Ensnared Review

** Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review. 2.5 to 3 stars!!! This story is a near-future retelling of the fairytale "The Beauty & Beast". It takes place in a world where AI and automatons live alongside humans. The story follows a girl named Alainne who takes the place of a robot named Rose to save her father from a five year jail sentence. In order to this, she has to enter a tower owned by a man that no one has ever seen and ends up becoming a prisoner. The story then progresses as to how she realises that things are actually very different from what they seem. The story is fairly straightforward and predictable as in it follows in the footsteps of the original fairytale with the HEA, however, the only twist being the robots. However, this story left me wanting in many aspects. Firstly, although robots and AI are mentioned, there was definitely not enough worldbuilding. I wanted to see more of this futuristic world that the author built. But all we get is a story centered around a tower filled with robot monkeys and an AI house system program. I wanted more. Secondly, Alainne as a MC was alright. She is a pretty good conversationalist and is quite feisty. But I couldn't really relate to her at the beginning. We get more of her backstory towards the end of the book, but by that time, the story became too dull for me. Lorcann's character was more interesting, however, I didn't get what his relationship with Shelly was about and I felt his backstory was also thrown in the last minute to fill pages. We don't really get a sense of who the characters are actually which is very frustrating. The romance was a slow burn with I enjoyed and I felt the sex scenes were steamy enough. There was enough detail given which made it tasteful as opposed to being too erotic. I liked Lorcann and Alainne's interactions with each other. Those were the parts I liked the most. However, I wasn't too keen on the minor characters roles. The only characters I didn't mind were Colby and her father as I felt they were integral to the storyline. I didn't get the introduction to her colleagues. I guess the author wanted to show a full life for the MC. Unfortunately, the role of ski rescue volunteer didn't fit too well with the futuristic angle of the overall story. That's just my opinion. Overall, the story went at a brisk pace. Some of the revelations towards the end were interesting. Though a tad bit far-fetched. I also felt we weren't given much explanation for certain plot devices and twists which lend to a lot of loose ends. This felt rather unsatisfying. I would say that this book has potential. But as a fan of the Lunar Chronicles, I wasn't truly blown away by it. It was an average read at best.

#scifi #romance #NewAdult #RitaStradling #fairytale #retellings