Dangerous Beauty

The ridiculous and cringe-worthy premise of Dangerous Beauty is saved only by Melissa Koslin’s obvious talent as a writer. She can craft a strong scene, particularly when suspense and action collide, but the notion that a woman who survived sex-trafficking and then fell in love with her rescuer is appropriate, let alone realistic or psychotically appropriate, is as gross as it is laughable.

Liliana Veld willing goes with Meric Toledo after he saves her from her traffickers, though he provides no evidence that he is a safe or responsible man. She travels with him to a unknown location, lives largely as a captive in his home, and over time, predictably falls in love with him despite every red flag imaginable and the fact that, as a trafficking victim, it is statistically unlikely that a romantic relationship directly on the heal of her abuse would ever happen.

Upon learning more about the publisher, Revell Books, the overt Christian overtones and obsession with Liliana’s virginity begin to make a little more sense. An unnecessary sub-plot regarding an abortion is so heavy-handed that the book could be marketed as anti-choice novel, and the emphasis on “marriage before God” as the only appropriate road to sex between two consenting adults makes the book feel like a tool for abstinence propaganda.

It is unfortunate that the plot is so unrealistic, because Koslin can write; I just wish she’d written something other than this.