I actually don't even know how to put my thoughts into words for this review.
This is the first time I ever read a book like this and I'm gonna be honest I didn't realise the brutality that was going to be in the book.
I loved it and I hated it all at the same time.. I couldn't put it down, I had to find out if the girls escaped and were safe

Does stuff like this happen in the world?? If so my kids are not allowed to leave me ever!

I need book 2, I need to know if she got free!

Thank youuu to netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. What was this book, I find it hard to believe that just anyone would enjoy this book

Oooo lord this one has got EVERY trigger going. It is dark and unforgiving. Would I read it again? Probably not due to the nature of the book but then that is very much my fault for requesting it!

I really enjoyed this book, fascinating story and some well written erotic parts. I would recommend this book

This is a tough read but the author has done a great job of drawing the reader into a story which she describes in horrifying detail. I enjoyed reading about the process of her family’s search for her and the development of the friendship between the two captives. The book is listed as erotica/mystery/thriller. I don’t think the brutal, criminal nature of the protagonist’s experience could be seen as any way erotic.

Phoenix by Ellie Simms is a book about a young girl who recently graduated from high school called Briana. Against her parent's wishes, Briana travels to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for a gap year where she quickly finds a job she enjoys as a teacher teaching rich children to speak English. It is then soon after she lands this new job she gets kidnapped and taken to a place of horrors where she will be brutally tortured in unbelievable ways which are shocking, sickening and saddening. There is a sub-plot of her parents looking for their daughter through the authorities but they are told she is killed in a car accident.

This is a good book but a very upsetting book and highlights a variety of themes and morals. It shows how everyone should be careful who they go out with and what they do, it shows how the authorities are not always as good as they should be, it shows how the police sometimes contribute to miscarriages of justice, it shows that you should not trust anyone and most importantly it teaches men how not to treat any woman and how not to treat friends. Themes of this book include Freedom, honesty, loyalty, trust and betrayal to name just a few of the themes.

I like this book as it was very well thought out and written and was very creative. Simms was great when it came to hooks and cliffhangers and the book was very gripping; so gripping that it kept me up at night reading it. I also like the lessons that Simms tries to teach and how she does it in such an interesting way.

There are quite a few things I dislike about this book but it is not entirely the author's fault as these things add to the story to some extent. I really did not like it how the characters easily gave up at times and did not do all they could in different situations. I hated the authorities who lied and her parents who were so easily tricked and did not think of things which may help them find their daughter. I dislike how Briana changes throughout the story and particularly at the end, I hated some of the horrible rape scenes and the thing I hated the most is how in my opinion the story did not end with a happy ending which is deeply saddening.

Despite the things I dislike with this book, I would definitely read any other books of this series as I enjoyed the tale and the creativeness as well as the life lessons. The author has been very creative and has mastered the skill of making the book gripping which is great. I have to rate this book 3 stars meaning this is a good book which I enjoyed and would read again and would recommend to many people.

Though hard to read this is a well written book of a worst nightmare situation. The story haunted my dreams and I cried with fear knowing that this is fiction only made me feel slightly better, as it stuck with me for many days after I finished it!
Definitely not for anyone who might be easily offended or triggered.

Not a fairy tale, but a carefully worded nightmare, The details go beyond Brianna's suffering and stick to the soul of the reader. A book that tears sensibilities.Very well written and a great story line.

Author Ellie Simms published the novel “Phoenix” in 2020. This is the first novel in her "Consumed" series.

I categorize this novel as a strong ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence, Mature Situations, and Mature Language. The story is set primarily in South America. The primary character is 18-year-old Briana Campbell.

Cambell is on her dream trip to Rio De Janeiro. She left home telling her parents it would only be for a few weeks, but as soon as she arrived she began looking for a job. She soon found one as an English teacher at an exclusive school.

Little did she know that being a teacher there would expose her to men of power and ruthlessness. After a few days, she is kidnapped. They change her name to Phoenix and force this beautiful young girl to succumb to their wishes.

She fights back at first but soon realizes that resistance will lead to her death. She meets Lily, another girl in the same situation, and they become close friends. Their future looks dismal and they begin to plan an escape. Family and friends look for Cambell, but the powerful men who have taken her control the police. Her 'owners' will stop at nothing to see that any search fails.

I enjoyed the 6+ hours I spent reading this 348-page thriller. There is content about the searches performed by Campbell's family and friends. Most of the storyline focuses on the exploits of Phoenix and Lily. The chosen cover art very well reflects the novel's content. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

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Phoenix, by Ellie Sims
Genre: Dark romance, erotica with non-consensual BDSM
Pages: 346

Content warning: This book can be classified as either a dark romance or erotica with non-consensual BDSM. This book is not suitable for readers that are sensitive to themes of kidnapping, sexual assault, slavery, sex trafficking, drug addiction, coerced drug use, physical violence, and torture.

This book is about Briana, a recent high school graduate, who travels to Brazil after high school for a gap year full of travel and adventures. Her parents are scared about what might happen to her in Brazil with her mom sharing news stories almost daily before she leaves. When she arrives, she obtains a job teaching English and plans to spend weekends exploring the country. At her new job, she is invited by a bodyguard of one of the students to an exclusive club. While warned by the school officials and Jose to stay away from the bodyguard, she goes to the club. There, she meets Esteban and they have a delicious dinner and some sensual dancing. He takes her back to his house to share his art collection and she ends up passing out from a drug he puts in her champagne. She wakes up restrained in a van and soon meets Lily, another captor. They are taken for training as sexual slaves at the camp in the Brazilian jungle. The horrors they experience are unfathomable and Briana fights to survive and protect Lily. As Briana slowly fades away, a new person, Phoenix begins to rise.
Overall, I did not like this book. Full disclosure – this is my first dark romance book. I had no idea that this genre existed and I plan to read more in the future. My dislike of the book is not due to the dark theme but rather the lack of character development and relationship development.

What I liked:
*I enjoyed the first part of the book describing Briana as a person, her relationship with her parents and her friendship with Jose the taxi driver.
*I liked getting to see a glimpse at the wealthy side of Brazil through the students that attend the school Briana teaches at.
*At the camp, the author did a good job exploring some of the challenges against fighting back in a situation like this and the challenges of surviving. It made me ponder if I would make similar decisions to the main character. How far would you go to survive – would you go along with acts that are against your personal beliefs and values just to survive? Or would you fight every single step causing harm to yourself and your friend?

What I didn’t like:
*It is hard for me to believe that Briana is clever enough to figure out how to get a work-visa in Brazil without her parent’s help at her age. She is also described as being fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish without ever having traveled to those countries. And getting a job within days of arriving in the country seems a bit unrealistic.
*Lily lacked character development. Lily is an important character throughout this novel. Yet, the author doesn’t really let us know who she is as a person. We know she is addicted to heroin and I believe she had blonde hair. At the end of the novel, I had no idea where she was from before her abduction, how she came to be in Brazil or anything about her as a person.
*The relationship between Lily and Briana was not well-developed. There are passages where the author talks about them sharing stories from home and connecting. Yet, none of these stories are shared to illustrate how they grow closer while they are in the camp. It’s a classic case of telling instead of showing the relationship.
*The relationship between Briana and Rey (one of her captors) is quite complicated and evolves throughout the novel. Again, I didn’t feel like the relationship was well-developed. The actions of the characters don’t always make sense or fit with the story.
*The pacing of the last part of this book (90% +) was really off. It was like the author wanted to cram a 2nd whole book into the last 10%. We see Briana take some actions that don’t seem to fit her character that we have known thus far and covering so much ground doesn’t allow the reader to understand the actions or even sit with them.

I would not recommend this book due to the lack of character and relationship development as well as the pacing in the last part of the book. There are several positive aspects of the book such as the early relationship development between Briana and her mom and her relationship with Jose, as well as how the author depicted the realistic aspect of being kidnaped. Those positive aspects don’t offset the negative aspects.

ARC provided to me by BooksGoSocial, via Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book was not to my taste, I found the story disturbing but the detail of the sexual acts and abuse were too much for me in the setting of the story. I struggled to connect with the book but simply down to a matter of taste

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (English and Spanish)

Not a fairy tale, but a carefully worded nightmare.
The details go beyond Brianna's suffering and stick to the soul of the reader. A book that tears sensibilities.
A girl in a foreign country, full of desire to live it; but reality cruelly crumbles their expectations. Kidnapped, abused, raped, humiliated... Brianna finds her only refuge in an unexpected friend; But even this brief relief will turn into pain.
This is a story that leaves scars ... that not everyone will be able to cope with.

°°°•••°°°•••°°°•••°°°

No un cuento de hadas, sino una pesadilla cuidadosamente redactada.
Los detalles desbordan el sufrimiento de Brianna y se adhieren al alma del lector. Un libro que desgarra sensibilidades.
Una chica en un país extranjero, llena de ansias por vivirlo; pero la realidad desmorona cruelmente sus expectativas. Secuestrada, abusada, violada, humillada... Brianna encuentra su único refugio en una amiga inesperada; pero incluso este breve alivio, terminará convertido en dolor.
Esta es un historia que deja cicatrices... a la que no todos podrán enfrentarse.

i really enjoyed reading this book, it was a interesting read and I really enjoyed the characters. I look forward to more from the author.

This book contains detailed descriptions of a stupid girl's misery. If you find this entertaining, you have real problems.

First, let me say that there is going to be a second book. Second, if you have children I don’t know if you want to read this story. This is a parent’s nightmare, not wanting their daughter to go to Brazil for a job to teach English yet Brianna believes everything will be perfect. She is so wrong and discovers this in a very short time when she is kidnapped after going to a man's party looking at his art. She wonders how she has gotten into this situation and soon realizes that she is in no control of anything except her mind when she has moments to get out of what is happening or coming back from what has happened.
She is beaten, raped, tied up, and other things. She makes a friend with another woman that was kidnapped as well and later she has to make a choice between her or her friend. The physiological part of this story keeps you going as well as the author taking you through what happens with her parents and the one man that was looking for her there in Brazil. I will also say that I stopped this book but went back to it just to finish it. Does have triggers for some people I would think and I know that this story is not for everyone. This is not a happy story.