19 February 2015

#Throwback: Conquer

***Content Warning - This is a new adult fiction with mature themes. It contains graphic sexual situations, mature language and explicit description of sexual violence.***
Conquer is the third book in the Control series. This description contains spoilers for those who have not read books one and two in the series, entitled Control and Conflict.

Private Investigator, Paige Stone’s world was shattered when she learned truths about her past. Following her discovery, Paige is forced into a situation where she needs to accept that, although a person can control their mind and body, the circumstances of their lives are far outside their grasp. As Paige struggles with coming to terms about events in her life, she is also put through the harrowing task of learning when to fight and when to let go.

Strong-willed and arrogant, Daemon Pierce agrees to help Paige on her hunt for Chris. As Daemon instructs her how to fight with both body and mind, he breaks down the final walls she has built around her heart.

Paige and Daemon’s emotional journey concludes as they learn the meaning of love and forgiveness, and ultimately...surrender.
Conquer is the conclusion of Paige and Daemon's story, picking up with Paige still reeling from what she sees as her parents’ betrayal about Buddy. As if that were not enough, she and Daemon must rush to his club because Chris has been spotted inside and has once again managed to evade the club’s security – this does not make for a happy Daemon. After Paige manages to narrowly escape yet another abduction attempt by Chris – finally one that didn’t leave me thinking she was foolish for getting herself into said situation – Daemon decides that it is time for Paige to learn how to defend herself. As important as it was, Daemon’s self-defense and exercise program lent itself to several laughs to lighten the mood, the funniest occurring when David gets recruited to help out; I don’t know which had me cracking up more – Richard Simmons or Zombie Clown.

While Paige displayed much better judgment in Conquer than she did in Control and Conflict, I couldn’t help but snort when she thought “My investigator instincts kicked in.” My bone of contention with the first two books – Paige’s inability to put two and two together – was not as apparent in this installment. Although she did put herself in harm’s way once again, it was done with purpose and an actual plan. It was also nice to see her working with Daemon instead of against him. His high-handedness remains ever present, but once he explained to her his fears she was more understanding and much more cooperative. If it can be believed, the intensity of the chemistry between the two was actually higher in this book. This not only resulted in more intense sex scenes between the two, but also made Daemon’s disconnect in the one scene much more obvious and chilling.

One of the things I really liked about Conquer is that we got to see more of the story from Daemon’s point of view, especially from his memories about his mother, The Center, and Paige. I enjoyed being able to experience some of the incidents from his frame of reference. I also liked that Ms. Willis showed that life continued to move forward for Paige and her friends, even as Chris managed to elude the police. I found Annie and Alex’s life changes to be particularly heartwarming. Even though the author has more books planned for the series, Conquer appears to mark the end of Daemon and Paige’s part of the series and I am so very pleased with the ending Ms. Willis gave them. I suspect that we will get to catch up them in future books in the series and am looking forward to reading them. 

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