Bend Her
A Dark Beauty and the Beast Fantasy Romance
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4.3 • 12 Ratings
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- £3.49
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- £3.49
Publisher Description
Bend Her: A Dark Beauty and the Beast Fantasy Romance is the story of Rhaim the All-Beast, a cruel mage doomed to die at the hands of the woman he must protect at all costs, and Lisane, the sheltered Princess of Tears, who has been given into his care and who needs him to teach her magic so she can be free—no matter how much it might hurt her.
The intro follows . . .
Lisane:
My whole life, I had been a creature used to candlelight.
But I wasn’t accustomed to my own breath hot against my face, or the rough feeling of fabric against my cheek—or knowing that my wrists were tied behind my back, painfully tight.
The last thing I could recall was being in a carriage…We’d been running away from the Deathless . . .
And now I was here.
Wherever here was.
Tied up, in the dark, on the ground, with a bag around my head.
The very thing my father had been afraid of for me for my whole life—and the reason I lived in a gilded cage, only getting to leave the palace when I had throne-sworn mages by my side—had apparently happened.
I had been kidnapped.
Rhaim:
Every mage gets one clear vision on the eve of their Ascension into their full powers, right before they get the brand of their mage-mark: you see the thing that will cause your absolute demise.
Some men see snowy peaks or waterfalls, others bucking horses, and some lucky few see themselves with old and wrinkled hands, passing peacefully in their sleep.
In all instances, we’re told, the reasoning behind the visions is the same: if you’re strong enough to be trusted with powers, then you must learn to accept the hand of fate, as surely as you’d earned it as your mage-mark.
You need to know, deep in your bones and now scarred on your skin, that while there are things in the world you can change with your powers, death comes for us all.
There is no amount of magic that can escape it.
And so, when a group of soldiers brought a bound and drugged woman to my doorstep, to bribe me to fight in their war, and pulled the bag off of her head and I saw her there—the woman from the vision at my Ascension, and who has haunted my dreams ever since—I knew it was the beginning of my end.
She had no idea who I was, or what we were to each other. She knew nothing about my fate or future with her, or how she was destined to kill me.
Which meant in the present . . . she was mine, to do with as I pleased.
And I wanted to see her crawl.
Customer Reviews
LISANE AND RHAIM
My review is written voluntarily after listening to the audio version of this book.
I have to say I loved this first book in a dark fantasy The Transformation Trilogy it's a romance series featuring Lisane a princess that finds herself in the hands of the All-beast, Rhaim. The story is loosely based on Beauty and the Beast but it gives us a new darker twist to the story. This enjoyable version features magic, mages and what seems to be an unwinnable war against The Deathless, and it's because of this war that Lisane's father the King arranged for a drugged Lisane to be delivered to Rhaim to secure his aid. For some reason, Rhaim never tells Rhaim of her father's treachery and allows her to believe that he's the bad guy in this story.
This version of Beauty and the beast is, I think, one of the best alternative versions I have ever come across the story is both exciting and intriguing. The characters are very well drawn and so easy to relate to, Lisane has lived a sheltered life, locked away in rooms without windows "for her own protection" so when she finds herself a prisoner in a castle in the sky where she can occasionally look out of windows she can't believe it. During her time with Rhaim, a relationship between Master and Sub develops but then turns into one of respect and can I say love? Rhaim is a powerful mage, able to control any animal, hence his name The Allbeast, in a world where it is believed that only males can work magic, but Lisane has a slight ability and he agrees to work with her and train her to use her magic. But to learn magic Lisane's pride is tested, she must relinquish control of her mind and body to Rhaim if she wishes to progress in her training. Their romance builds slowly throughout this story as the chemistry and attraction between them deepen. I loved how protective Rhaim is of Lisane whilst still keeping her in the dark about her father's betrayal.
The author's descriptive writing style brings every element of the story and the against the Deathless into vivid detail. I loved all the unique magic each mage possessed and how in some cases it affected their appearance, the All-beast was particularly fearsome in the way he could not only control and manipulate any beasts but he could also become one himself.
This story is not only exciting and intriguing, but full of action, drama, and betrayals but also a growing love between Lisane and Rhaim as their incredibly sexy Dom/sub dynamic develops. Be aware that there are some hot Dom/sub scenes featured in this book. At the end of the book, we were treated to a teaser for the next book which I for one am so eager to listen to.
The narration of this book was excellently provided by Victoria Mei and Matthew Holland and in my opinion, couldn't be improved upon. Excellent All Round!