The Venus Trap - Louise Voss

"Jo Atkins’ sixteenth year was disastrous: she lost her dad, was assaulted by a stranger, and then had her heart broken. For the last twenty-five years, she’s believed that nothing could ever be as bad again.
She was wrong.
Now, still smarting from her recent divorce, pretty, self-effacing Jo finally gathers the courage to enter the dating scene. She meets Claudio, whom she vaguely remembers from her youth, but after a few dates decides he’s creepy and politely tells him ‘thanks but no thanks’.
But Claudio has no intention of letting her go.
Instead of never seeing him again, Jo wakes up sick and terrified, handcuffed to her own bed. She is given a week to prove her love for Claudio—or he will kill her.
Claudio, it turns out, is a man with nothing left to lose.
The Venus Trap tackles the emotional impact of divorce, the perils of modern dating and the age-old powers of lust and obsession".

First review of 2015! I was very kindly given an advance review copy of The Venus Trap by Louise Voss. I am a huge fan of Louise and Mark Edwards already and have read pretty much everything they've written together, but never read anything of Louise's that she's written solo before. I was hooked from the very first page, in which we meet Jo - hungover, nauseous and handcuffed to her bed. Her characters are so well-written and come over so strongly on the page, that even the less central figures to the story evoked huge emotions, and even if you've never experienced the pain of divorce, tried internet dating or lost someone you love, the characters are easy to relate to. A brilliant read, and one that I definitely would recommend. You can get it here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Venus-Trap-Louise-Voss-ebook