Review: The Hostage Bargain by Annika Martin

Title: The Hostage Bargain
Author: Annika Martin
Series: Taken Hostage by Hunky Bank Robbers #1
Publication: January 12th 2014
Genre: Adult ~ Erotica ~ Contemporary
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
Rating: 4/5

When small town girl Melinda Prescott is taken hostage by three hot bank robbers, she quickly discovers that a life of bank heists, luxury hotels, and kinky menages is way more exciting than working on the family farm. She should be scared of her dominating, fierce captors…but there’s something wicked inside her that’s craving to obey their every dark desire.

Melinda eagerly throws in with her three smoldering fugitives…and soon realizes that these are no ordinary bank robbers—and that bad guys aren’t always who they seem. But will her delicious captors overcome their own demons enough to let her in? And can these underdogs fight an evil conspiracy that’s larger than all of them?

Warning: This book contains a sexy bank-robbers-and-their-captive sandwich, light bondage, spanking, teasing hints of domination, and a little play-time in a hot tub. Oh, and some all-too-delicious alpha heroes who bend the heroine to their will.

The Hostage Bargain was a lot better than I expected from a free Kindle book. A whole lot better! I actually ended up loving the story as it was hot, well-written and just so damn funny. So close to perfection!

The main character, Melinda, is kind of hard to explain. But don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved her and she was hilarious. She's a sheep farmer and kind of addicted to danger because she feels trapped at home, forced to work at a bank. Until that bank gets robbed and she gets taken hostage by three hot bank robbers, much to her delight. At first I was like, what? This is so unrealistic but I soon started getting more into it and loving it, obviously. 

Which brings us to the bankrobbers, who call themselves Zeus, Odin and Thor. I can't explain how much I love that. Seriously! Anyway, they take Melinda hostage but she soon manages to convince them to let her tag along for a little while. There's a condition, though. She has to obey the rules. And let me say that the rules involve kinky sex, lots of it! I loved all three guys, but I guess I liked Odin the best. He and his accent are just so hot. Thor was pretty fun too. Zeus was a  bit on the fence about Melinda (who calls herself Isis now) joining them due to personal issues and what happened in the past but in the end he came around.

The book isn't all sex and kink, though. It also has a lot of action, danger and of course let's not forget the humor. I laughed my ass off so many times, usually with Melinda/Isis. She was awesome and so different from the characters I usually read about, as were Zeus, Odin and Thor. Only the ending was wrapped up too quickly for me and I felt so bad for Melinda's sisters. 

I would recommend not to take this book too serious. It's funny, playful and scorching hot! Sometimes you just need a book that's light and quick to read. The Hostage Bargain was the perfect book for that!

Quote:

"You guys have more costume changes than Britney Spears," I said.
"Did you just compare us to Britney Spears? Odin asked. "Must we spank and fuck you before we even get into the hot tub?"

About the Author:

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Annika Martin is a New York Times bestselling author who loves writing stories about criminals – some of her tales are dirty and fun (kinky bank robbers!) others are dark and intense (Prisoner collaboration). She also writes gritty, sexy romantic suspense and urban fantasy as RITA-award winning author Carolyn Crane.