Review: Escaped (Running in Fear #1) by Trinity Blacio

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Jaycee Manz has been on the run since her sixteenth birthday. After growing up fast and depending on no one, how is she supposed to handle three male werewolves who claim to be her mates? Can she learn to trust them or will she continue to run?

Dane Glassgo, alpha of his clan and a special ops commander, specializes in tracking. He's waited for the past two years to claim his mate. Nothing or no one will stop him from claiming Jaycee, not even her fear...

Pierre LeBlathe, brother to Remi and bonded mate to Dane Glassgo, knows his time is limited with Jaycee. But he is bound and determined to stop anyone from hurting her...

Mark Glassgo shares alpha duties with his elder brother, but when Dane finds his mate, Jaycee, he is shocked to learn she is also his mate. What he didn't count on was that he was also mate to Remi LeBlathe...

Alpha Remi LeBlathe, one of the most powerful weres in the country, has always protected what is his. When Jaycee comes into his life, mayhem erupts around them, but Remi is used to mayhem and uses it to his benefit. In seeking those who would harm his mate, Remi must learn how to listen to Jaycee's needs and desires...

Together, all four try to find peace, and the most powerful alphas in the U.S., Remi, Dane and Mark , declare war on anyone who stands in their way of claiming their runaway mate. But can the independent Jaycee be claimed?

In this sizzling werewolf menage story, love, lust and power take center stage in the struggle for ultimate survival.

My Thoughts: I almost don't know where to start with this review.  Hmm.  Okay.  First off, I didn't care for this book.  At all.  Here's the thing, I like almost all the different elements that made up this book.  I like books with werewolves.  I like books with menages.  I like books with werewolf menages.  I like books with BDSM elements.  I like erotica.  Frankly, putting all those things together should have been a cornucopia of delights for me.  BUT IT WASN'T.

This book was hard to read.  The characters were all over the place.  The action didn't feel fully fleshed out.  Even the sex scenes (of which there were many!) didn't have the emotional impact they could have had.  Most of that was because of the Jaycee.  I had a really hard time believing that a woman who had been beaten NEARLY TO DEATH within the opening pages of the book would be comfortable entering into a D/s relationship.  I get that it's a lifestyle choice but ... no.  Someone who had nearly died is now a-okay with having someone flog her?  Someone who was gang raped as a teen and has spent the past 15 years running away and hiding the truth is okay with having a group of men watch her and her mate having sex?  I just didn't believe it.

Beyond that, Jaycee proudly admits that she's a "trained submissive" yet she's also expected to be the Alpha female of Dane's pack.  I just can't wrap my head around that.  I also personally loathe the term "Alpha Bitch" which is used repeatedly.

I had a very difficult time telling the secondary characters apart.  I thought the dramatic showdown between Jaycee and her mother and stepfather was a big dud.  I have no idea why the book was stopped practically in the middle of a scene.

I feel like I'm bitching at this point and I don't want to do that so I'm going to leave you on this note: honestly, half the time I had no idea what was going on.  If I can't follow the action or the thought processes of the characters, I'm not going to be able to get into the story.  And that was the problem here.  I never felt any connection to the characters (of which I think there were a few too many) and I ended up not particularly caring what happened to them.

Sorry, guys.  This one wasn't for me.  On so many levels.

More books by Trinity Blacio

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