Blyss (The Blyss Trilogy #1)

by J.C. Cliff

Release Date: September 15th 2014

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Independent Julianna Oakley returns home to spend the summer with her father. One night she overhears her father arguing with someone that threatens to take her, and this is really where the story begins.

Julianna is kidnaped by a named Nick, a man her father had done business, who has his hand in the sex trade business. With the use of an aphrodisiac named Blyss, he sells willing sex slaves, companions to wealthy men. These women are later trained by his right-hand man Travis. Nick's plan is for Travis to introduce Julianne to BDSM and train her to be his submissive.

And here is where the problems begin. Julianne is a fighter. No one expected the “Princess” to be able to defend herself, but she puts up one helluva fight. Since Travis is her “trainer/protector” they spend a lot of time together and Jules begins to trust him. She struggles with this though because he wears a mask of indifference, but there are times when it dropped, and Julianne is not the only one that noticed.

Travis is both my favorite and at times least favorite character. He is attracted to Julianne and acting on this attractions can have serious repercussions. I liked him most when he was kind to Julianne and liked him least when he pretended to be uncaring around his boss. Travis is conflicted, torn between protecting Jules from Nick’s secret plans or remaining loyal to Nick and the project Blyss. What will he decide or will the decision be made for him?

My only issue with the book was the comparison of Julianna to a fairy tale princess. It made her seem less real. Her father nicknaming her “Princess” along with Jake’s description of her hair like Rapunzel and followed by Travis’s description of her while she slept,

“My God, she really does look every bit the part of a princess, straight from a storybook. Her long, dark lashes fan out across her sleeping eyes; she has prominent cheekbones, petite features, and beautiful, golden-spun hair that must reach halfway down her back, spilling out over the comforter. Her skin is smooth and creamy white, not like some girls her age who already have crow’s feet at the corners of their eyes from too much sun. She is enchanting me, even in her sleep.”

These descriptions made me think of Snow White, Rapunzel, and Cinderella to name a few, fairytale princesses that found their Prince Charming. I can’t imagine any of those princesses fighting off their kidnappers. Yes her father was a very wealthy man was Julianne was grounded and didn’t want to be locked in the castle he built for her.

Overall I enjoyed the story and would recommend reading it. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t as dark or as erotic as I was expecting, but it was still a good read. Be warned the story ends in somewhat of a cliffhanger promising more to come in next installment and I can’t wait to read it.