So much fun to read! A quick, steamy (yep, mature content), perfect blend (for me anyway) of a retelling of a fairy tale (Beauty & the Beast), science fiction (near future filled with automatons), and romance.

Alainn’s father is a genius with a gambling problem. To save him from prison, Alainn switches places with her robot lookalike Rose to become a companion for a rich, scarred recluse. Their relationship blossoms (in a weird way since he think’s Alainn’s a robot, but I’m not complaining), but then enter a murderous robot, and action ensues.

While the storyline isn’t completely solid, Ensnared was a highly entertaining book, and I’d be more than happy to read more of the author’s works.

2.5/3 stars.
The premise of this sounded right up my alley: fairytale retelling set in a dystopian world. I loved The Lunar Chronicles and I suppose I was expecting something similar in standalone form.

Sadly, this didn't really live up to what I would have liked. There's a lack of world-building that had me questioning a lot of decisions the characters make - Lorccan believing that the outside world is too dangerous too go out into because of the possibility of becoming sick, for example. Has a terrible virus taken down a lot of the human race, or something? There's no real background for this explained at any point.

In addition, the use of robots and AIs ("automatons") is commonplace, yet there seems to be nothing they <i>can't</i> do, which I found a little odd. The robots had personalities and some had the ability to overwrite their ethics codes, giving some of them apparently limitless power with no morals. And no "OFF" button...

As for the romantic aspect: I would like to have seen more about the aftermath of the big 'reveal' between Alainn and Lorccan. There were a few too many loose ends by the close of the book for me to feel really satisfied afterwards.