Review: The Prisoner by Natalie Ward

***THE PRISONER IS AN ADDITION TO THE REPLACEMENT. IT IS A STAND-ALONE NOVELLA INTENDED TO BE READ AFTER THE REPLACEMENT.

My name is Christian Walker, and Elise Duchamp is my drug of choice.

No matter how hard I try to break the habit, it’s a lost cause. Okay, maybe I haven’t really tried to quit this particular habit. All I can think about is owning her. Making her mine. Can you really blame me? With that sinful body, luscious mouth, and wicked tongue, she’s every man’s dream, and she knows it.

No one is immune to her charm, not even me, a man who has everything—a beautiful wife, an office with a view, and more money than most people can spend in one lifetime. Only I know how to make her toes curl. Only I know her body better than the other men she screws in her free time. None of them can compare to me.

But the joke is on me. I’m the prisoner.

The one who will never compare to him. The one man who makes me see red. His name is stored in her cell phone. It’s the first one she calls out to, the first one she cries for when all hell breaks loose. Ryder Jacobson.

The name makes me cringe.

She loves him, and I love her. In my own way, I always will. But the bad guy doesn’t always belong with the bad girl. Sometimes the bad girl needs a good man to believe in her, to give her that final push toward ultimate transformation. I wish I was that good man. That I could be her happily ever after. I guess that’s the thing about prisoners, though. They’re left alone with their torment, and in the end, they have no one to blame but themselves.

3.5 Stars

Review by Jen Hagen

The Prisoner is only to be read if you have completed The Replacement.  It will hold no significance if you read it as a stand alone.  This is told completely from Christian’s point of view.

 Christian is 30 years old and is in a loveless marriage, things not having been right between him and Kylie for several months.  He finds extra-marital activities on the side with various women.  I obviously did not pay attention to a minor detail in the first book that he was a cheating cheater, and this bothered me.  I know what you’re thinking…How can you not be bothered with cheating on the wife, but cheating on the mistress pushes your boundaries?  I agree…there must be something wrong with me!  Christian wants a shot at something more with Elise.  For some reason he thinks that he could change her and make her his own.

 I have to have her, and I have to make my intention crystal clear, then wipe the floor with the faces of all the others who’ve touched her before me.  Because the second my hands are on her, she’s mine.

 Sure Christian is wealthy, successful, good looking and definitely knows what he’s doing between the sheets, but Elise doesn’t want to be claimed.  Christian had deep-rooted feelings for Elise that were genuine and there is no doubt in my mind that he truly cared for Elise.  It just wasn’t in the cards for him and Elise to be “the one” for each other.

 All this time, I wanted to own her, but the reality is she owns me.  A little piece of her always will.  Until someone else comes along and shows me how to love again.

 If you have read The Replacement you know that there is a significant part of the story that would have been wonderful to hear in Christian’s words…sadly that is not present and for me that really knocked the book down in its rating.  The author must have her reasoning for excluding it and we do get into his head following the actual incident, but I was really hoping to have his words tell the story during that pivotal moment.  

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