Review - Consequences by Aleatha Romig

Consequences by Aleatha Romig

My rating = An explosive 4 stars

(First read in Dec 2012)

Misconception was the first thought that sprung to my mind when I started reading this book. Yes I knew it was a psychological thriller but I was expecting a light hearted romance thrown in as well. The characters of Anthony Rawlings and Claire Nichols were “a given” of the usual enigmatic, dark mysterious man and the bright, smiling beautiful woman. Right, so scrap everything that my initial thoughts were and Wham! Smack! Right between the eyes, a total turnabout occurs.

I was shocked and horrified at what I was reading. In essence, due to an incident in the past, Anthony Rawlings seeks to avenge the wrong doings to his family which leads to the present day and his kidnapping of the beautiful Claire Nichols who he “meets” in the bar she is working. The next Claire remembers is waking up in a locked room badly beaten and wondering what the hell had happened. What occurs next is an absolute emotional and anxiety driven journey of the relationship of Claire and her kidnapper, Tony. 

I found Anthony or “Tony” to his friends (friends?!!) to be diabolical, abhorrent, a total alpha male bastard but also totally compelling and addictive. I was embarrassed by my own feelings towards this man who was a violent bully who took total mind control over Claire. The first 60% of the book was full domestic violence which I find extremely abhorrent as any other person on the planet but I found myself trying to find redemption for this man. But then you do start to see glimpses of who Tony could be and in those instances the book read like a mid-eighties Mills and Boon romance – all hearts and flowers, skipping over the loving scenes and leaving the imagery to the reader. But then flip again and we were back to the violent sadistic thug and the abhorrent account of domestic violence and mind control.

To recount the story fully would spoil the element of shock and surprise for the reader. The ending was an absolute horror and I sat and read with my mouth open in total disbelief at what I was reading.

I found this book to be totally compelling and one that I could not ever get out of my mind, hence I went straight on to the next book Truth. Yes even though I knew it was going to push me through further angst and horror, I just had to know how the author could turn this around if indeed she would. How could these two ever be together after all that has happened and especially after what happened at the end of Consequences? Onwards to find out in Truth…..

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