Bloom by Nikki Rae Review (Gifted)


Hello Readers,

Thank you Nikki Rae!
This book was provided by the author for free in exchange for an honest review. 

This book is a little different to the usual books I read and review on my blog but after reading reviews of this, the first book being compared to The Handmaid’s Tale meets Fifty Shades of Grey my curiosity got the better of me and I joined the book tour for Wilt. Trigger Warning for Sexual Assault and Abuse. Spoiler warning guys sorry. 

This is also my first bit of the book tour  (I look like I know what I am doing). I know I don’t usually post on a Sunday, but my blog tour post will be going live tomorrow morning and I can’t review the second book without reviewing the first.


Synopsis
Given to The Grimm Order as an infant, Fawn was raised in a world shaped by the rich and powerful. When she was sold at the age of nine to a Suitor, Fawn believed he would protect her from the “Mainworld”, where those who know nothing about the Order live. Living with the cruel man who bought her freedom, she finds just what the Order is about: money, control, and status for the Owner and humiliation and abuse for those they own.
Unwilling to accept the expectations of being Owned, Fawn goes from golden girl to maid, content to live in the shadows of the Order as long as she isn’t Owned again.
It’s been ten years since she disgraced her former Owner’s name, and now the brooding Frenchman Elliot Lyon wants her. Master Lyon is kind, smart, and unlike any man she’s met. She doesn’t want to admit it to herself, but Fawn is drawn to him despite constantly planning her next escape.
Even the prettiest flowers have thorns, and Master Lyon is hiding secrets that will uproot everything she thinks she knows about him. 

Review
Bloom is dark, disturbing, and compelling and possibly one of the darkest book I’ve read in a while, and I had different and conflicting emotions while reading. Trigger Warning for Sexual Assault and Abuse. I will admit I was wary when I first began reading. It’s different, it’s certainly uncomfortable and dark at times, but nevertheless, it is everything that makes Rae’s books wonderful. From the very first sentence, Nikki Rae pulled me into this book. This book is written from Fawn’s point of view and you really feel like you’re in her head. You become a part of her world.


The book starts like most dystopian novels; doom and gloom. Bloom shines with its complex characters. They and the dark story took my breath away. There were some scenes that made my stomach turn. It wasn’t the concept though, just a few scenes that made me feel a little uneasy as I read. It made my stomach turn but I couldn’t stop reading.  The world that Nikki Rae created is as fascinating as it is infuriating. The characters are amazing, well rounded, and legit feel like real people. My own heart was pounding alongside Fawns. My own heart was thudding in my chest because I wanted to know what was going to happen because clearly anything could. I was engrossed. I loved Fawn. With all that she went through, she is seriously the most badass character I have ever read. Even though she is literally made to feel like she’s nothing, she still has the spark of a fight in her.

Let’s be honest most romance stories when stripped bare retell the Greek myth of Persephone, in which an innocent young woman is captured and dragged down into Hell to be the consort of a dangerous man and lays it bare.

 Fawn has spent the past 10 years keeping her head down and staying hidden. She knows what it’s like to be owned and she never wants to go through that again. In comes Elliot Lyon and he buys Fawn. I thought I had Master Lyons pegged, but I had it wrong. He is unlike any other master Fawn has seen or heard of before as he is kind and understanding. But he is still an owner. He still can make Fawn do anything he wants, and she has no choice.  Fawn, on the other hand, she was strong.

Fawn knew how to play the game, but she hated it. Her situation sucked, but she never stopped trying to change it. Even when she learned what was really happening. Fawn has escaped from a cruel Owner to end up with a slightly kinder one and must negotiate both the threats to her physical safety and freedom. Bloom also makes clear the problems for the "master" in such a relationship and emphasizes that both parties are trapped, through necessity and social convention, in a relationship they might rather not be in and might not know how to escape.

 If you like your stories dark and challenging, your heroes dark and brooding, and your heroines desperate and wily, you may very well find that Bloom is just what you’ve been looking for.

Author Bio: 
Nikki Rae is an independent author who lives in New Jersey. She explores human nature through fiction, concentrating on making the imaginary as real as possible. Her genres of choice are mainly dark, scary, romantic tales, but she’ll try anything once. When she is not writing, reading, or thinking, you can find her spending time with animals, drawing in a quiet corner, or studying people. Closely. 

Social Media Links for Nikki Rae:

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