Review - 'Forever Enslaved' by Ann Jacobs

Review - 

This is book 2 in the Black Gold series. Forever Enslaved has been renamed and revised, and is now part of the Oil Barons series. 

It’s been ten years after book one, the Gulf War is long over but tension still thrives in the Middle East. Bear and Shana are married with two daughters, and they in Kuwait for nine months of the year and in Houston for three months. Bear heads up the oil company since he’s father has gone into semi-retirement—it was hit hard during the war—and he divides his time between the office and sneaking into Iraq on wild goose chases to find the missing men of his squad that was captured during the war. Bear, his cousin and friend, Jamil and Asad respectively, joined the military and fought against Iraq. Bear survived the war unscathed but Jamil and Asad are missing, or dead. It’s been ten years, but Bear still searches for them and risks his life every time he sneaks across the border. He loves his wife and daughters but doesn’t realize he’s putting his family last, after his family’s company and his search for survivors.

Shana’s worried sick every time he leaves for weeks and months on end, and he’s always at work or distracted when he is at home. She’s fed up, leaves him and takes their daughters to go back home to Houston. Bear follows her after a brief separation and proceeds to convince her to come home, but it’s not so easy. They love each other but he refuses to stop looking for Jamil, so she refuses to go home. It’s an endless cycle of stubbornness.

The sex is hot as ever between them and Bear is willing to do anything she wants, fulfill any fantasy she has (which includes anal sex and a threesome), but sex isn’t enough for her. In my opinion, Shana and Bear didn’t talk enough. They constantly had sex but rarely revealed their thoughts and worries. When Shana did express it, Bear didn’t understand, and vise-versa. It took a separation for both of them to realize what was truly important—and for Bear to realize he’s taken his family for granted—for them to come to a compromise.

The epilogue sets up the next book in the series, Jake’s story (Shana’s brother), but unfortunately I don’t have one. Book four is Jamil’s story (yes, I know that’s a spoiler so I apologize) and I do HAVE that one, so I’m excited to get started on it.

Like with the first book, there were POV shifts without proper scene or chapter breaks, a few grammar issues like missing commas and periods, or commas not in the right spot, and fragment sentences. Though I find this a little annoying, it didn’t distract me much from the story.

This is a wonderful story and I definitely recommend it.  

4 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am a reader. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.