Captivated by Lauren Dane

Title: Captivated

Series: Phantom Corps bk 3

Author: Lauren Dane

Genre: Erotic Futuristic

Vincenz Fardelle, exiled son of the Supreme Leader of the Imperialist Universe, has spent much of the last ten years working to stop the threat his father poses. But he’s not alone in his quest. Julian Marsters has lost his best friend and countless others in the war and has made vengeance his only goal.  In each other, Julian and Vincenz find not only like minds, but kindred spirits.
However unexpected their relationship, everything changes for Vincenz and Julian when Hannah Black comes into their lives. Having been captured and held in near total isolation by imperialist troops, their immediate response is to protect her.

Emotionally shattered but resilient, Hannah rebuilds herself.  Because of the warm safety she finds in the arms of Julian—and Vincenz—she becomes someone harder, stronger and bent on preventing the Imperialists from harming anyone else.

For the two men, wrestling with their passionate feelings for Hannah is only the beginning. War is about to send all three into harm’s way and an equally dangerous secret could tear them apart.

The quote on the cover of this book says “Hot, hot, hot….Don’t walk; run to read” by Carly Phillips. After having read this book in one day I have to say that I agree completely with Carly’s feelings on the book.

This is one of those books that sweeps you in and takes you away to another world from the very first page. I was completely captivated by the relationship between Vincenz and Julian as a couple (which I normally don’t read but absolutely loved in this book) and how they made room for Hannah in their family.

Vincenz and Julian have been a couple for a while now (I’m not sure how long as they get together in Mesmerized and are very much a unit at the beginning of this book). Because Julian and Vin are already together we don’t see how they came together, but how they work as a unit. When it comes to Hannah they are most definitely a unit.

Hannah has been through the ringer and her journey to healing is not an easy one but both Julian and Vin are determined to be there for her. Through their actions they slowly bring her out and help her to heal.

There is so much good stuff in this book that I honestly have no clue where to even start. I normally don’t read and like stories where the main couple are men however the way that Lauren writes them I forget that they don’t appeal to me and find myself in love with them. Which is what happened with these two very delicious men.

The scenes between them were delicious and steamy, for a lot of reasons but the one that came through to me was that they eased the rough edges in each other. By the time that Hannah joins them in that aspect of their relationship the feelings that they all have are cemented in stone.

The road to HEA however isn’t easy for these three. They are in the midst of a very nasty war, Hannah is recovering from being held captive for almost a year, Vin is the son of the man they are fighting, and Julian is still dealing with the death of his best friend.

One of the things that I really enjoy about Lauren’s books is that the story doesn’t take place over a short amount of time but over months, and while we don’t see everything that happens we see the important things and know that what we are seeing builds the story and shows us exactly who Vin, Julian and Hannah are and how their relationship is progressing.

This is one of those books that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading it, at least it did for me.

Grade A+