Book Review – Madame X by Jasinda Wilder

Madame X by Jasinda Wilder

Contemporary, Erotic Romance/Suspense. First in a trilogy. 

WOW. I can’t remember the last time I checked out of life to read a book from start to finish. Despite my post-brain-surgery headache, I just could not put Madame X by Jasinda Wilder down. In fact, I was so enthralled, so engrossed, I didn’t take notes, or highlight quotes, I was simply too involved to have my reviewer’s hat on. (I had to re-read to get quotes)

When I started Madame X, I popped in on a chat with some friends and said that I wasn’t sure about this one. That Jasinda’s writing was just a little too different, and maybe too smart and poetic, yet I couldn’t really stop reading. There is a very unique style to the prose in Madame X. First of all, it is told partially in second person (is that a thing?) Using “you” as the pronoun, yet it referred to each one of Madame X’s multiple clients. Add to that short, choppy sentences that are more poetry than full sentences, no contractions, and I was just thrown off a bit. But this type of writing set a mood that couldn’t be shaken. Though it took a while to get used to, the darkish, mysterious mood was woven through the words from page one, and it pulled me in, either despite or because of the way it was written. I’m honestly not sure.

But if it throws you at first…STICK WITH IT.

Madame X is extremely intelligent. She is a “trainer” I guess you can say. Little spoiled rich kids’ daddies pay her boss to have her train their adult boys to not be little pricks. She teaches them culture, gentility, how to speak to a woman, how to hold themselves. All the while, they are drooling over this perfect specimen of a woman. But there is no touching per the contract.

The only person who ever gets to touch her is her boss and owner, Caleb Indigo. He gets whatever he wants, and Madame X, as strong as she is with her clients, is powerless with Caleb. The beautiful man is her keeper, her captor, her lover, her boss, her provider. Every move she makes is recorded and watched. She lives in an apartment with the best clothes, books and furnishings, but can never leave.  She goes by the name Madame X because after a terrible accident, she suffered from full amnesia, and Caleb basically brought her back to life, then owned her life.

I belong to one man and one man alone, and he does not share. Not like you desire me, at least.
And you–you are not worthy to even think his name. You could not even begin to fathom the sophistication and the polish and the culture and the charm and the elegance and the easy power and the natural domination that man possesses. You just cannot.”

Caleb. Hmmmm, despite his gorgeous appearance, I pretty much can’t stand him. And honestly, I rarely enjoy a book where I don’t love the main characters. But maybe this is changing for me, because I loved Madame X, or maybe it’s because Caleb isn’t the only man in this book.

After 6 years if being held in her ivory tower, Madame X is longing for something more.

I know this is expected of me, and I cannot, dare not resist, or protest. And…part of me doesn’t want to. But I wish…I wish for the freedom to choose what I want. 

But if and when the opportunity arises, will she take it? Can she? I HAD to know, there was no way I was putting it down until I did. I read it in one sitting. Since I have been dealing with health and personal issues all summer, I had forgotten this was not a standalone, but it also wasn’t a horrible cliffhanger. I think it ended at a great part, and the preview has me counting the days until March.

Likes:

• The mood Jasinda wove through the book from the very first page.
• A perfect mix of suspense and mystery, combined with sex.
• The promise future books hold.
• The unputdownable storyline that made me read it in one sitting.
• The poetic writing, some of which I had a hard time with at first.

Dislikes:

• The second person POV in several chapters.

Rating: 4.75 Stars, 4.5 Heat (The rough beginning for me is why I couldn’t go with 5)

The Down and Dirty:

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