I was hesitant for a long while to read this book but then I decided that I needed closure for this series so I read BANE. My ratings of the books in this series is as follows : Vicious: 5 because I couldn't give 10 or more stars! As you can see, only VICIOUS did it for me, none of the others were good enough! Now, let's talk about BANE. That is one hell of an interesting book that includes a bit of everything…. Every f*cking twisted thing! The relationships in the book are one hell of a tangle. You have to write down names and keep notes to remember who f*cks who or you can just assume everyone f*cks everyone else… 1. The hero and the heroine end up being related to one another in a weird way. 2. The hero’s mother f*cked the guy who her son’s ex-girlfriend was in love with. (Trent in Book 3, Scandalous). 3. 4. Do you see what I mean? So very complicated web of relations! *********************************************** Not only the relationships but also the characters are very interesting! *********************************************** First of all, our hero BANE is very colorful. He is a real piece of work! 1. He is a man-whor* hero (literally – as he whor*s himself to women for money. He also had sex with men when he was hard on cash). There were times when he let guys suck his d*ck just to see if he likes it. 2. He is a tattooed bad boy hero, who is a liar, a con, a stoner and a drug dealer. 3. He is a shameless hero who likes public sex and surfing naked. ***********************************************
Defy: 3 stars
Ruckus: 2,5 stars
Scandalous: 2 stars
Bane: 2,5 stars
Our heroine JESSE is a victim of rape & assault
1. She was raped when she was a child and a virgin.
2. She was assaulted, beaten and gang-raped.
3. Her rapist boyfriend made a sex tape.
4. She was bullied, degraded and became a cast out at school after “The incident”. Because she wasn’t allowed to sue the rapists, she was known as the town slu*t who was involved in an orgy.
5. After school, she starts to live like a recluse, she doesn’t allow anyone to touch her, she doesn’t go out of the house much. She has no friends, no job etc.
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One day, Jesse’s step-father Darren makes an arrangement with BANE so that he helps her get out of her shell and it spirals out from then on…
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Things I hated about the book:
1. The hero: He was literally an exaggeration of a bad boy. I didn't hate Bane, I just hated how Ms Shen exaggerated the "bad-boy" concept in this book!
As we loved Vicious despite his evil side, the writer must have thought, “The worse the better”… Nope, this was too much!
2. The way sex starts and develops between the hero & the heroine
As a victim of rape, she wanted to stay untouched for a long while. Now she wants Bane and begs for it. And the first time she wants to have it with him, she wants it too hard. She doesn’t want gentle, she doesn’t want mercy and she wants him to maul her. That was weird!
All sex scenes between the hero & the heroine later on were awful in my opinion; they were all devoid of emotions but heavy on pounding!
Oh oh, one more thing: When they start having sex, they do it bare and she doesn’t even ask for a health report, never thinking about the STDs he might have.
3. I also hated the way it was emphasized in the book that Bane & Jesse were a good match because both were tainted.
Unlike Ms Shen, I do not think that a girl who has been raped more than once and more than one person deserves a man-whor* or someone worse. She still deserves a decent person because what she went through doesn’t taint her, it doesn’t make her any less good. She is not worthless, she is still precious – as precious as her heart goes.
Here, she is matched with a guy who is the worst of the worst: A con, a liar, a stoner, a drug dealer and a man-whor* who has sex with women (and men if necessary) for money. I didn’t like this match because of its implication that he was the kind of guy who would accept her.
Well, there are a few things that are good about Bane, of course; he is not a bad person but he has chosen bad ways to survive whereas Jesse went through horrible things that were not by her choice. However, this difference is not emphasized; instead, their being a good match is emphasized!
But Bane didn’t care.
He screwed for a living, for God’s sake.
No wonder he was the only one here to accept me.
I would have preferred a hero who was a decent person and who thought Jesse was a precious woman he wanted to be with no matter what she went through because they were all out of her will.
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Well, for your information and for what it is worth, BANE doesn't sleep with anyone else after he falls for Jesse and he quits his job.
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The things I liked in the book:
1. I am happy that the evil was punished in one way or the other in the end.
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?
I will fill in the blanks when I can think of any other things I liked about it.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Everything was way too predictable from the very beginning, we just wait for Jesse to remember what we already guess.
The book gets better only in the last quarter. Until then, it is slow and dragging. Maybe because I couldn’t relate to the characters, I felt bored most of the time.
In the last quarter, after she remembers, things get interesting and there is some action.
I was only invested in the story to see if the rapists would get what they deserved or not. Otherwise, I would have dropped the book in the middle.
Well, I would have preferred something harsher like castration or something else for the rapists but well, what we got is better than nothing at least…
There is an epilogue about a year later with a HEA. I also read the extended epilogue that I got by e-mail.
Do I recommend the book?
Although I have given it 3 stars out of 2,5, I would not recommend this book to anyone. I just read it for the silly hope of maybe finding something to like in it because this was something from the writer of Vicious – a book that I adored. However, after trying 6 books of this writer, I now understand that (better late than never), it was a one time deal because no other books of this writer did it for me.
Now I can easily say that I have given this writer more than enough chances for the sake of Vicious and that was the last chance.
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P.S. In this book, Bane is compared to Vicious and said to be Vicious's heir or something like that. Ha ha, I say "Bullsh*t!" and LMAO!
However, there is something interesting I should say:
I liked Bane more than Dean and Trent. Actually, I hated Dean & Trent but I obviously didn't hate Bane. I just didn't like him enough.
Well, just putting that information here if it helps...
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SOME QUOTATIONS FROM THE BOOK:
Some impressive moments:
I was quiet.
I was nice.
I was different.
I was evil.
No one knew.
No one suspected.
Still waters run deep.
My only regret is that you drowned in my sins.
***
“You need to leave me with something! ” she called out.
“I am,” I said, yanking the door open. “I’m leaving you with the consequences of your actions.”
***
“Jesse, I am going to ask you for something very important now. Don’t forgive me.”
***
Ever been punched in the face? I had. Plenty of times. The first few seconds, you’re disoriented. Not really sure what time of the day it is. Where you are. That’s what Jesse smelled like. Like a punch in the f*cking face.
***
“Dad was right about one thing, Roman. The princess saves herself in this fairytale.”
***
“What’s the antonym of hate?” I blurted, drunk on pleasure.
He collapsed to his couch, cupping the joint with his thumb and forefinger and sucking hard. “Jesse.”
Something funny:
“Hmm. Pity party. Thanks for the invite, Jesse, but I’m busy tonight.”
“You’re an asshole.” I sighed.
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Sean Connery wore a toupee in all his James Bond movies,” I said.
Bane laughed. “The f*ck?”
“You told me to tell you something you don’t know. I bet you didn’t know that.”
***
Something puke-worthy:
(We are told that Bane is a man-whor* more than enough times and I thought I was used to the idea till the day he decided to quit but then, I learnt how many women and I felt nauseous!!!)
I walked over to my kitchen nook, took my phone out of my back pocket, and started going over every single client on my contact list. I decided to go for something laconic, firm, and polite. Thing was, I wasn’t much of a diplomat, so after much thinking, I came up with this:
Hi. It’s Bane. I’m writing to let you know that I’m hereby terminating our professional relationship. I’m officially retired and will not be making a comeback anytime soon. If you owe me money, consider it paid. If I owe you dick—I suggest you go look for it somewhere else. So long and thanks for all the fish.
—Bane.
I sent it to all
forty-six women I had worked with at once.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
