Willing Victim by Cara McKenna is MEGA HOT. Insanely hot. I'm not normally into that sort of romance, but my goodness.

My full review will be in A Love Thing anthology, but I wanted to leave a small review and rating for this book as well. Because, OMG it was mega hot and incredible. I 100% need to read more by Cara McKenna and now I want to read this series.

This book is full of boxing, rough romance and intense scenes. Cara has written some really hot scenes in this book that make it rated R for sure! While the book is rough, I think the story is incredibly addicting. She makes you love these characters and feel breathless at every turn. The book is not meant to be turned into an Oscar-winning film, but man does it hit all the notes for an extremely erotic romance.

It's Fifty Shades of Grey on steroids, but with better writing skills and styles entwined. If you like risque reads, then this book is 100% for you! I really grew to enjoy it and I want to read more by Cara ASAP.

Four out of five stars!

(PS Thanks Tamsen Parker for introducing me to this story!). ( )

this man is basically nick miller and i won’t listen to any arguments


“God, fuck. Please, Laurel.”

“Fall in love with me.” Horror slapped her in the face as the words tumbled from her subconscious into the air between them.

“I will,” he grunted, still panting, still lost in the fucking.

“I didn’t mean that.”

He laughed. “Fine. But you keep treating me the way you have been, and I will. Whether you like it or not.” He groaned. “But I won’t say it in the middle of getting my brains fucked out, so relax.”

( )

As so often happens I picked up this book from a Goodread's list of popular books to read. I was a little unsure given the name and the fact that the synopsis said "rape fantasy" and the book's called Willing Victim personally I didn't think Laurel was a victim at all, in fact I'd go so far as say damn lucky to get a sample of Flynn!!! Don't let the synopsis put you off, its almost like a public warning announcement - a little OTT like don't eat that snickers bar because it might contain peanuts! The sexual content isn't as hard as some I've read and the victim is more than willing!

I read this book in an evening and loved it, I loved the characters: Flynn the hard underground fighter and Laurel the waitress who bumps into him while in the park. Things progress to the point where she wants him to love her!

If I have one criticism about this book its this - its simply not long enough! I've read stories dragged out into trilogies that have less substance than this little gem! I need to know things like - why doesn't she like her chosen career, do they fall in love, does he break all of his rules because as those who've read it know he's already broken several of his don't expect me to...! I could have read at least another 300 pages! So Cara McKenna, thank you for giving us Flynn and Laurel but really if you get a little bored and maybe consider a sequel this would be excellent news :) ( )

4.5 stars! If it was a little bit longer it would have gotten all 5 stars. Short and to the point. Smokin' hot! ( )

3.5 stars

This book was hard for me to rate. It was hard for me to read, too, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I'll admit that before even reading this, I was skeptical. Rape fantasies are not my thing. But I'd seen so many of my GR friends reading (and loving) this that I figured I'd give it a try. It also didn't hurt that I'd already read a little something called [b:Dirty Thirty|9482744|Dirty Thirty|Cara McKenna|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1286677198s/9482744.jpg|14368130] by her and drooled all over myself while doing so.

To say I'm a fan is an understatement.

So, even with trepidation, I started this. The first 30% of this book was tough. Super tough. While I liked Laurel's character from the get-go, I didn't like Flynn right away. In fact, I was put off by his brusqueness and dismissal of her. Once we got further into the story, I understood why he acted the way he did, but that doesn't mean I like it any better. ;) Besides being put-off by his attitude, we're thrown right into voyeur sex. That did all sorts of fucked up shit to my stomach. Granted, this was at the very beginning, and they weren't even a couple yet... Didn't matter. My heart, it hurt.

Even still, I pushed on. I was intrigued by Flynn's character and was interested to see where Cara would go with this story. So, the thing is, when you know that rape fantasy isn't your bag, it doesn't magically change. The "forced" sex scenes in this book were super tough for me to get through. For me, it was 80% cringe/squinty eyes/dislike and 20% hot sex. The author did a great job in making sure to reiterate that this was consensual sex, and I really thought everything about it was well thought out (from their practically clinical talk, to the "safeword", to her testing him) and appreciated that she did that.

With that said, I still couldn't get behind it. Name calling isn't my thing, and it was done excessively, as was the use of my least favorite erotica term. Now, if I could just edit those things out, I think my reaction may have been different.

Now that I've bombarded you with the parts of this book I had a hard time with, let me tell you what kept me reading. I loved Flynn. I really did. He was a complex and deep character, something you don't get to see very much in novellas. I really loved his and Laurel's interaction (both sexual and not) when they weren't doing the hard lovin' thing. There were entire passages that I wanted to copy and save for later, just because I loved how they were together.

So now you see my dilemma, right? How do I rate a book that I half-loved, half-hated?

I'll say this: if you think you can handle the fantasy part of this book, then read it, without a doubt. If you're on the fence about it, still read it. If you're in my shoes and don't like the things I mentioned...well, it's up to you. If name calling and see you next tuesday doesn't bother you, I say you're in the clear and you can go forth and get yourself some hot Flynn.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to bookmark the swoony/steamy parts of this book I loved... ( )