Enslaved by the Ocean

What plot there was, was forced. The pacing of the story was wonky, and the whole thing smacks of Stockholm syndrome. There is no redeeming quality to the main male character. We're given a couple paragraphs explaining why Hendrix chooses piracy, and readers are asked to basically find him attractive after he murders police, because we need to see what a tough guy he is. What are the apparent themes in the book? Lust conquers terror. Sex equals love. Murderers can still be "good" guys, so long as they don't participate in sex trafficking. Meh.

I have read a lot of Bella’s books and I haven’t been disappointed in one yet. I am happy to say that Enslaved by the Ocean extended the winning streak for me with this author. I had this book sitting on my Kindle for months, and with the second book in the series being released soon, I decided to bump it up the TBR pile- and with the ending to this one setting up the next book for a new couple, I am glad it is only a week away!Indigo has had a rough run over the past 16 years. First her father just up and disappeared from her life when she was just 8, then her mother died 2 years later forcing Indi into foster care. After navigating the system for years, she fell fast and hard for one of her foster brothers, eventually moving in with him when she turned 18. Too bad his true colors never came through before that because he turned into an abusive bastard to the point where she had to shoot him in self-defense to keep him from killing her. The system only put him away for a few years, and after just one day out of jail, he is making threatening phone calls to her. Not trusting that same system to protect her, she decides to move away and try to disappear. Enter the ill-fated yacht trip, and Indi is adrift in a lifeboat with her best friend Eric until the pirate ship arrives on scene to pluck them from the water.The only sort of civil thing that I can say for Eric is that he is the most useless excuse for a friend I have seen. He appears to have a bit of unrequited love going on for Indi or he is just jealous of her, I am not sure which- but he does a lot of whining, complaining and condemning her for trying to save their bacon and not much else. If one of the pirates had put him out of his misery, it wouldn’t have bothered me nearly as much as it would have bothered her.And yes, this is a modern day pirate story complete with big ships and swords although the modern conveniences of running water, phones and guns are available too. From the moment Indi and Eric are picked up by Hendrix and his crew, it is emotional overload for her and the reader. Fear bordering terror, survival instinct, rage and lust all fight for dominance within Indi as she tries to process her new reality and find a way out before Hendrix can make good on his threat to sell her to another pirate named Chopper to settle his debt. Eventually after she strikes a deal with the hot pirate captain to buy herself some time to find an escape route, she finds herself staying on the sofa in the captain’s quarters and the UST between them ratchets up.Given free reign of the ship while Eric remains in the cells, she alternates between keeping him company and observing her surroundings. Of course he continues to see everything in a strictly black and white view, driving me and Indi nuts (again, he should have been shark bait, particularly later in the story- just sayin’!). She decides to make the best of the situation, mingling with the crew and trying to befriend a few of them. A few particularly funny moments ensue involving ropes, rum and really bad pirate jokes!For as much as I disliked Eric, I really liked Indi- she is a survivor, and she finds a kindred spirit in Jess aboard the ship. Hendrix puts up a good front to hide the mostly good man under the facade- not to say he is squeaky clean by any stretch but he is far from a complete scumbag. He checked the boxes for me in a good way as a lickable long-haired hottie with a take-charge dominant personality (kind of a necessity as a pirate captain but wow!) and just the right balance of rough edges and redeeming qualities. Everyone on the ship has a story to tell and I can’t wait to find out more.There is plenty of action and I never felt like any part of the story dragged. Of course the past comes back to haunt both Indigo and Hendrix leading to more of each of their backgrounds being filled in. From the start I had a suspicion regarding a particular plot point that was proven to be true but it wasn’t a detraction from the story overall for me. And although we are left with a nail-biting moment to close the book setting up the next story as I mentioned earlier, Where Darkness Lies will be about Jess and Dimitri who is introduced in the last part of this story. So if you are ready for a little suspense, a little more heat and definitely some fun, go grab yourself a copy of this book!

I wanted to love this book. It sounded like it was right up my alley! A modern day antihero pirate. A captor/captive enemies to lovers intensely emotional romance. The premise definitely intrigued me, but sadly it didn't deliver.It should be noted in terms of plot that there are coincidences so fantastical that the chances of this story actually ever really happening in real life are about one hundred billion trillion to one. Which would be fine if we were talking paranormal, supernatural, urban fantasy...but we're not.But I was prepared to overlook the complete unlikelihood of the plot in favor of strong character development and relationship building...but that did not come to pass either. When I think enemies to lovers I imagine loathing being tempered by short exchanges where each sees the other in a different light, then a grudging respect forms, then shockingly the couple find themselves enjoying each other's company, feelings are engaged and often fought - there's lots of angst and intensity of emotion, until finally a connection is forged. Here we went from almost immediate lust to pretty much insta-love on both sides, and I will be damned if I can figure out why in either case.I liked Hendrix and wished there was more back story on his character. I have no problem with an antihero killing - for a logical reason, but I did find Hendrix's murder of 6 innocent men and trying to make the heroine feel responsible for it to represent a significant lapse in judgment. (Especially when all he had to do was yell "Hey Indi, I'm not selling you, you're mine! I'm keeping you". Problem solved. But no...) I really didn't care for Indi and I have a hard time really getting on board with a romance when I don't like the heroine. I found her to be immature in both her speech and behavior. When she tells her friend Eric to not "make her regret her decision to save him" I really wanted to tell her to get over herself. Hendrix made a deal with her that he would let Eric go unharmed if Indi promised to not try to hurt herself (she had an opportunity to kill herself and failed to take it, thus clearly she won't) and not to try to escape (from a boat in the middle of shark infested waters where she's out numbered 100 to 1) and in return she gets free reign of the ship. This gets turned into her sacrificing herself for her friend because she is going to "let" Hendrix sell her. Apparently she is overlooking the fact that he could have simply trussed her up, stuck an apple in her mouth and left her in his cabin like a Christmas pig, killed Eric AND still sold her and there was diddly she could do about it. Meanwhile Eric is sleeping on the floor in a cramped cell in the hold and she's traipsing about the entire ship at her leisure - but she's "saving" him.I will say the sex scenes were very well done. Hendrix is hot and I get what Indi sees in him in that regard, although again I would have preferred more relationship building and greater maturity on Indi's part.Overall it was a quick read, it was different and it held my interest. I just wish I didn't have so much to complain about. The ending sets up a sequel and I would read it out of curiosity if it ever drops to $.99.