ARC Review – Begging for It (Asking for It #2) by Lilah Pace

All of this weaves together to create a story that, much like Jonah, deliciously grabs you, holds you down, and won’t let you go until it’s finished with you. ~ Leigh, Guilty Pleasures 

Description:
Some secrets should only be shared in the dark.

Jonah and Vivienne’s erotic bond—living out raw scenarios of captivity and force—began as no-strings sex between strangers who shared the same desires. Now the intimacy between them is turning into love, but it’s a love built on fantasies so extreme that exploring them makes guilt inescapable. But the risks they’re taking are far more dangerous than they’d imagined.

A stalker is terrorizing the city, and one of Jonah’s ex-lovers names him as a potential suspect to the police. Standing by a man under suspicion could cost Vivienne everything. But when Jonah’s stepfather takes advantage of the scandal to seize control of the Marks family fortune, Vivienne is drawn into her lover’s broken family and twisted past. Only then will she learn how dark the truth really is…

Review copy provided for an honest review.

What a fantastic follow up to her first book! Just like she did in “Asking For It”, Ms. Pace has brought us back to the internal conflict Jonah and Vivienne face while they each struggle to accept their fantasies.

Vivienne and Jonah have a hard time settling into a relationship where their sex life is built solely on acting out rape and the power dynamic that goes along with it. For Jonah, there is the guilt that he is making Vivienne relive a past trauma, while at the same time, the fear that he is turning into the same monster as his stepfather. For Vivienne, she has actually come to accept this part of herself and begin to feel more in control of herself than ever. But when a serial rapist surfaces in their college town, and Jonah is wrongly named as a suspect, Vivienne experiences guilt that she is creating a game out of something that is actually and horrifically happening to other women.

The mystery of the rapist, the suspicion on Jonah, and the family politics of Jonah’s stepfather trying to use all this to his advantage…all of this weaves together to create a story that, much like Jonah, deliciously grabs you, holds you down, and won’t let you go until it’s finished with you. The sex is dirty and rough, but the affection that grew from the harsh and unlikely beginning between these two people is tender and sweet. I truly rooted for them to work things out as I fell further in love with both of them.

While the story of Vivienne and Jonah has reached it’s natural conclusion, I don’t feel that the story behind Jonah’s past is done. I would love to see this series continue with the characters we met in this book, namely Jonah’s siblings who all seem to have their own stories, and his stepfather as the ultimate villain. Ms. Pace is a truly gifted storyteller, and I am not ready to be done with this world that she has created.

4.5 stars

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