Review: The Paper Swan by Leylah Attar

Recommended Read!

“I highly, highly recommend this one for high stakes, epic romance lovers. ”
~ Under the Covers

The Paper Swan was my first experience with Leylah Attar’s writing. This, combined with a very cryptic blurb, left me in the dark about even what romance genre I was going to be reading. The beautiful and delicate cover did not prepare me for the gripping and raw love story that’s between the pages. In fact, I think it will be difficult to write this review, as I feel the book really should be experienced without much in the way of plot spoilers. Without setup, we are thrust into the action from the get go. Skye, the privileged daughter of a wealthy American businessman, has been kidnapped, drugged, and whisked away on a boat. Her captor, Damian, appears to be a cruel and unforgiving criminal, hell bent on revenge. Being ransomed is the last thing Skye thinks will happen to her. As the circumstances leading up to her predicament are revealed, all she knows is thrust upside down and she both finds and loses her heart in the process.

I might have just scared you away, but this is a love story, and quite an epic one at that. It spans years of time, heartache, betrayal, secrets, and lies. In the process, there is pain and death blurred with pleasure and life. I found Attar’s writing to be gripping, with a driving pace that wouldn’t let me put this book down. I don’t know about labelling this as romantic suspense despite a fair amount of tense moments involving guns. The romance always remains the central focus. The points of view of both Skye and her lover are explored in depth. Even if POV changes annoy you, it’s absolutely integral here to understanding motivation for the hero. He is a damaged soul ruled by bitterness and the need for revenge. The heroine, Skye, surprised me. You’d expect daddy’s little rich girl to come off as bratty and weak, but she’s a force to be reckoned with that doesn’t run away from what she wants. Her decisions really had me cheering for her HEA. While I didn’t see this as an erotic romance, the sex is absolutely on the erotic end and quite hot. I can give a bit of a warning for violence that might leave your mouth gaping a bit, but the prose is beautiful and quotable and the love story is unique and heart wrenching. It is much more complex than even I can suggest here without giving too much away. There is a definite HEA and as some have warned, there’s no love triangle (the blurb hints at two men, but you’ll understand soon enough what the author means). I highly, highly recommend this one for high stakes, epic romance lovers.

Book Tags: