Betrayed (World Without Love, Book I) by Jaye Frances had me sitting, with my mouth hanging open, wanting to throw my kindle at…something. I wanted to scream and rage at the degradation and cruelty that was heaped on Jewel.
Be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post.
I am so excited to have Jaye Frances here to share some hints about Betrayed, Book One in the World Without Love series.
Betrayed, Book One, World Without Love
A Suspense Thriller Series With an Erotic Edge
PROLOGUE
We’re all captives, in one way or another . . .
I’m awakened by the sounds of creaking wood and straining rope—constant protests to the unsteady pitch and roll of the darkness.
Dizzy and disoriented, I take a breath, trying to dispel the nausea. But the air is laced with the pungent smell of damp rot, and its raw bite forces me to shallow my breathing.
Staring into the darkness, I search for a shape, a silhouette—anything to give me a clue about my surroundings. But there is only a thick layered blackness, as endless as the grave.
I’m plagued by the sensation of motion, of being rocked up and down. A flash of impaired logic tells me to dismiss it as a specter, an artifact from the nearly depleted dose of Halcion.
A minute passes—or an hour. I can’t tell which.
I hear something—a garbled voice, remnants of disconnected conversation. And from much farther away, the plaintive cries of a bird. The sounds seem genuine, missing that phantom-like quality associated with suspects from a barbiturate daze.
I take it as a sign—the drugs are finally leaving my system.
A prickly thaw sweeps the surface of my skin, bringing with it the nagging sensation that something is pulling at my limbs, tugging at me from both ends.
It’s not an after-effect of the drugs, I’m sure of that. It’s too strong, too constant. I have the sense it’s been there all along, waiting to break through the chemical cloud that kept me unconscious.
It’s growing stronger, getting worse, becoming a piercing burn stretching from my shoulders to my hips, cutting me to the quick.
I try to turn, to get away from the waves of searing heat raking at my arms and legs.
I can’t move.
The realization is as damning as if I’d awakened in the sulfur pits of hell. I’m bound like an animal, my wrists tied above my head, my legs strapped at the ankles—my body a living bridge of straining joints and wrenched sinew.
Even as my muscles scream at the draw of the restraints, I feel the bite of riveted steel against my back, the harsh, unforgiving surface running the length of my spine.
I’m naked.
It’s no accident. Whoever did this intentionally stripped me, leaving me exposed and vulnerable, determined to violate my mind as well as my body.
The blackness rolls then plunges, releasing something new into the shifting darkness. Slithering against me, it touches my skin with a bitter cold that breaks through the unrelenting agony of the rope. I hear my own tortured wheeze catch in my throat as I feel it scoring my stomach, the freezing nip and sting quickly followed by the unmistakable seeping of liquid, collecting in the hollow of my belly, running down my sides.
A rush of useless adrenalin floods my bloodstream, my chest threatening to explode as my racing heart frantically pumps blood to an unseen wound.
Even through the suffocating surge of panic, a vision of what I cannot see crystalizes with vivid detail: My arms and legs are tortuously drawn on a makeshift rack . . . a pendulum of biting chill slices across my naked torso . . . tiny rivers of fluid trickle down my sides.
I barely hear it over my pounding heartbeat—the sound of sloshing liquid.
In seconds, it becomes as familiar as it is terrifying.
I’m lying in water.
I take a halted breath as I realize the truth. The fluid running down my sides is not blood, but ribbons of over-wash from the frigid pool that surrounds me.
Rope and water.
Pain and fear.
It’s deliberate . . . to break me.
Again, the darkness lurches and rolls, churning the water, splashing it over my breasts and thighs. And although the icy burn forces me to gasp for air, it also sparks a moment of fleeting recognition—a vague memory from my past, a connection to the rise and fall of everything around me.
I’ve felt it before.
But where? When?
Stray thoughts flood my mind—the gentle climb, the momentary sense of weightlessness, the sudden drop . . . the unique motion of the sea.
It isn’t much, but it gives me something to hold on to, a starting point in remembering what has happened to me.
Thanks so much for the enticing peek into Betrayed, Jaye.
The cover only hints at the horror contained within the pages of Betrayed!
MY REVIEW
WARNING: Graphic and explicit sexual scenes…kidnapping, sexual slavery, human trafficking, rape, abuse… I hesitate to call it erotica, because I view erotica as sex for sex’s sake. The scenes in Betrayed are pivotal to the story to show the savagery and brutality of the human trafficking of women.
I have read a couple of books by Jaye Francis, The Beach (review link below), Love Travels Forever (review link below) and The Kure (review to come soon) and they were quite different (wonderful paranormal and supernatural stories). I was caught off guard by the direction she took in Betrayed, but her writing is so fantastic, I will read anything she pens.
I love the cover and it screamed EVIL to me and I was soooooo right, BUT…I never anticipated just how EVIL it would be.
I find the review for Betrayed by Jaye Francis very difficult to write. I rarely read erotica, unless it is by an author I cannot resist, of which Jaye is one. I was talking to my sister about the book and how I could best describe it to get my point across. Human trafficking…one of the ugliest sides of “humanity”. The men who do this deserve the worst punishment possible…death! They are not fit to walk the face of the earth and you will meet some of them…especially her husband, Carl.
Jewel is shy and lacks self confidence. She marries Carl and his sense of adventure take them to exotic locales. I loved the thought of no nine to five, just going where their whims take them. Until…
I find it hard to believe she would let Carl do what he did, but I think her naivety and the inability to believe someone she trusted, should have been able to trust, allowed it to happen. After all, this is going on today, to intelligent women who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. It makes me wonder…it is a desire in women to believe the best of everyone, to trust too much? I struggle to put into words what I am thinking and feeling. It’s one of those things…this could never happen to me. But, could it? Could it happen to you?
She would pay dearly for her mistake!
She would have to “learn to play the game” to survive. Does the Stockholm Syndrome play a part, or is it go along or die?
So many characters to hate and I wish I could climb through my kindle to make them pay. They should not be able to walk among us, living and breathing.
Betrayed by Jaye Frances is jam packed with action. I felt my emotions taking me into the depths of hell and she took me to a place I have never been before. I can only hope Jaye Frances will make them pay, in the worst possible way!
The storm descriptions were vivid and terrorizing, but I felt something good would come of it. I had a feeling I knew where Jaye was going and who Jewel would end up with to continue the story, but how that will play out…
The cliffhanger ending has me literally hanging on the edge…waiting to see where we will go next and I can hardly wait to get there. And I hope to see Carl again…soon.
I received a copy of Betrayed by Jaye Frances in return for an honest review. As I said earlier, I love her writing and will go wherever she wants to take me.
5 STARS
Goodreads Blurb: Jewel has everything going for her—a handsome husband, a promising future, and lots of time to explore an island paradise she now calls home.
But when a group of strangers accompanies her husband home for a friendly game of poker, her life quickly becomes a hellish nightmare of deceit and betrayal.
Now her very survival depends on entering a world where sex, domination, and money are inseparable, where women must obey all masters, and where every desire has its price.
“Betrayed” contains mature content and is intended for an 18 and over audience.
ABOUT JAYE FRANCES
Jaye Frances, author of Betrayed
GIVEAWAY
Jaye Frances has offered 1 (one) ebook of Betrayed, Book One of the World Without Love series, for the giveaway. Entry is easy peasy. Just answer the question and leave your email so I may contact you if you win.
“Have you ever been Betrayed by someone you loved and trusted?”
Giveaway runs 2/26 – 3/11/16.
I have read a couple of her books and Betrayed is quite different, but her writing is top notch, so I will grab anything she pens. If Betrayed sounds a bit much for you, check out The Beach, see my review link below, The Kure or The Possibilities of Amy.
MY REVIEWS OF THE BEACH AND LOVE TRAVELS FOREVER
- Guest Post-Review of The Beach by Jaye Frances
- Guest Post and Review of Love Travels Forever by Jaye Frances
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