Review: Captive by Brighton Walsh

Captive
(Captive #1)
Author: Brighton Walsh
Release Date: March 24, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: St. Martin's Press
Review by: Jenn

He’s the most dangerous man she’s ever met…and she’s falling in love with him.

Madison Frost is desperate to escape her life. Daughter of a prominent businessman, she has everything a girl could ask for. Except for a family who’s present in her life, and anyone to talk to outside the four walls of the prison she calls home. Madison dreams of one day leaving her life behind. She never thought being kidnapped is how it would happen.

Now she’s being held captive by a man who’s as frightening as he is sinfully gorgeous. Enormous, muscular, and filled with secrets, the man they call Ghost is an enigmatic mercenary, and Madison is trapped with him. She doesn’t know who hired him or why, but the more time she spends at his mercy, the more she realizes he’s not what he seems. Beneath his rough exterior lies an unexpected gentleness and a heart as broken and battered as her own.

But as Madison lets down her walls, Ghost holds tight to his, hiding secrets that could destroy everything.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5 stars

*I received an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. However, that did not influence this review in any way.*

Captive was an interesting read for me. I am a big fan of Brighton Walsh and of her work. I always want to get my greedy hands on her work and, luckily enough, I was able to get an ARC of this title and I pretty much read it in a day. However, this wasn't an absolute love for me.

Captive is a captor/captive and I'll be honest, it not my typical romance read. However, because it is Brighton Walsh writing, I definitely decided to give it chance. Madison Frost is kidnapped by man who is named Ghost and while she feels attracted to him, she knows she must try figure out why he kidnapped her and how to get away. Being as this is romance and this Brighton Walsh, the smut is nothing but HOT and sexy. Madison is a super smart girl but insecure with her body. Her history broke my heart but seeing her grow and find her inner strength was so believable and I couldn't help but cheer for her. Ghost was very interesting to get to know. He has his own backstory and in learning about him helped in understanding why he kidnapped Maddie. It does't mean I can forget it but I can see where he is coming from. What helped in understanding him is how much tried to fix the mess he helped make in kidnapping her and how he knew something was not right. I won't say much more just because I feel like I'm one step away from spoiling the book.

I want to say that while the subject matter is still iffy with me, it is my personal opinion and it not on anything on the book per se. While I think that the romance and sexy time happened too quickly and I know I wouldn't have done what Maddie did, Ms. Walsh did it in a way that is very real. Brighton handles this delicate subject in a great and realistic way and I have to give her major kudos for doing so. I think the way that Brighton handled how Maddie deals with the resolution of the kidnapping in the end made the whole captive/captor issue a lot easier to bear and helped me in appreciating this book. And fine, let's be real, Brighton's heroes are not too bad on the eyes. Ghost can throw me over his shoulder any day. *cough* Let's not tell my fiancé that.