Bait

Kayla Barton
Mar 31, 2022
6 min read

Bait

by Jade West

A stranger online. Dark hair and even darker eyes that knew my dirty desires before I did.

A fantasy that should never be spoken. But he pulled the confession from me.

And now he’s coming for me.

Rough. Dirty. Dangerous.

It’s supposed to be one night to get me off and make me forget.

He’ll make me his and I’ll pretend I don’t want him to.

I’ll run and he’ll chase.

Because I asked him for this.

I begged him for this.

Tonight, in the darkness, he’s the hunter.

And I’m the bait.

Spice Level: 5/6

Story Score: 6.5/10

Rating: 4.75/5

It’s been on my list for so long, but I wasn’t ever ready. I tried to start it once, didn’t even make it through the first chapter before I knew I wasn’t ready for it.

Today, I figured what the hell. My mind has opened and my kinks have expanded and my curiosity is downright shocking sometimes, so let’s go!

First off, I started this book on Audible. I don’t recommend it. It really ruined a lot of the mood for me until I got used to the narrators. Reading it was 1000% better.

Second, this book is the most brutal book I’ve ever read while being so incredibly sweet. I don’t know how I feel. I keep thinking “I loved that book” but yet my mind is still having a hard time accepting that. I’m sure the spoilers for this one are going to be longer than this portion.

Third, the blurb of this book is like two chapters of this book, out of 39. However, how strong is the storyline? Uh, maybe just a smidgen better than Den of Vipers? I’m not sure. There was one. It was there. But it was…buried? Brief? (Though not nearly as brief as Fierce King which was literally just bullet point plot lines between repetitive sex scenes.) This one had a storyline that drove the sex scenes, that drove you through them. This book could’ve been twice as long and actually built up the characters more, their tales, their relationship, their everything and have been better and I swear I wouldn’t have gotten bored as long as he kept chasing her.

Fourth, if you want some primal and cnc kinks…some pierced, monster cock…some pain play…read this book. If you have triggers regarding any of those things or child/pregnancy loss or fertility, don’t read this book.

I’m just going to skip to the spoilers now.

-SPOILERS-

Ok. I knew this book was CNC going in. CNC intrigues me. The concept is mind-shattering in the best way for me. It gives all the power of BDSM without any of the clinical-ity. It allows for a freedom that I personally can’t find in those books generally. I also knew, based on the blurb and the FB groups, that primal kink was in here. Honestly, I really don’t know what that is or how to define its composure other than growling, chasing/hunting, and being territorial. Is there more to it? It kind of seems like primal kink tends to allow for more CNC options than other kinks. They play well together.

HOWEVER, IF YOU HAVE A BOOK THAT HAS CHASING/HUNTING IN IT BUT NO PAIN PLAY, PLEASE GIVE IT TO ME. I NEEEEEEDS IT.

Abigail is suffering quite seriously after miscarrying. The miscarriage was so terrible that it required surgery and the scarring that resulted impacted her fertility. On top of that, the baby daddy was a married man that didn’t want the baby, didn’t stick around for her, and yada yada. So overall, this woman is traumatized. On a separate note, she’s always dreamed that she’s being chased by some monster. At first, a legitimate monster and later a man. At first, it isn’t sexual, and then it is. She wants to be hurt. It kind of feels like she wants to punish her body for failing her. Which makes sense in a way.

However, most of this is not explained in a timely manner and I was left scrambling through several parts of the book. I wanted more information. I eventually got the all the plot points, but they weren’t fleshed out like I wanted. I wish I understood her pain before all of it. I wish I understood her pain better by the end.

Leo’s story is even more confusing. So, he had a girlfriend named Mariana that liked to be chased and forced. She liked to fight and fuck. She liked both of them bleeding. In giving her what she wanted, he also came to crave parts of it. (I do assume that after having this type of relationship, it would be very hard to just be “normal”.) But then she died in a fire at his company’s warehouse, where only she and his brother were. Presumably fucking? This was a confusing ordeal. Was she cheating on him? Was she cheating on the brother? Did she like anyone? She sounds like a selfish bitch. But nonetheless, she died in the fire while he was on the other side of the door, just trying to get her out while she screamed for him. Insert trauma. So much fucking trauma. Not to mention that their son was in the truck while all this happened.

It’s like Oprah up in this book. Trauma for you! Trauma for you! Trauma for everyone!

Abigail posts her desire to be chased and “forced” on a hook up website. Leo sees it. I wish there had been more detail in the exchanges. I get that it could only have gone so far while he’s allowed to know everything and she couldn’t know anything, but I still think it could’ve built up more. Two weeks later, the game is on.

I fucking appreciated that the author held back. I knew what she wanted, I knew his thoughts, and I was trying desperately to prepare myself for the inevitability of it being too much for me. It wasn’t. Annnnnnd I’m torn about it. So, Leo has a giant dick with 6 piercings down the shaft, right? Huge, giant dick. Like, I can’t actually contemplate it big apparently because it doesn’t go in easy no matter the readiness. (Vaginas have babies. I’m confused. I’m also inexperienced in monster dicks, so whatever. I take it as it is. It’s huge and it’s hard to get in there.) Anyway, he’s “gentle” with her and I adored him for it. As we’ve established, I like nice guys and I love men that are willing to give the woman whatever she thinks she needs. And at the end of the experience, Abigail is sore as fuck and walking with a limp and such. But I guess I wanted more description in the scene? Maybe that’s not possible when you’re inside a characters head during sex because most people probably don’t think as much as I do. I wanted SOMETHING more even though I didn’t need more roughness. I feel like he was the perfect combination of caring and rough, but I wanted more explanation of it.

What made these people think that you could do this kind of thing one time and it be over or enough? I’ve never experienced this, as stated, but I know the addiction people develop for adrenaline. Tell me that the entire scene doesn’t just scream that it’s creating an adrenaline junkie.

Once again, I’ve learned in the last five books that I’ve read that I also have a thing for fear kinks. I find it to be a strange line to straddle and one I want to read more about. Being scared, but not scared of the person, is interesting to me.

Anyway.

I appreciated that it didn’t take forever for her to figure out where Leo was and them to find each other again.

Continuing: the bar scene. I’m confused again. How the fuck was she able to stand there and listen to her friends’ conversation as he’s fucking her if it hurts so much and he’s so big and blah, blah, blah? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed that he did it, I’m just confused by her ability to concentrate on anything other than him during it. And I HATED the way she reacted when they were caught. She acted ashamed of him and I felt queasy. I’m glad the author didn’t go this route and that Leo didn’t panic or feel betrayed, but honestly, I felt betrayed by her reaction.

Aside from the first chase, I appreciated that there was some form of aftercare in most situations.

Ugh. Anal sex. If it’s too big for the vagina, how does it fit back there? Is that a dumb question? Honestly, how does anything ever fit back there in these books when there’s never any real preparation? I’ll give this one credit, he at least used a shit ton of lube.

I have so many more feelings about this book. Some of them are much deeper than others. I know this book is going to live in my brain for weeks. It turned so oddly sweet that I was left with a little but of whiplash. That may be my fault though. I guess I thought with as broken as they were, that they’d fight what was between them more. I like that they didn’t. I like that they were both able to notice a good thing when they found it, but isn’t that the opposite of every other romance book? LOL.

Standalone

359 Pages

Trope Challenge:

All the Trauma