Review: Carnal Beginnings – Reily Garrett

Adara’s enigmatic and sexy boss asks her a simple question. “How are you going to celebrate your twenty-first birthday?” Sounds innocent enough, until he suggests she go to Ambrosia, the infamous BDSM club. To volunteer for scars and bruises is not on her to-do list. Yet when Julien invades her personal space, her body goes into panic mode and fails to respond appropriately. Since her adoptive parents died six years ago, she’s endured horrific tortures at the hands of her sadistic and perverted uncle and cousin.

Her long-awaited birthday, and inheritance, are days away. She longs for and plans to escape.

Julien Crofton is an ex-Special Forces private investigator. Since hiring Adara six months ago, her subtle signs of ongoing abuse have tied him in knots. And not the good kind. Time and again, he’s encouraged her to open up and talk to him. After disastrous results in a previous case where a client refused his help, he’s determined history won’t repeat itself. Surely he could help her and keep his heart intact. The fact she’s as beautiful as sin should have no bearing on his intent to teach her to not fear men. When he resorts to an underhanded tactic to crack her invisible suit of armor, he’s unprepared for the tidal wave of lust and protectiveness that swamps him.

Even while evading her family and an unknown psychopathic stalker, passion ignites. In progressive increments, Julien kindles her spark of infatuation into a raging inferno. Can Adara learn that perhaps not all men are evil and maybe…whips can be fun?

Series:
Release Date: December 1st 2014
Publisher: eXtasy Books
Source: Manic Readers
Reviewer: Victoria
Rating:

Buy the book at:

Reviewer’s Thoughts

Adara is turning twenty-one and while she is a legal adult, she is still under the thumb of her Uncle and cousin.  Adare has spent a number of years at the hands of her abusive Uncle to the point she does not even try to break free while she longs to escape.  She has a plan that really is not thought out and planned well.  It takes Julien for  her to gain the courage she needs to break free.

Julien Crofton is an ex-special forces private investigator.  Julien helps abused woman besides is normal job and a private investigator.  He seems specially attuned to seeing signs of abuse.  Julien comes across as a protector type who while dangerous can ease an abuse victims easily.

The one thing that I found unrealistic was how easy Adara seemed to bounce back after the years of abuse at the hands of her uncle and cousin.  I would have expected more of residual issues, like trust and maybe nightmares.  However, Adara seemed to bounce back as if nothing bad happened.  It was a bit odd.

I found this book well written with a unique twist of fairly traditional plot. The main characters and the secondary characters were realistic.  While the ending was a little predictable, the journey the book takes the reader is gripping with several unexpected twists and turns. I had a hard time putting this book down. Overall, this was a very wonderful book and I hope to see these characters again in the future.