Her Russian Beast

50 Loving States, New Mexico

By: Theodora Taylor

Narrated by: Clementine Dove

Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Him: She showed up in my dark world and pulled me into her light. Then she ran away. For six long years, she kept herself hidden from me. She is my wife. My siren. My everlasting obsession. Did she really think I would just let her go? Nyet. She belongs to me, and now that I have found her, I will make her pay for destroying me.

Her: He's the domineering monster I had to escape. The only place he and I work right is in bed. And now that he's found me, he's determined to take every scrap of dignity I have left. So why can't I stop wanting him? Needing him? Aching for him? He's my husband. My keeper. My Russian beast. And I don't have a chance in the world of getting out of our twisted relationship with my heart intact.

Find out what happens in this extremely intense, standalone erotic romance from Theodora Taylor's wildly popular 50 Loving States series. But reader be warned, this is only for those who like their Russian alphas beyond rough and psycho sexy.

©2015 Theodora Taylor (P)2022 Theodora Taylor

A fave story read + my audible crush = Heaven!

This story is one of my fave Theodora Taylor books and I’ve fallen in love with Clementine Dove as a narrator - her voice is wonderfully diverse and she brings these stories to life with her voices, accents and inflection, etc. so I was thrilled to see one of my faves being read by my new voice crush lol This story requires an open mind because it is definitely not the typical love story and it involves messed up behavior, serious baggage on both sides and terrible communication. And I think that’s why I like it so much. Because love btwn two people like Bair and Thel can be very messy and complicated (and lots of folks never find a healthy way to relationship). So I appreciate TT giving us a story about characters with issues that got in the way the first time and almost derailed their second chance. The journey is an enjoyable ride if you’re willing to embrace that love that is messy and unhealthy can still be love and can find its way to a healthy place.

Nyet on Rapey Traumatic Romances

I hated this. I have liked other books by this author but this was another one that I feel passed off rape and abuse as love. It hurt my heart to listen to this audiobook in the same way that His to Claim did. The reason? Like in His to Claim, there was yet another scene where the heroine is forced to have sex with other men viewing. The way that we the reader are meant to understand that this isn't rape is because the character gets wet for him and she has agreed to be a 'pet' in this relationship. However, it is clear from the internal dialogue of Theil that this is not some pre-agreed to kink where she gets off on humiliation and degradation. This is not a fantasy she is living out but an actual fucked up situation.

This very violent man has her under guarded control and is forcing her to do something in a situation where she doesn't really have the freedom to say no without fear of violent repercussions. I mean we watch him kill people in front of her. It's even worse when she gets away from the situation only to come back later 'voluntarily' for fear of safety for her family. So it's hard to see anything as fully consensual.

Then this humiliation continues and multiple times she is forced to have sex in front of men and also let those men ejaculate on her. AND THEN even after all that, she has to watch this man beat another man within an inch of his life. So serious trigger warning on this book for anyone who has had to endure, abuse/assault/coercion/rape/sexual violence.

On one hand, I appreciate this author's attempt to deal with darker subjects like mental health issues but this seems like a superficial handling of some very deep dark issues. We don't really get to know the characters and their abusive sex is portrayed in this titillating way that seems to undermine the abuse. Also, there is no pat happy ending that is satisfying enough to help assuage the abuse threaded throughout this book. And no part of me feels like a baby needed to be brought into the mix of this fucked up couple dynamic.

People come to romance for different reasons. I have said this before I know, but I don't come to romance to feel emotionally beat up. I feel like shitty abusive relationships are easy to come by in real life. I don't need to read about it for entertainment. For some romance is an escape, for some, it's for hope, for others, it's to get off, and some people just like reading about love. I don't know what I am meant to get out of Her Russian Beast. Trauma? Relief that I made it through mostly unscathed?

I am now developing a love-hate relationship with the works of Theodora Taylor. I do love that there is a world she has created where there are both supernatural and non-supernatural characters seamlessly blended together. She is a strong writer and some of her books I really love. I think Taylor has very interesting storylines but there are a couple of reoccurring themes in her books that have finally worn thin for me.

1. Aggressively angry controlling white men who don't often don't just veer towards the abusive, but are just straight-up abusers.
2. Massive misunderstandings that could have been easily resolved with basic communication. Everyone is going off half-cocked all the time and making dramatic decisions.
3. Black women who are described as sassy or mouthy but don't end up showing any of that in their actions. They either run away or submissively allow themselves to be mistreated. Usually, the hero will get away with saying soul-deep hurtful things, often based on misinformation that he barely apologizes for later. If he does apologize at all.
4. Massive Power/Money imbalance every time.
5. Weird dynamics of ownership/ sexual submission that for me personally are particularly uncomfortable in these portrayals of bwwm relationships. It's not that I don't understand BDSM but dominance and submission as they are portrayed in these stories is not contextualized in a way that makes it feel like consensual kink.

Maybe it is just complicated to write about humiliation and degradation kinks in a way that is not traumatic. I am not terribly experienced in that genre. All I can say is this one wasn't for me at all. I do see from the way it is rated I am in the minority about this and that's ok. People are allowed to like whatever they want. I don't write reviews often but I tend to write them on books like this that affect me so strongly. I read another review where someone described the book as ugly feeling, and I would have to agree.

If you are new to Theodora Taylor maybe read Her Viking Wolf instead. It still has a controlling male with bad communication skills and a sort of weakish female lead but it doesn't go into rape town, the male is much more likable and his actions much more understandable based on the time he is from. But mostly you can get the impression of actual love which personally I feel is essential. Now I need to go find a nice happy palate cleanser.

Brillant INCLUSIVE bwwm story series

BRAVO BRAVO.. This steamy, slightly kinky bwwm story is a wonderful addition to Theodora Taylor collection. If you want something that keeps you on the edge of your seat..BUY this story!!!!!! It has slight hints of 50 shades of gray in some sex scenes but there is so much heart in the writing with dealing with mental illness, cancer, abandonment & racism in other countries etc, etc... BRAVO BRAVO... Excellent inclusive writing. Anglo, asian, black , gay straight & autistic were all mentioned.. Ideas for future storylines keep reader/listener excited. Even a mention of paranormal shifter story in a video game.. Thumbs way up.. !! Now to perhaps throw in a love match for a middle age female lead.. Perhaps for the crazy/nurse mom.. Middle age black females deserve adventures & love also.. hint hint..

Okay

I really liked this book and would recommend it. It had a great sexual storylines and a great storyline. I wish this author hadn't taking God's name in vain. If not for that I would have given it 5 stars. You don't have to use "GD" to have a great book.

I wish this book was a movie or TV show. I couldn't wait for this book to be on audible. I had read the book on Kindle and couldn't believe what she went through and how she allowed him to treat her.

I have read or listened to the other couples stories and really liked them as well. I can't wait for Sam and Nic's love story to be on audible. I wish all of Theodora Taylor's books were on audible and read by Clementine Dove.

This Series....

I loved this series. In usual Theodora Taylor fashion...HEA but she doesn't make the characters automatically turn into these awesome people. Her characters have real flaws and issues along with the fiction. Another good one.

Very interesting and couldn't put it down

I was unsure of this book, because I wasn't sure I was in a head space for something that was sure to be dark. But I was so caught up in it that I literally could not put it down. And unfortunately I started this book in the evening. So needless to say I did not sleep. Ms. Dove did an outstanding performance on this audiobook with all the different characters. It had all of what you might expect from just the title alone. Angst, steamy hot sex scenes. It very hard to describe all this book contained. But I promise you, don't pass on this audiobook. It is the whole spectrum of feelings.

The end made it worth it.

Wanted to love it, but barely liked it.. at first! To clarify, I've read baby daddy and Russian Billionaire and loved them both- like LOVED from the beginning. But this book was all over the place for me and did not flow well at first. Also, my beloved Alecxi from Russian Billionaire was SO terrible throughout most of this book that I actually said outloud, "Ugh! Theodora, why must you betray us like this!?" Towards the end though things were revealed and it all came together beautifully. I laughed, almost cried, got upset, clutched my invisible pearls.. all the feels with this book. So, if you can keep yourself in check long enough to get to the "aah haaa" moment, you will really like this book too. Also, as always- LOVED Clementine's narration, she is one of my FAVORITES!

This ruined Alexei for me.

I only enjoyed the Rustanovs family reunion towards the end and to do that, I had to completely forget about the main couple. This was disturbing.

Weak characters

The characters were nonsensical, you don't know why the guy was the way he was and why the girl put up with it. Hard to like either of them which made the story hard to endure.

Thought it would be better

Lets start with saying this narrator is amazing and does great!!!! I had the worst time with following the story. All the opera stuff mixed with crazy mom and weird background of main female lead made no sense to me. Only thing that saved this book for me was the narrator.