Review: Take Me

Take Me
Shelli Stevens
Erotic Romance/Futuristic
Kensington/August 2009
Received for review from Goodreads

From the back cover ~

After years as a slave to the pleasures of the powerful, Talia knows how to make a man mad with lust. But her pleasure counts for nothing—until a handsome, ruthless stranger appears. Ryder dares to look at her… to touch her… to awake in her a desire she’s never imagined. When he kidnaps her to learn her secrets, Talia vows not to let her passion take control. But soon she discovers that her captor’s intense gaze and searching hands can perform their own kind of interrogation, a sweet torture she finds impossible to resist…

Futuristic romances are few and far between. Add in the erotic elements and we have a unique story about a man who does what he must for his world and a woman who's only known a world ruled by men. The planet of Zortou has suffered a shortage of women for a long time. The remaining women are trained and then sold as Rosebelles. Rosebelles are sex slaves and Talia belongs to the most powerful trio of men. Her owners are the Governing Council members. They rule the planet.

Talia was sold as a Rosebelle when she turned 18. She has been servicing the three council members for four years and hates her life. She longs for something more than days spent in sexual submission to the councilors. She doesn't have any choice, her day is scheduled and she is monitored with little to no privacy. She wishes for something better but sees no way out. Then her world is suddenly changed when she is kidnapped and taken to a planet were women are not treated as sex slaves and her kidnapper is not like any man she has ever known.

Colonel Ryder Jacobs is playing a dangerous game when he goes to Zortou to kidnap the beautiful Talia. He needs information and he needs it quickly. He is hoping Talia can give him critical information on the councils' plans for his home planet of Belton. He knows the treaty between the two planets is a sham and the council is up to something. He just needs to find out what and Talia, he feels, is the one with the inside information on the council. The fact that she's beautiful and he finds her very desirable doesn't hurt either. Ryder isn't adverse to enjoying Talia's company in bed. He thinks she will enjoy his bed more than the councils' and he makes that clear to her. This is erotica and the author wastes no time getting these two into bed. Ryder's problem was that he sees Talia as basically the councils' whore. When he kidnapped her he didn't try to see beyond her looks and her position as a Rosebelle. It wasn't until he spent more time with her on his planet that he began to see there was more to Talia than sex and beauty.

I liked these two together. The disparity between Talia and Ryder's lifestyles is evident in their outlook on women. Talia views women as Rosebelles, the property of men. It's how she was raised and all she knew until she is exposed to Ryder's world and it's views of women. Ryder may have grown up with a more advanced outlook on women but he's a male and still thinks with his dick at times. The way Stevens had Talia change her outlook on women and what they are capable of came about in a couple of different ways.

First there was Ryder's sister Krystal. She befriends Talia and shows her that women, even young beautiful women, have choices. Krystal gives Talia a unique perspective of Ryder and how he treats the women he loves. The other woman that Talia encounters is Ryder's assistant, Ines. Ines is also a soldier and had a brief affair with Ryder. She still wants Ryder even after he ended the affair. She's not happy about Talia being there and sees her as a rival for Ryder. The claws come out and Talia gets a taste of what it's like to feel jealous of another woman. Ines was a real bitch. Ryder was right to end it with her. Too bad Talia had to deal with the aftermath.

Ryder and Talia are both young, very attractive, highly sexual people. Good thing since they enjoyed getting hot and heavy just about anywhere. Stevens writes steamy, erotic sex scenes that can at times push things past the comfortable and touch into the realm of bdsm. I did think it was appropriate for the characters involved and the situations they found themselves in.

On the whole, I enjoyed Take Me. I liked the futuristic aspects and Talia and Ryder's relationship was believable in addition to the hot sex scenes. I do wish the story had maintain more of a futuristic feel to it. There were times when the language and atmosphere created that feel but other times it lost it. I was left feeling it was taking place in the here and now. But it didn't stop me from enjoying the overall story.

Rating: B+