Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Captivated

SERIES: Out of Darkness #1

AUTHOR: Brittany Cournoyer

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 216 pages

RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2019

BLURB:

Ethan Fletcher’s a rising star in the modeling industry, and after landing an ad on a billboard, things were looking up for him. From the outside looking in, he was living his best possible life. No one knows the struggles Ethan faced, or that every night he removed the carefully constructed mask he had to slip on just to face the outside world. However, the camera wasn’t the only thing in love with Ethan’s face.

When the gifts started to arrive, they seemed innocent enough. But, the attention from the fan who called himself The Suitor had Ethan on edge, and when someone important in Ethan’s life goes missing, he knows it’s no coincidence. Receiving no help from the local police, Ethan seeks comfort from a very unlikely source. Together, they find themselves in a race against time to catch The Suitor before Ethan becomes his next victim.

Captivated is book 1 in the Out of Darkness series. It talks about stalking, kidnapping, murder, and mental illness. Captivated ends with a happy for now and is a continuing series. This book is an extremely slow burn with a romance that progresses throughout the series.

REVIEW:  

Wow. Well Miss Brittany pulled no punches right from the start in this series and it’s a job well done. What a thriller. It kept you pulled in once you got going and you can’t put it down once you get started. It took just a bit to get started, for me, but like I said, once the ball got rolling, it didn’t stop. A great job.

Triggers, peeps. Kidnapping, murder, stalking, manipulations such as blackmail, beatings, torture,etc. This is not your happy, happy every day average romance. Please be careful.

Ethan has a very hard time with crowds. All he wants to do is get this modeling job done so he can go home and decompress. Things from his past cause him to have severe anxiety and he needs peace and quiet. But it’s hard to get done on time when one of his ‘ co-workers’ can’t get to the job on time. But once he finally gets home, he starts to unwind. Until he gets an unexpected surprise. A huge bouquet of flowers and a very expensive box of candy, with a weird note. Well, the flowers are getting to him and the chocolates he can’t really eat in his line of work, so in the garbage they go. Soon, he gets another unexpected surprise. Ridiculously expensive shoes, that he will never wear. With an even weirder note that is freaking him out. His gets his agent to get rid of the shoes, but now his agent is gone as well. When he calls his co-worker to see if he’s heard from her, it’s time to go to the police. But the police aren’t doing their job. Or this officer isn’t. More and more things are happening to Ethan and his agent is still missing. He’s found a friend in his co-worker, X, and they are trying to get to the bottom. They finally get a police officer who is really doing his job, but it now may be too late. For his agent and maybe himself and X.

You know, having a fear of going outside and being around people is bad enough, but when you have a nut job stalking you, it tends to make life a whole hell of a lot harder. Poor Ethan. He didn’t have any which way to turn. The good thing about all this, is the one person he thought he couldn’t stand or deal with, has actually become a very good friend and helper. With all Ethan is dealing with, he definitely can use a friend. This stalker dude is nutso with a capital N. And with his fingers in so  many pies, Ethan has no idea who he can trust or not. He even at one point suspected X. But fear can make you see things and not trust even more so, so I don’t blame the poor guy one damn bit. I don’t think I would have been as nice as Ethan was.

I love how Brittany played The Suitor off, as well. Oh my gah. You don’t even get to know the guy’s name until the very end. He’s a very mysterious dude that everyone seems to fear, because they know what he’s capable of. And that’s another thing. You just think he’s this weirdo stalker, until things start escalating, and then you never quite know what that wacko is going to do. I love it. It keeps you on your toes. It makes the book so much more enjoyable.

I cannot wait to see how this is going to go in the next book. Ethan has got a rough road ahead of him, along with trying to deal with his past to move forward. It won’t be an easy journey, but I am very much looking forward to seeing which way it will go.

A great start to this series. You guys will love it.

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

amazon

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