Blackwood by Celia Aaron

Blackwood (Celia Aaron)

SUMMARY

I dig. It’s what I do. I’ll literally use a shovel to answer a question. Some answers, though, have been buried too deep for too long. But I’ll find those, too. And I know where to dig—the Blackwood Estate on the edge of the Mississippi Delta. Garrett Blackwood is the only thing standing between me and the truth. A broken man—one with desires that dance in the darkest part of my soul—he’s either my savior or my enemy. I’ll dig until I find all his secrets. Then I’ll run so he never finds mine. The only problem? He likes it when I run.

MY REVIEW

I absolutely loved it, but I am not sure what I have just read.

Is it a mystery/thriller about someone who may or may not be dead, but he is definitely missing?
Is it erotica, dark and full of “rape fantasies” and how they influence the lives of both the enthusiastic, agreeable “rapist” and the willing, begging for her treatment “victim” of the CONSENSUAL “rape”?
Is it romance where the big bad beast transforms into a big sweet teddy-bear?
Is it new adult about the strangling of a twenty something girl to finish her PhD without becoming prey to her disgusting professor?

The story definitely had suspense, angst and a ton of questions from the start.

I have been dragged -enthusiastically I admit- into the dark world of Garrett Blackwood who fights with his kinks, with his guilt and with his embarrassment about the things that he enjoys. A man who destroyed his career because of his desires.

The PhD archaeology student Elise Vale will be stunned with Garret. When she starts looking for her missing father and pretends that she is digging to find archaeology artifacts, she never expects to fall into the charm of Garrett. She will not trust him completely, but she will still let him show her things. Truths and facts that she didn’t know about herself.

I honestly don't know if you will like the sex scenes because there is nothing tender about them. They are strong, violent, and brutally animalistic.

Garrett claims that he is the big bad wolf who wants to ravish little Red.
After all little Red has showed up uninvited to his unfriendly isolated cabin and has started digging his forest, his territory:

“So the word stop won’t work?”
“No.”
“What about the word no?”
“Definitely won’t work. The only thing a no will get you is choked.”
“What if I said stop?”
“I wouldn’t, but the fact that you said it would guarantee a brutal fuck.”
“But what if I said please?”
“If you said ‘please’, I’d fuck you so hard that you wouldn’t be able to sit down, walk, or breathe for days without thinking of my cock inside you.”

In case you wonder…
Yes, they will establish a safeword between them and
Yes, Elise will say NO, STOP and PLEASE eagerly and often.

Before the book ends, both Elise and Garrett will change. Elise will learn to embrace her darker, more wanton self. Garrett will learn to coexist with a woman without necessarily causing pain.

Action accelerates towards the end. I was suspecting almost everybody to be the bad guy and I was finally satisfied with the explanation of the mystery.

I hope you will give this book a chance, although I believe that it may take many readers outside their comfort zone.