3 out of 4 stars
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Chaos Theory is an erotic thriller written by J.B. Sandkamp. Cleone Lunzer is an eighteen-year-old heiress to Lunzer Pharmaceuticals, which is worth billions. She is kidnapped by gang members and is about to be sold into slavery, but she is intercepted by the Knights of Chaos. The Knights are a Motorcycle Club that sold drugs to the gang that kidnapped Cleone. Cleone saw something that she wasn’t supposed to, and the Knights took her hostage. Mason Metcalf, the vice president of the Motorcycle Club, takes a liking to Cleone. While frightened at first, Cleone is drawn to Mason as well. She can’t reveal her true identity and how rich she is to Mason and the Knights. Not only is she still afraid of the Knights, but she also knows that the people who ordered her kidnapping are still out there. Can Cleone ever escape from the Knights? Who is behind her kidnapping? Can she really fall in love with the dangerous Mason, who is keeping her hostage? Also, what other secrets is Cleone hiding? Why did she run away from Briarwood Rehab and Long Term Care Facility when she was fourteen? Find out the answers to these questions and more in this suspenseful and thrilling tale.
I really liked Cleone and enjoyed learning more about her as the book went on. She wasn’t just an ordinary rich girl and had a lot of layers and depth to her. It was interesting how she had a very rich internal world and could live inside her own head. She had an incredible eidetic memory where she could remember every detail of something that happened years ago. She could also remember whole books that she once read. She never had to study for tests. She was also accepted into Harvard Medical School at a very young age, which demonstrated her intelligence even more. For all of her smarts, though, Cleone was pretty naive about the world and especially men. She had social anxiety and didn’t like to look people in the eye. Cleone was just a very well-developed and fleshed out character with a lot of quirks.
I also enjoyed the pacing of the plot and the author’s descriptive writing style. The book unfolded with a brisk pace, and information was revealed to the reader relatively quickly. There were also many vivid details and descriptions provided that also helped the reader understand the setting and how the characters were feeling. I don’t usually like a lot of description in a book, but this one provided a great balance of both moving quickly and offering important details.
Unfortunately, I didn’t buy the formed romantic relationship between Cleone and Mason. The relationship felt rushed, and they were so entirely different. It didn’t help that Mason was always the one in control because she was being held hostage. In addition to there being a fifteen-year age difference, Cleone and Mason also didn’t appear to have much in common. He was a criminal with a very checkered past, and her life was just beginning. Their sex scenes were also pretty uncomfortable to read through because they were meant to seem romantic and mask the fact that Cleone never had a choice in the matter. She did have an attraction, but she didn’t have any experience with men. It might not have been exactly rape, but it also didn’t start out as a consensual relationship. Toward the end, something does happen that somewhat changes the balance of power in their relationship. But, for the majority of the book, I didn’t like them together.
I’m rating this book 3 out of 4 stars. I liked the fact that Cleone was a very well-developed character with her own unique and quirky personality. She was also incredibly intelligent and naive at the same time, which made for a good balance. I likewise enjoyed the brisk pacing of the plot and the descriptive writing to explain the setting and the characters’ thoughts. The novel was also professionally edited. I’m taking a star away because I didn’t enjoy the relationship between the two main characters. It seemed forced and rushed. The book also contains pretty explicit sex scenes that seemed troublesome to me based on the power dynamic of their relationship. I would recommend this book to adults who usually like erotic thrillers and also enjoy reading about interesting and eccentric characters.
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Chaos Theory
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