Exquisite Captive (Dark Caravan #1) by Heather Demetrios

Exquisite Captive (Dark Caravan #1) by Heather Demetrios

Release Date: October 7, 2014

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 480

Summary: Forced to obey her master.

Compelled to help her enemy.

Determined to free herself.

Nalia is a jinni of tremendous ancient power, the only survivor of a coup that killed nearly everyone she loved. Stuffed into a bottle and sold by a slave trader, she’s now in hiding on the dark caravan, the lucrative jinni slave trade between Arjinna and Earth, where jinn are forced to grant wishes and obey their human masters’ every command. She’d give almost anything to be free of the golden shackles that bind her to Malek, her handsome, cruel master, and his lavish Hollywood lifestyle.

Enter Raif, the enigmatic leader of Arjinna’s revolution and Nalia’s sworn enemy. He promises to free Nalia from her master so that she can return to her ravaged homeland and free her imprisoned brother—all for an unbearably high price. Nalia’s not sure she can trust him, but Raif’s her only hope of escape. With her enemies on the hunt, Earth has become more perilous than ever for Nalia. There’s just one catch: for Raif’s unbinding magic to work, Nalia must gain possession of her bottle…and convince the dangerously persuasive Malek that she truly loves him. Battling a dark past and harboring a terrible secret, Nalia soon realizes her freedom may come at a price too terrible to pay: but how far is she willing to go for it?

Inspired by Arabian Nights, EXQUISITE CAPTIVE brings to life a deliciously seductive world where a wish can be a curse and shadows are sometimes safer than the light.

My Thoughts:  I really wasn’t sure what to think going into this one. It was a bit slow at first. A lot of plot and character development.

We are introduced to Nalia. Nalia is one of the last of her kind from where she came from. She’s also a jinni. A pretty powerful jinni. One who is wanted and some people would do anything to either get her or kill her. She also has a master named Malek. Malek, was… heck I don’t know. He was pretty demanding and he wasn’t the greatest person BUT he could have been a lot worst to Naila. He wanted Naila to fall in love with him, not be forced into love with him. At times, I liked him but other times I really didn’t. He wouldn't free Naila and there was also more to his back-story. I also liked meeting both Raif’s sister and Naila’s best friend!

We are also introduced to another person named Raif. He comes into Naila’s life looking for her help. He has a mission and needs her to fulfill it. I liked Raif from the start. He was smart yet sarcastic. Arrogant but in a good way.

All Naila wants is to be free. And to save her brother. All she begins to think that helping Raif is the way to do it.

This had kind of a complicated plot, it was good but confusing at first. I had to get used to all the jinni lingo and explanations. It did sink in finally though and then I flew through the book. There are also a lot of little things going on as well both in Nalia’s life and Malek's.

Honestly, I haven’t read too many books focused on jinnis. They are interesting but never really interest me if that makes sense.

Exquisite Captive was a good one,  I liked the plot and the characters even though it did take awhile for me to warm up.

Overall:  I’m really glad I gave this one a chance. I wasn't too sure about it at first but I did enjoy it and will definitely read the next one when its available!  I really liked Nalia!

Cover:  Like it! It fits because its somewhat dark and I felt like this one was dark in some areas as well.

What I’d Give It: