his slave for good.
REVIEW:
I need to make something clear about this book: This is NOT a romance novel. It is a brutal look at another world, a world that ours could have turned in to. It is not an easy read at all. But it is brilliant.
In this world, slavery was not abolished and is alive and thriving. Slaves are common, owned by individuals and corporations. There is even talk about a “slave gene” to justify the ownership of humans, and the assumption is made that slaves have no soul. Even the slaves believe all this bullshit. Slaves are born as slaves and will die as slaves. There is no freeing of a favorite slave. There is not even the glimmer of freedom for slaves. Some are treated well by reasonable owners, some are not. Daniel is born a slave, to a slave mother, and has been brutalized, raped, and beaten before he is “discovered” by an executive working for a CNN type network and bought from his owner at 11 years old. Off he goes to another life. 25 years later, he has lived a fairly pampered life. He’s the anchor of a highly rated news program, very unusual for a slave to achieve something like this. He has traveled as a reporter, working his way up the ranks and has earned his spot. But he is still a slave. He owns nothing, not even his clothing, lives in a dorm with other slaves, is beaten if he misbehaves, and has had virtually no sexual contact other than a few stolen moments with another slave. The corporation that owns him is in need of money, so someone decides it’s an awesome idea to offer their slaves up for lease as fuck toys. Daniel is sold to an unknown buyer. He’ll spend his days working for the corporation, doing his on air reporting, then will spend the evenings and nights as a personal slave, subject to whatever his owner wants. Even though Daniel is a slave and knows it quite well, he is still shocked by this turn of events. He is sent off to his new owner, who turns out to be his on air competition, Carl Whitman. Off we go on a deep and dark story…
Daniel is surprisingly innocent for all that he has been through, he’s had 25 years to be as normal as he can be considering he is a slave. He’s had the occasional beating or whipping, but really he’s been pampered. That ends quickly, and not at the hands of Carl. Carl actually seems like a decent human, with very little understanding of Daniels life. Carl has two slaves, but soooo doesn’t treat them as such, and he has no idea what to do with Daniel. He thinks he’s bought himself a companion, someone to talk to who understand his life, someone to eat dinner with, basically a lover. Daniel has a very different idea of this new routine. He is absolutely terrified of having sex with Carl, because the only time he has been penetrated, it ended in pain and blood. Daniel assumes he’s going to be beaten at any moment, is afraid to sit on the couch, sleep in the same bed, eat at the same table. He knows his place. Carl doesn’t get it. Even after seeing Daniel’s back after his punishment for his nervous behavior the week before he goes to Carl’s home, Carl is just clueless. It just gets worse and worse, Daniel is scared, can’t speak to Carl, Carl gets angrier and angrier as the story goes. It’s very difficult to read. It’s a huge mess, no communication between them, punishments for Daniel, anger for Carl, and we can do nothing but watch it happen.
There is very little gentleness in this story, Daniel is beaten and raped (NOT by Carl by the way), we see it all. There is no subtly here. It is brutal and hard and cold. I hated it. But overall the story is quite good! I read this several years ago, it has been revised and expanded, I don’t remember exactly what has changed but it worked very well. I’ve read several of Rachel’s books, they are right on the edge for me. I am a big fan of BDSM, but some of hers cross the line in to non-consensual and make me uncomfortable. But that’s ok. I can be uncomfortable sometimes. The writing is wonderful, even in its harshness, this is not a nice story, but it’s done very well. I saw another review for this book and the reviewer gave it one star saying she couldn’t relate to the characters at all. Well I couldn’t either, I’m not a slave or a slave owner, and I’ve never been hurt or treated badly. But I COULD relate to Daniel as a human who deserves to be treated so much better. I loved him, I wanted to help him, heal him, save him. I wanted Carl to love him, and save him. I can’t say how this ends, and whether that happens or not, but there is hope for both of them. Not in the sense that Daniel will ever be free, they are not and can not be equals, but maybe they can create something that will work for them.
I’m going back and forth on my rating, a five star rating means I LOVED the book and that I would highly recommend it. I can’t say that I loved it. I appreciated the writing, the story, the pain, but it was too hard for me to read to say I loved it. I would carefully recommend it, if you like this type of story. It is not for everyone by any means. Some will love it, some will hate it. If you like a dark story, with non-consensual sex, incredible characters and an amazing world, you should read this one.
RATING: 
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