BOOK REVIEW ~ DELIVER BY PAM GODWIN

She lures young men and delivers them to be sold. She delivers the strikes that enforce their obedience. She delivers the love training that determines their purchase price.

As long as she delivers, the arrangement that protects her family will hold. 

Delivering is all she knows.

The one thing she can’t deliver is a captive from slavery.

Until him.

And her stubborn slave thinks he can deliver her…from herself.

Stand Alone (no cliff-hanger). The sequel is coming Summer 2014.

My first reaction after reading: UM WUT. This book has so much in it! From romance to action then to suspense, my brain and heart never got a chance to relax before something happened. And that’s a good thing! The book grabbed my attention and kept me fully engaged with the story.

Dark scale (1-10): 5Mindfuck scale (1-10): 2No Stockholm syndrome; more like a survivor romance. You do what you need to do to stay alive.
**It wasn’t as dark as I thought it would be because of Josh’s character. He’s a wonderful guy, really sweet, and that kind of evened out the dark field ;)**

The story begins with the Deliverer, Liv, intently watching her target: an innocent, handsome, righteous 21 year old football player Josh. Liv’s job is to “deliver” people who fit her clients’ requirements, and with his fair outer appearance and love innocence, Josh is perfect for what she’s looking for. Alongside Van (whose role in the book is still iffy at this point), they successfully maneuver the kind-hearted Josh into their trap and lock him up, preparing his training as a slave.
I have to say here that this first part really tore me up. I’m normally okay, no wait, giddy, to read about captive/captor stories and I thought this would be like any other one. Except for me, there was no thrill anymore. Josh is the sweetest, most innocent and good person, and to read his thoughts were heartbreaking: his first instinct is to worry about his parents, who rely on him with their farm. Even when he’s captured, he still tries to help Liv. However, he quickly learns that when Liv switches into her “Mistress” mode and trains slaves, there are no soft moments.

Then comes the part where the book went a little downhill for me. I get that there has to be a turn or a certain degree of power Liv relinquishes in order for her and Josh’s romance to develop, but the pace at which they fall for each other was disarming. As in it didn’t convince me. Another aspect that made me feel iffy for a good portion of the book was Liv herself. From the blurb and the first few chapters, Liv is expected to be this dominant, badass, hardcore Mistress who has no fears and is confident in all she does, but after finding out how she started into this whole business brought down her character in terms of an anti-heroine who later opens up to Josh, not having a weak spot for him from the beginning.
Anyways, they have this connection that she doesn’t have with anyone, not even Van.

I really loved Van’s character and his role in the story. He was the source of some tension and conflict within the timeframe Liv trains Josh so it kept the book interesting. There’s this one scene with Van near the end that gave me a mini-heart attack and I was absolutely FURIOUS with Liv. At that time I condemned her to the fiery pits of hell and now that I think about it, I don’t regret it one bit. Because of the way events played out with Van, I wished the author revisited his character and not leave me questioning his role in the last quarter of the story. Anyways I think if you’re a romantic at heart you will be really pleased with the last 25% of the book.

Aside from the things I mentioned before that prevented me from giving the book 5 stars, there was one more thing that made me raise an eyebrow and that was in regards to the wrap up of the mysterious “Mr. E,” the guy in charge of the entire operation. Anyways my point is that this, along with some other events, were wrapped up too nicely and took away from the dark and thrilling aspect of the book. 

Overall this was a pretty unique and suspenseful read. The numerous twists and turns in the book kept me on my toes and the erotic nature of the story should be commended.