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This was a buddy read with my good friends (and enablers) Nenia, her review; and Heather, her review.

3/06 - This is the second book in a row that has surprised me by being good. I thought the religiosity was going to drive me insane in Redeeming Love, yet I ended up really enjoying it. Here, I thought I was going to have real trouble because of what I believed was going to be a whole lot of rapey behaviour by the 'anti-hero', Laurent towards the 'hero', Damen (aka Damianos) along with numerous other characters. For the first three quarters of the book, every time Laurent and Damen were in the same room I was metaphorically reading with my eyes covered because I was sure that a traumatic rape scene was going to pop out at any second. It was kind of like when you know Freddy's coming because the spooky music is playing, but you don't know exactly when he's going to appear, so you tense up in anticipation of the scare and stay that way until Freddy finally does jump out, except he never really makes an appearance so you just stay tense the whole way through the movie - that's how reading this book made me feel. By the time I finally came to the realisation that no one was going to violently rape Damen and Damen wasn't going to be forced to rape anyone else, I was exhausted and my muscles were aching. There were two rape scenes, but they were not as detailed as I had been worried they would be - (view spoiler)[Damen has oral sex forced on him and is forced to observe as two slaves wrestle each other in an arena until one gets the upper hand and 'wins' by succeeding in raping the other (hide spoiler)].

My BRing friends will likely be as surprised as I was that I enjoyed this as I have violently not enjoyed other bodice rippers that we've read as a group for the URR group Book of the Month BR. All I can say is that this didn't read like a romance (I've shelved it as fantasy because of where it's set), so I never really saw Laurent and Damen as a couple. All the abuse Laurent (especially the whipping) heaped on Damen didn't feel like it was being perpetrated by a love interest (something that is normally an immediate DNF in a romance), I was able to see Laurent as a villain and Damen as his victim. There were a few times where Laurent showed some vulnerability and I could (just) see how Damen managed to not kill him when he had the chance, but I have no idea whether I'd ever be able to believe in them as love interests (which I know from other's reviews is where this is heading). I may give the second book a go, but as soon as Laurent goes from villain to villainous love interest I'm going to start having problems. How is falling in love with your abuser any different from Stockholm syndrome, where a captive falls in love with their captor (no matter how much grovelling is involved)?