Book Review: Captured Prey: A Primal Play Novella by Reno R. Mist

 

Book Description

I want to be hunted…but not by just anyone. No – it must be by the monster I have secretly craved.

Chase me.

Devour me.

Take what is already yours.

I know I shouldn’t speak these desires aloud, but I’ve longed for this – to be the heroine sprinting through a moonlit forest, breathless and trembling, pursued by something dark enough to unmake me.

When I uncovered the rumor buried in a forgotten academic footnote, I knew I would come here. A secret invitation. An unholy promise. If this is what I want, why not indulge?

I will be the prey.

All I need now is the hunter waiting in the forest.

Captured Prey: A Primal Play Novella is part of the Second Circle Entry series, told in third-person POV. Each story explores desire, inhibition, and awakening in richly sensual worlds. Often pairing mortals with monsters, love and hunger intertwine as things that go bump in the night steal your heart…and possibly your soul.

Seductive. Sinister. What are you waiting for?

Readers who enjoy Scarlett St. Clair, Carissa Broadbent, Allie Oleander, Laura Thalassa, Cassie Alexander, Layla Fae, Sylvia Mercedes, and other dark romantasy authors — especially lovers of high heat chemistry, alpha monsters, and dark fantasy romance — will find themselves right at home.

This spicy, primal novella features a tall, dark, and handsome Slavic deity, a 35+ gutsy academic mortal, and a pulse-racing chase that ends in a sweet and steamy reward for adult readers. This book can be read as a standalone.

My Review

Asmodeus, the demon of lust owns a club where you can make your deepest desires come true. When Celia finally gets up the nerve to go inside the club, she's met with Asmodeus. After talking and finally getting out of Celia what she really desires, Asmodeus gives her a contract to sign, a way to back out and an explanation of what will happen once she walks through the door. 

Lahs is a Leshy demon, he's not expecting Asmodeus to come to him and ask to cash in the favor he owns him. Once Lahs hears what he wants, he's surprised that a human female actually desires a Leshy demon for her fantasy, since he's made of the Earth. Mostly vines, leaves, bark and wood but he also has a human form he can shift into. Lahs agrees to her contract details. 

Celia's desire? To be stalked through the woods by a mythical creature, chased, caught and ravished. 

Quote "So you want ravishment, not violation. Fearplay without harm."

That one sentence from the book was one of the sexiest things I've read so far this year. Right then and there, I knew I was hooked. 

Once Celia walks through the door into her fantasy, Lahs holds up his end of the agreement, chases her and they both have fun in the chase. Once Celia is captured though, Lahs expects to find her scared of the way he looks, but she just smiles at him, waiting to see what he'll do next. Lahs was fun, the chase was fun and when they get together for some steamy time, that was hot! These two completely different beings are so good for each other. They gave each other what the other needed and they both had fun doing it. This was a fun, dark fantasy read. I can't wait to read more of this series now.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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