Kept is L. B. Plum's riveting first suspense novel about love, obsession and, most of all, survival.
A woman in love caught up in a whirlwind romance with a man in lust, their life together a flurry of obsession, betrayal and violence shaped by each of their dark upbringings.
Drawn to the alluring and passionate demeanor of Jason Crosse, Sarah, a personal chef with a tormented past, finds herself in an unexpected yet much desired marriage. Nevertheless, their honeymoon phase is only short lived and the union is immediately off to a rocky start. After Jason loses his job and becomes reluctantly dependent on the support of his new wife, his stress level rises and tensions flare – he would do anything to gain control over his life and over her. Sarah finds herself trapped as a victim once again, a role she is all too familiar with after living under an abusive family for most of her life. Jason's obsessive and manipulative nature makes it difficult for her to contemplate leaving. Little does Sarah realize, Jason is warped by a troubled past of his own that will drag their lives into a damning pit of abuse, torture, and deception that will plague her life forever.
Plum has broken into the world of writing with a fantastic start; I have given her first novel 4 out of 4 stars.
Kept is the tale of Sarah Graves and her experiences dealing with the deeply troubled Jason Crosse.
After a night out in Vegas, Sarah, a personal chef with a traumatic past, awakens to find herself in bed next to the alluring Jason Crosse. When informed that they were married last night, Sarah is excited rather than alarmed. Drawn to the man who she knows through mutual friends Sarah finds herself captivated by Jason and sets out determined to make the spontaneous marriage work. However, Jason has a troubled past of his own, one that threatens to drag Sarah down into the dark world of abuse, torture and deception. The honeymoon period is short lived for this couple as Jason starts to reveal his true colours in scary and dangerous ways, it will take all of Sarah’s strength just to keep her head above water in this twisted and unhealthy relationship.
This is a book that will stick with you and will open your eyes to what can happen behind closed doors, an abusive relationship being the main focus of the story. L.B Plum has put a lot of work into her characters making sure they grow and develop throughout the story and don’t always react in the same way, Sarah is the stand out of this story, and while starting out as a fragile victim she learns how to handle herself and gets stronger as the story progresses.
Kept comes in just shy of 270 pages quite easy to get through this in a day, which is made even easier by the fact that it is extremely hard to put this book down. Once you start the story every new chapter will draw you further in making you determined to see how it will end.
I recommend anyone that enjoys reading a story with a dark side to get a hold of this book, it will not disappoint. However, abuse is a sensitive subject and if that is an uncomfortable topic or you don’t like gritty stories I would suggest steering clear of this one.
Once again, I gave Kept 4 out of 4 stars due to the fact I was completely unable to put this book down, I was so engrossed in the story and the world contained within. L.B Plum has done a wonderful job covering a tricky subject and I feel my rating is just what this book deserves.
