I quite enjoyed this storyline, the rescuer and the innocent. There was room for improvement on keeping the flow of the story, but the hot and sweaty moments were on point.

This is a book not ready for the public: the plot has potential, but missed the mark with its execution. It was confusing trying to remember whose POV I was reading: Rayne's or Jaden's; the interactions and conversations between them felt all kinds of awkward. It felt like this story was trying to hit a lot of subgenres within the romance field: dark, romantic suspense, BDSM, sex and human trafficking, LGBTQIA. The subplot with Sasha was a bit confusing; how did she end up with Viper's crew? And no mention was made about Sasha's sexual identity until a threat was issued against her.

I have no issues suspending reality for the sake of an entertaining story (I read paranormal books, really got to suspend reality for those stories), but my goodness, how does Jaden find time to do everything he's capable of in this story: a government contracted vigilante/hacker/doctor. I'm a wife and working mom of two and I can barely find the time to cook dinner for my family at least 4 nights a week. Yet this man has time to all of the things?

Now, when it comes to the situation with him and Rayne, I was so utterly disturbed I almost didn't finish the book. If he's a medical professional, shouldn't he have even had the merest hint that Rayne needs professional therapy? One that doesn't include having her watch porn with him? She's a sex trafficking victim for crying out loud. But 3 minutes after being in Jaden's company, she's ready to let go and enjoy a D/s relationship?

I appreciate the time and effort an author puts into their work, but unfortunately this is book I wouldn't recommend at this point.

When I requested this book from Netgalley I did not realise that it had a BDSM element to it. To me it detracted from the rest of the book because it felt as if the author got stuck on the sexual BDSM element and forgot about the rest of the story. In short too much sex.

The rest of the premise was excellent. It dealt with human trafficing and a vigilante doctor out for revenge and to rescue and rehabilitate as many victims as he can find. I truly enjoyed that part of the tale.

I do doubt however that I would read a sequel, basically because I'm not a BDSM fan. Otherwise I think it would have a lot of potential.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

If like me you enjoy a good dark read then you need to give this a read I was completely hooked and just could not stop reading it. It was so well written and with a good storyline, this intense read will have you reading right into the night. It is tough to read at times though so may not be for everyone.

A new author to me and I really liked this book very much and will look forward to reading more from you from you

This is an intense, dark tale of vengeance and romance.  This story unfolds around human trafficking and the abuse of those enslaved, but it is also the story of the redemption and path to love for Jaden and Rayne.  I loved both of these characters...flaws and all.  Rayne's feisty spirit and sass, despite a horrific upbringing, brings a smile to your face. Jaden, the man who rescues her, also finds he may have just rescued his heart as well. Jaden has a past that haunts him and in many ways is just as broken as Rayne.  If you like dark romances, then you would enjoy this book.   (I was given a copy of this book for my honest review.)

I am not actually 100% sure how I feel about this book.  It had the makings of a really great story but the whole thing just felt a little bit rushed and underdeveloped.  I have doubts that a lady who was rescued from the situation that our heroine, Rayne, was would be quite so quick to delve into the BDSM world and I think she would have benefited from a time lapse or something between the time she was rescued to the time she got together with Jayden.  Also, I think he was a bit too eager to enter into a relationship with her.  I felt the drug use was a bit too prolific and too central to the story.  I'm just a bit underwhelmed.  I'm so sorry.

I thoroughly loved reading the extraordinary and suspenseful first book in the Jaden Rayne Adventure Book series.  Jaden's mission in life is to kill all the human traffickers that had anything to do with his fiance's death.  Jaden saves a young woman who has been tortured, raped, and abused, Rayne, who is going to help him capture the kingpin, Viper.  Read the highly recommended and wonderfully written full of romance, mystery, heartbreak, and intrigue.  Can't wait to read the next book in the Jaden Rayne series!
I reviewed a copy of the book through NetGalley.

Upon initial reading of the summary of this book I was very excited to receive it and hopeful to have found another dark/suspense romance that I could write home about. Unfortunately this was not that book. To be truthful, I have to market as a DNF  because after a week of trying to get through the book, I only got 33% into it.  I feel the author had a good idea and potential but it completely missed the mark. 

 Both of the characters seem quite erratic but that could be attributed to how their thoughts and feelings are conveyed. They seem to be quite all over the place. It's hard to separate their entities and characteristics and often I had to re-read portions to try to understand what  was being conveyed. Rayne has so much potential as the female lead in this book but I found she was vastly in mature for the age in which she was described to be and her sexual interests, or dis-interest for that matter, didn't match  to how she behaves around Jaden.  Jaden, as great of  a guy that he is,  isn't quite believable as the male lead as he just has far too many outstanding things attributed to his character . 

I think the author could really have something here if the book was more organized and more time was spent on character development of sub characters like Sasha. Sasha has so much potential but we really know nothing about her or really understand her.

I do have to say editing wasn't an issue for this book. Meaning it wasn't fraught with grammatical errors.

This is honestly the hardest review I have ever written. I am a writer myself and I know the pain of hearing hurtful things about your work. I went into this ARC wanting VERY MUCH to like this book. It contained so many things I am a fan of based on the blurb, category, and tags. I love romantic suspense, alpha males, and BDSM (that is well portrayed) in stories. 

RAGE, very sadly, missed the mark in nearly every aspect. 

There was no suspense. I suppose this is labeled a dark romance because rape and sex trafficking are mentioned, but that is exactly what they are… mentioned. There is very little on page action and even the things that are described are done so emotionlessly. That is a fine line to walk, and I do appreciate the author/publisher being thoughtful enough to label this dark as to avoid triggering people. I tend to be on the more sensitive side of reading and even to me this felt rather boring. There were opportunities for the bad guys to list all the things they would do to Rayne to turn this more dark, if that is the author’s intention… and those opportunities were not taken. They faded to black. 

The closest this came to being dark was when they found Sasha, but even then I had issues. I had a lot of issues with the Sasha subplot. It was NOT made clear how Viper’s crew even got Sasha to begin with. I didn’t even realize that she had been taken until the one goon made a threat against Jaden’s “trans dyke friend” which is also when we are introduced to the fact that Sasha is mid-gender reassignment surgeries. I appreciate the diversity of having a transgendered character, but I dislike how this was presented. Additionally, I wish we would have seen Sasha as more of a hero than a victim to show an empowering transgendered character. 

Neither Rayne nor Jaden had very distinct voices. I had to pay attention while I read to see whose head I was supposed to be in at the time. And their interactions were VERY confusing and muddled. Their conversations jumped erratically and were hard to follow.  

There were so many conveniences in the plot, Jaden himself being a huge one. He is a doctor. Who happens to be a hacker. Who happens to be a government contracted vigilante. Who happens to also have these amazing, deadly knife skills. I love getting lost in fiction, but I need a realistic basis for this. Grounding. And even though his exact net worth is never revealed, he owns a helicopter, has a ridiculously unbelievable compound, and handed over 100k to Rayne without batting an eye. Clearly his bank account is, once again, well beyond the realm of belief.

With that, this brings me to the hardest part of this review. I completely understand and believe in the healing power of intimacy, sex, and recognizing and owning what you like in those areas, however the timeline of those revelations is not just unbelievable, but insulting. With a woman who has been through what Rayne has feeling the desire to submit to Jaden is extremely troubling. This insults an entire community of people who practice healthy and controlled BDSM. A good Dom/Top/whatever he wants to be called would NEVER have a rape, trafficking, and abuse victim watching porn with him within a few days of being rescued ESPECIALLY when she has not had any form of therapy whatsoever. Not to mention the fact that they then have sex repeatedly and learn some BDSM ropes, again, without Rayne getting any help. And the entire timeline of this book is only a few weeks.  

A major point made at the beginning of this book is the fact that Rayne has never had an orgasm, even during consensual sex, and is rather asexual. In the span of a few days in Jaden’s presence she not only has a supposed sexual awakening, but also immediately wants kink. Immediately. And when she has her first ever orgasm with Jaden… the mental and emotional aspect of that moment was completely glossed over. 

I had numerous other issues with the storyline including random little sub plots that are mentioned and abandoned without being dealt with. The East of Eden bit at the end came so far out of left field I got whiplash. Why was this not threaded through earlier? Additionally for someone “immune” to the effects of drugs, Rayne (and apparently also doctor/hacker/vigilante Jaden) is incredibly dependent on weed. Nearly every interaction between the two involved both toking on a joint. Again, in the BDSM community, playing, setting rules, and even asking if you want to be each other’s Dom and sub are NEVER to be done with any type of impairment. Not while drunk or high. Fully aware and fully consenting.

I would love to say that technically this was clean… but again I am sad to report there were major, glaring issues. Word echoes repeatedly, to the point of distraction. Misplaced quotation marks which threw off my ability to follow their internal thoughts versus their conversations. One of my biggest issues came when I saw Rayne’s name misspelled. This is something that can easily happen, but this is the power of having beta readers, critique partners, and editors in your corner.

It truly hurts my heart to have to say these things about something an author poured their soul into, but I would love for this to serve as a learning experience and turning point. Please invite people into your world who can read your work before you send it off to publication. Build a good, solid reputation for yourself as an author by tapping into the online writing community or your local RWA chapter and find people that can help you grow, learn, and produce quality work.

what a deliciously dark read! I loved this, it is such a flip side of this sort of read. it was wonderfully refreshing to read the aftermath and how it affected Rayne's sexuality, whilst dealing with Jayden as the spouse of a victim. that side was dealt with in a brilliant and sensitive way whilst exploring their own needs and the relationship that ensues. Sasha adds a degree of ferocity and mysteriousness as we don't actually find/ know much about her as a person.
the story begins and then expands in a way that allows each scene to unfold and flow into each other making it an incredibly engrossing read. the reader is left wondering what happens and how each of the main characters feel and react and what will happen once their thirst for vengeance is satisfied, or indeed if it even is.
it was a good dark romance read that had the perfect blend of sex, romance, emotion and storyline.