Stolen Flame - D.W. Marshall

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Published: Originally published February 2013
Genre: Adult, Erotica
Many thanks to Netgalley for providing an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

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Excited for her surprise twenty-first birthday trip Vivian thinks nothing of the people arriving at her house at midnight and covering her head with a bag. This is her chance, she's going to use this surprise trip to win her best friend Liam's heart and finally lose her virginity. Except, the people at her house are actually kidnappers and she's heading straight for The Chambers where she will become a sex slave for the wealthy for the next year of her life. If she makes it one year and keeps it a secret she'll be handsomely rewarded. Clinging to the hope that not everyone is bad, Vivian finds hope in handsome guard Tyson.

I keep flip flopping on my rating of Stolen Flame and it's because I can't decide which part of my feelings about this book are winning. There are parts I loved and parts I hated, there's some general confusion about the main character and there were some scenes I just wanted more of. It's a tough book to rate, because we're dealing with kidnapping and forced sex slavery and a character who comes into her own in this environment. It is very much so a fantasy novel and I think readers need to take that into consideration prior to reading this one.

The general story line of twenty-one year old Vivian being kidnapped and forced in sex slavery at a rich men's heaven is unique, I've heard of similar ideas but none this thought out. The Chamber, or mansion the girls are living in and working in, kind of sounds like every sex club you read in books, except the girls are unwilling participants. I genuinely liked all of the secondary characters, each were different than the next, and the owner and guards of The Chamber seemed to really think they were doing something right. If you're like me and don't quite understand Vivian you will still find yourself turning the pages of this book, because there is so much you will want to know. Covering one years time, there is a lot going on in this book and we see that mostly from Vivian's perspective with the occasional chapter from her crush, Liam.

I could not fully get behind the blossoming relationship that Vivian finds with her guard. I would understand finding one person to lean on to get you through the year, but the insta-love between these two just had me confused. On top of that, for a virgin, Vivian sure is brave. She happens to be great at the sex life from the start and finds herself while held captive. While I liked her personal growth, I just never could see this girl taking to the sex slave life so easily. People do odd things to save family, but Vivian takes the cake. By the end I liked their relationship together, and would like to read further novels in the series, however I would like to see the characters be distinctly themselves and not quite as wishy washy.

Stolen Flame is a successful dark erotic novel turned romance and the first of the Seven Chamber series. If you are looking for a quick and dirty read, look no further. Book two and three are on the horizon and give further glimpses into the girls and their lives inside and outside of The Chamber.