Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Monsieur

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Monsieur by E.L. James

6 reviews

bookwormgaynor's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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bribreez's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

4.25⭐️/ 4🌶️

Been a long time since I’ve read a book by E L James. The last time I read one of her books was obviously, “Fifty Shades of Grey”, and ironically enough, my first time reading an erotic romance. When I came across this book, I was curious especially with the storyline centered around a lavishly rich handsome man, a young woman with a mysterious past, and of course, with E L James twist on things, it seemed intriguing. This story followed Maxim as he was thrusted into a new lifestyle since inheriting his family’s title. Alessia, was a young woman who seemed to be hiding from something from her past, and found herself employed working as the cleaner in one of Maxim’s homes. Two unlikely individuals coming together, born from different parts of the world met and somewhere along the way a connection was born.

Maxim was a ladies man, always out on the town, going to clubs, having sex with different women, and basically doing whatever he wanted without any sort of responsibility. With the loss within his family, Maxim found himself with a new title, having to manage his family’s wealthy estates, and trying to navigate this new lifestyle that he never imagined for himself. The beginning gave me the impression of Maxim being a total horn dog, sorry, but the man was just constantly banging a different woman every night. Understandably, as a bachelor and use to doing whatever he wanted, Maxim took advantage of that so, seeing him as a player wasn’t a complete surprise. Based off the very beginning, I got the impression that Maxim wasn’t prepared for his life to change of one having lots of responsibilities, and not to mention he wasn’t expecting having such a strong desire from meeting Alessia.

Alessia was very mysterious to me. From the beginning, as she started her new job as being Maxim’s cleaner, she struck me as being shy, quiet, introverted, and unsure of herself at times. While Alessia was timid and quiet, she did have an incredible sense of musicality when it came to her playing the piano. The way Alessia played the piano was not only impressive, but she also associated colors to the feelings she felt while playing which I found interesting. When meeting Maxim, Alessia was equally intrigued and attracted to him right away. Even though Maxim was her boss, Alessia secretly couldn’t help but fantasize about him, and all the wonderful things he could do to her. Alessia also struck me as someone who was a little innocent and inexperienced compared to Maxim who has sexually active.

The way Maxim clearly had a thing for Alessia was endearing and entertaining to watch unfold. For a man who constantly had no problem bedding women, when it came to Alessia, she became the sole woman on Maxim’s mind twenty four seven! From the constant struggle to keep himself at arms length, Maxim wanted nothing more than to have Alessia all body and soul. When I read a part in Maxim’s mind of him thinking, “I burn for her”, OMG! THIS MAN WAS FULL ON INFATUATED AND OBSESSED WITH ALESSIA! Aside from the whole obvious attraction between Maxim and Alessia, I also loved seeing Maxim being protective over Alessia, especially when things started to take a dark turn with Alessia’s past. Maxim was helpful, kind, and understanding when it came to Alessia that it changed my perception of him as being a total playboy.

When things about Alessia’s past started coming out, it went from, man meets women romance story, to one involving some danger and darkness lurking in the background. Much of Alessia’s life before London was a bit of a mystery, especially since she would always clam up and tried to avoid it at all costs. So, when certain dangerous individuals come looking for Alessia, I was concerned and worried for Alessia immediately! Reading what Alessia went there was no easy thing for her to have experienced and it actually explained why she was usually so quiet and a bit skittish when people like Maxim wanted to know more about her life.

I was expecting an entirely different story before I started reading this. Before reading, I went in with no idea what this story would have. I imagined an entirely different plot line and type of characters, but the way that E L James wrote both Maxim and Alessia, I started to care for them. From seeing Maxim take on his new responsibilities to Alessia trying to survive, they each had their own obstacles and challenges to overcome, but they found some levity with each other.

The intimacy between Maxim and Alessia was well done! I wouldn’t say this was entirely slow burn, but there was a bit of a build up between Maxim and Alessia’s growing attraction towards one another. When it came to the big “first time” scene, I felt like it was handled with affection, respect, and Alessia feeling safe the whole time with Maxim. The sexual tension built up amazingly and i really enjoyed seeing the softer side to Maxim when it came to him ensuring Alessia was alright the whole time. That being said, I throughly enjoyed seeing Maxim and Alessia finally just give into their mutual desire for each other, it was satisfying, sexy yet also had a layer of innocence to it with it being Alessia’s first time experiencing all these feelings with Maxim. Maxim may have been known as a womanizer, but you couldn’t doubt his level of respect and care when it came to him and his partner *ahem Alessia* in the bedroom. Spice was deliciously well written and sensual!

With the beauty and romance blooming in the air between Maxim and Alessia, there was still some danger lurking in the shadows. Much of Alessia’s life before London was a bit of a mystery, especially since she would always clam up and tried to avoid it at all costs. So, when certain dangerous individuals came looking for Alessia, I was concerned and worried for Alessia immediately! Reading what Alessia went there was no easy thing for her to have experienced and it actually explained why she was usually so quiet and a bit skittish when people like Maxim wanted to know more about her life. While much of the story explored and highlighted the passionate love between Maxim and Alessia, the reality was Alessia wasn’t entirely safe with her well-being at stake, and constantly on edge feeling like those from her past would take her away from her new life in London, and more importantly from the man she loved dearly, Maxim. Adding that level of danger in the story had a bit more of a suspenseful feel to the plot, and quite frankly had me wondering what was going to happen to Alessia!

THIS WAS TRULY A ROLLERCOASTER OF A RIDE! From the unexpected parts of danger, keeping me on my toes, and essentially SUPER ON edge! I was entirely enthralled especially towards the end. This book wasn’t the book I thought it was going to be, and I’m happy to say it was amazing! I haven’t read a book by E.L. James in so many years, but reading this book made me fall in love with her storytelling all over again. Alessia’s journey was difficult, tough, and by all means she was a trooper with all that she endured. Despite her shy and quiet demeanor, there was a brightness that emanated from Alessia that made it easy to adore her and find her endearing. At first meet, I wasn’t all to sure about Maxim and his playboy ways, but gradually he started to change my mind with the way he became so enamored with Alessia. Maxim was a different man with Alessia and it was highlighted through so many lovely moments such as, him obviously protecting her from danger, ensuring she was able to feel free, and have moments of fun like playing the piano. I truly loved the way the romance played out, and with the way the story ended, I’m so excited to continue Alessia and Maxim’s story! Lots of nail biting moments for me towards the end that I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out, but oh boy E. L. James had me captivated!

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Listen my rating system is not all the same. Because technically this is not a four probably like a three, but I had so much fun reading this I’m rating it just on the vibes. This is not while written and the characters were actually annoying, but I just found myself so entertained. I did like the characters together for the most part. This does have heavier topics which I wasn’t expecting, but what made it more interesting. The spicy scenes are honestly kind of bad. IT’s instalove as well which is annoying because this is a 500 page book but whatever. I literally just listed all the things I didn’t like and yet it’s still a four star. Maybe my rating will change later but who knows.

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stephs1531's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was a nice palate cleanser after all the fantasy I’ve been reading. It was sexy, sad, but from what I could tell at least it wasn’t a toxic relationship.

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a_l_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

story and Plot -> 3.75
i didn't enjoy the constant wave of slow and fast paced. the faster paced parts were interesting and addictive to read. during the slower paced parts, where nothing much plot.relevant happened, i sometimes just skimmed the pages, to get to the more interesting parts.

writing -> 2.5
i found there to be too many repetitive mentioning and overused metaphors to describe feelings and circumstances. sometimes the pov's changed back and forth too quickly for my taste.

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ggmata's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Great read!
For the last ten chapters I couldn’t put the book down! Loved how the characters developed and how the book panned out! Truly made you fall in love with the way they were described and how they fall in love. Worth the read. Great amount of plot and spice.

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