ARC Review: Claimed by Elle Kennedy

“Elle Kennedy excels at writing suspense that draws you in from the first page and CLAIMED is a good example of that.”
~ Under the Covers

I was extremely excited going into this book because, well, new series by Elle Kennedy!  I tend to not read blurbs for authors I follow and I just assumed this was a standard romantic suspense.  It is not.  CLAIMED is a post-apocalyptic erotic romance.  Which I thought was epically cool because there isn’t a whole lot of that around.  It just slightly missed the mark on what I wanted to see.

See, the setup has so much potential what with the nomads, the war torn country with a whole new set of rules, and a big element of suspense in the battle against the Global Council.  Elle Kennedy excels at writing suspense that draws you in from the first page and CLAIMED is a good example of that.  And add to that a group of badasses that you can’t help but fall for.  All of that great world building was muddled with just a bit too much sex.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy a good romp as much as the next girl, and yes I look for SMOKING HOT in my erotic romance.  Was it smoking hot?  Yes.  But it was smoking hot so often that I found myself skimming the sex scenes at a certain point because I wanted to know what would happen in the story.  I guess I don’t want the level of heat to go down, but I want the story to take center stage.  I want two characters to connect on deeper levels than just sexual so that I can believe it.  I think this is something Ms. Kennedy does extremely well in the Killer Instincts series, and I found that balance was off in this one.

Our hero, Connor, is everything the leader of this group of outlaw fighters should be.  He’s a total jerk, possessive, dirty talking, and a lot rough around the edges.  He makes no excuses for being an asshole and it’s his way or the highway.  Just perfect! 😉  Hudson on the other hand is running away from her Global Council family before she’s forced to marry a very bad man and has found refuge with the outlaws without telling them who she really is.  She was the soft element to this story and much needed if you ask me.  The side characters were also great and they’re exactly what will keep me reading this series!

Fans of a Mad Max type of world and the Kit Rocha series who are looking for something in that same light will want to pick this up.  I admit I couldn’t finish the first Rocha book, and Ms. Kennedy got me interested enough in the characters in this one that I still enjoyed it and could go on.  CLAIMED has a great premise and it makes me want to see more of this world.  I just hope that in the next books there’s just a little bit less…sex, and more story.  Yes, I just said that.

Favorite quote:

“Freedom was a drug , one that grabbed hold of you the second it entered your bloodstream.  It made you giddy and reckless if you didn’t know how to channel it.”

[about-author author=”Elle Kennedy”]

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