Taken by Skye Warren
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Five glowing stars! Diamond in the Rough is the dark and dangerous world that I love from Skye Warren. You will be completely caught up in Elijah and Holly’s story from the first page to the last.” – New York Times bestselling author Aleatha Romig
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A breathless dangerous romance between…
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– An ex-military man who believes he has no honor left, and
– A reclusive author on a mission to save her sister
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This is the complete Diamonds trilogy in one collection.
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Kidnapped. Stolen. Taken. I’m thrown into a cell in a French prison. But I’m not alone. There’s someone in here with me. Someone more dangerous than the men who brought me here.
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“A novel full of intrigue, secrets, lies, and a love that won’t be denied, Diamond in the Rough is easily a top read of 2020.” – Celia Aaron, USA Today bestselling author of The Bad Guy
Taken
Four Books in one!
Hidden Gem & Diamond in the Rough
Terrific Captive Romance!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚💜❤️🖤
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📓
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎🌍
Character development: 👤👤👤👤👤
I really liked this captive romance. The characters were great, the action was suspenseful and interesting, and the story was written well. I also liked the fact that the hero was also a captive, so it wasn’t the traditional captive romance. The heroine has a strong voice and we first see her as a naïve teenager, which shows her in a different light with anxiety and doubts.
The prequel was included in this book and that was a nice window into the background, of the heroine especially but it also gave the couple a connection that they would later feel. When I first was reading the prequel I kept thinking that the heroine Holly was too naïve and that the Hero, whom she meets while touring the Louvre is setting her up to be trafficked.
I was glad that instead of her being a captive at that age, it was just an introduction to their background and into Holly’s family. Holly meets the Hero, Elijah while she is on a family vacation to France. He is a security guard at the Museum while she is away from her family because she wants to sit at the Mona Lisa and have time to really see it.
Elijah takes an interest in her and they go on a date, she gets her first kiss and then sees him one more time before she leaves France. Though at that time she finds out that he had been using her which she took as par for the course because Holly couldn’t understand why someone like Elijah would have been interested in her anyway.
Eight years later, Holly’s sister disappears in France so Holly comes to find her and is kidnapped. She ends up in a cell with Elijah who has been tortured and is near death. I really liked the flow of this book. The author (Skye Warren) spent plenty of time at each location in the story and gave enough background so we knew what was going on but we didn’t know everything, keeping mystery and suspense high throughout the book.
I also really liked Elijah. He is stoic after being tortured, and when he finds out that he is sharing the cell with Holly, whom he met in Paris eight years ago, he is possessive and protective. So much so that he just wants to keep her. There were also some super steamy scenes but not too many. Elijah is very hot and tough as well.
Gold Mine
OMG! Really?
The setting: Amalfi Coast, Italy; Paris; New York
The Hero(s): Elijah North – worked in Special Ops for the corrupt Lieutenant Colonel Mark Jefferson. Elijah was captured and imprisoned by Adam Bisset (a.k.a. Adam Black) in a church basement in France along with the heroine, Holly. He then took her to a safe house and imprisoned her to keep her safe. He had stolen diamonds that he hid in London Frank’s backpack and everybody seems to want those diamonds.
The heroine: Holland Frank – in Europe to find her sister London who is a travel blogger. London went dark after getting the stolen diamonds from Elijah. After London helps Holly escape from the Safe house, they go on the run for a year, hiding out from Adam, Elijah and the people London owes money. London is a cocaine addict.
The Love Story: Elijah wants to protect Holly and he wants her to be his. However, he doesn’t think he deserves her. They have a very erotic and somewhat twisted relationship. Holly is much darker than you would expect for a celebrated YA novelist.
This story was suspenseful, steamy and so good. I love Elijah and Holly. They are definitely made for each other. The romance was perfect, I liked these two in Diamond in the Rough but they were even better in this book. The story was great, the conflicts in the story were believable and worked well to move the storylines forward and the cliffhanger at the end of this book was even better than the last.
In this book we got to find out more about Elijah’s background and both his brothers (Liam and Josh) were in this book. I looked up Skye Warren’s previous books and there are books about both Liam and Josh, so I added those to my TBR and hope to read them as soon as I get some time. Skye knows how to do dark romance so well!
Silver Lining
The only book I hadn’t yet read!
Though this was the only book I hadn’t read previously, I did read Taken from start to finish because the story was that good and I wanted to be refreshed on the whole series. I loved every minute of it. There was so much intrigue and action and super steamy moments. Silver Lining was much better than most final books in a trilogy or series.
Much more happens in this book than in many ending books. Elijah and Holly get into more than one very sticky situation in this book and I was on the edge of my seat through much of this book. It wasn’t just a quick jaunt to the happily ever after like many last books in a series.
I have to say as well that I just love the fact that Skye Warren put the prequel and the trilogy all in one book like this. I for one, would much rather read one 500-700 page book than read (and pay for) separate books. So Kudos to Skye Warren for doing this.
I am not going to give away the plot for this book, but I will say that I just love the dynamic between Holly and Elijah. They come from completely different worlds (Elijah was terribly abused by his alcoholic father until he ran away at 14 and lived on the streets and then joined the military as soon as he was able, while Holly came from an upper middle class background and traveled the world with her family at a young age). Yet they both became strong people that can handle whatever is thrown at them.
The chemistry between Elijah and Holly was sizzling hot and the supporting characters were absolutely terrific. I grew to like Adam as the story went on despite the fact that he kidnapped Holly and held her and Elijah in a dingy prison in the beginning. I also ended up liking Holly’s flaky sister London after she cleaned up her act. Elijah’s brothers Liam and Joshua were great as well and they each had their own issues stemming from their childhood like Elijah.
I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.
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