The First Sin (Lexi Steele Series #1) [NOOK Book]

Not for the faint of heart

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Feb09
Four stars for the story, three for the violence
Whoa. ¿The First Sin¿ by Cheyenne McCray was a very hard book for me to read. Those who regularly read my reviews know I enjoy just about anything that¿s written, including erotica. My `line¿ so to speak, is drawn at the point where events and sexual acts veer from mutually consensual. When one or more persons performs sexual acts (not just penetration) against another person¿s will¿that¿s rape¿and that¿s NEVER sexy. If harsh scenes of strong sexual violence and torture bother you¿stop reading now.

Alexi Steele is as hard as her name and it¿s the life she¿s lived that made her that way. She¿s proficient at fighting, whether hand-to-hand or with weapons. She¿s also a crack shot at just about anything that can be fired. All these talents make her a good weapon and she¿s grateful that these days she works for an NSA clandestine organization called RED that stands for Recovery Enforcement Division. RED is super secret and pretty much operates outside the rules. That¿s necessary because they go after the baddest of the bad and Lexi¿s department in particular deals with Human Trafficking and Sex Crimes. Her latest mission involves infiltrating a ring that drugs, kidnaps, and auctions women as sex slaves. But just as Lexi is ready to go undercover, she gets a new `partner¿ Nick. Now, instead of Lexi as Master, it will be Lexi as slave¿too bad Lexi really doesn¿t have a submissive bone in her body.

Nick¿s sister is one of the women sold as a sex slave by this ring. There¿s absolutely NOTHING he won¿t do to find his sister and shut down the operation. When he sees Lexi, he quickly realizes just how attracted he is to her. But of course, that should come in handy seeing as how they¿ll have to be together in every sense of the word in order to make their cover real. Nick just didn¿t realize how much he would enjoy `having¿ Lexi.

This story was hot enough to singe my eyebrows. But, I just couldn¿t ever get past the pain and violence involved. Lexi is a woman who has undergone torture at the hands of not one, but two groups during her military stint in the past. Now in this story, she¿s humiliated, whipped, stripped, caned, carved and tattooed, beaten several times, drugged, starved, and `clamped¿ with needle sharp-toothed rings through her feminine bits as part of one torture scene. And the story of Nick¿s sister Kirsten as a sex slave was just as hard to read about. It was all I could do to force myself to keep reading without skipping pages to escape these painful scenes. Maybe I¿m too sensitive to this subject or maybe I¿m too much of a prude, but this book zoomed right past my comfort zone before I¿d read one third of it!

The story is suspenseful and tight. The action kicks off at the first page and doesn¿t let up until the last one. Short chapters with date stamps and insight into different character¿s thoughts only ramp up the tension. Even time swaps and voice changes didn¿t interrupt the smooth flow of the overall story. If it hadn¿t been for the continuing torture scenes, I¿d have loved the whole book.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great Read Highly Recommend

Loved the story line and the characters. The heros were heroic and the bad guys were truly evil. If you like adventure and mystery with some hot romance mixed in then The First Sin is for you. I could not put it down. I went on to read more from this author and I have not been disappointed yet.

Gritty, riveting read.

I enjoyed this story for the most part but as other reviewers have pointed out there is some rough imagery to get through. The lead characters are very strong and engaging and you can't help but hunger for the poor girls to be rescued and the bad guys to get what's coming to them.

Beware of What Lurks in the Shadows!

As I began reading this novel, it was extremely interesting, full of espionage, special ops, and secret undercover agencies, bringing forth justice to those deranged, terrorizing, masterminded criminals in our diversified country.

The terminology used by Ms. McCray, when describing in full detail what the "RED" agency consist of, and their different divisions were on point.

I immensely enjoyed the romance element between Alexi Steele & Nick Donovan, even though they were enrolled into "RED," for different reasons, they still had a common goal. To capture the evil-doers, and recover as many men & women who were being sold as property to the highest bidder. Especially for Nick, because it was a personal mission more than anything else. And above all, they were able to discover LOVE, UNDERSTANDING, and a sense of SECURITY, within each other.

At times, I'm going to admit it was difficult to read, because of the derogatory way the women were being treated during captivity. Tortured, beaten, raped or gang-raped, drugged to the point you had no control over your own body, it was all hard to swallow and accept. Unfortunately using a pleasurable act of BDSM, for the gain of something sinister, is demoralizing to those people who actually enjoy the fantasy behind it all.

Ms. McCray was able to uncover the reality that is occurring everyday behind the façade of normal locations where single men and women gather to find company, a relationship with the other, upon opening our eyes to the hidden dangers surrounding us.

When I used to attend a club/bar, my mother would always warn my friends & I, to never accept a drink from a person we didn't know or if we left an unfinished beverage at our table, never drink from it again. Order a new on by going to the bar & watching the bartender mix the beverage. She was terrified if someone would slip something in our drink to either rob us, attack us, or God forbid rape us. But never in a million years would I ever imagine being SOLD. I've heard it being done in other countries, but NOT here in the USA.

Was this a romance novel? No, it should not be considered under romance. But a definite HELL YEAH, to being a SUSPENSE/THILLER, KICK-A** ADVENTURE!!

WELL DONE Ms. McCray THIS NOVEL DESERVES WELL BEYOND A 5 STAR RATING IN SUSPENSE/THILLER!!!

The First Sin

Alexi Steel is an agent for a Special Op Force; she specializes in human trafficing. Nick Dononvan is an ex Seal. Nick's sister is kidnapped from a Boston Night Club and has been sold on the black market as a sex slave. Nick comes to Boston and joins the RED Op Force to find his sister and falls for Alexi. Together they work to bring down the organized sex slave operation. During their operation they go undercover as a couple into S&M. Some of the chapters are pretty graphic and gross in my opinion. The things Lexi has to endure as a "sub" are horrible. If you don't like reading about this kind of stuff, I don't recommend this book. I skipped over a lot because I hate that stuff. I got the general idea after the first club they attended. Anyways they work together to bring down the bad guys and develop a sexy relationship. The book ends as there is more of the story to tell. Maybe there will be a sequel to the book.

Good Book

I enjoyed this book. I had enjoyed the author's Magic series and was sad when it ended. This is pretty heavy with BDSM scenes that relate to the plot but not for the faint of heart. You need to be prepared for the scenes.

Great Read

This story had suspense, sex, action, and a good story line. It was a great read. Alexi is a super strong tough cookie that has managed to overcome so much and still be strong. The agent she is teamed with is just as strong and a wonderful male to her female role. I enjoyed the romantic side to the story as well as the criminal suspensiful side. It had everything.

I have been waiting for this book and it was a big let down. On a scale from on one to ten. This book would be a two.

I had a difficult time getting into the story. A lot of this book is about getting Nicks sister back. Alixi and Nick go undercover to an S&M club. This book goes into extreme details about what they have to do to infiltrate the club. " Alixi getting whipped, have bondage sex, ect. This book is basic hard core Sex. There was not much romance; the two main character stories did not hit it off for me. I had a hard time finishing this book. Alixi all she cares about is Sex and food, there wasn't much feeling portrayed toward Nick outside of sex. Nick seems to have feeling for Alixi but there was not much there except great sex. There is no real seduction, the two main character go from not knowing each other to Alixi staying at Nicks house while they work together to find Nicks sister then, taking down the S&M club. Evan at the end of the book were Nick decides to take a job with RED, all Alixi can think of is great "More Great Sex".

If you like hard-core sex and not much of a story this is the book. If you like a great story and with great and passionate romance this is not the book.

terrific erotic police procedural

At NSA Recovery Enforcement Division (RED) Human Trafficking and Sex Crimes Division, field agent Alexi Steele has been promoted to a team supervisor position. The current assignment, Operation Cinderella, consisting of the former Special Forces sniper and her team is undercover making the Boston S&M scene in order rescue thirteen abducted college age females from being auctioned as sex slaves to the highest bidder.

However, something goes wrong and one of her teammates Stacey Randolph was raped and murdered; her body found in Boston Harbor. Lexi wants revenge against the perpetrators, but to do so must get deep inside. She is partnered with a new co-leader Nick Donovan, who thirsts for vengeance too as this predatory group kidnapped and sold his sister Kristin in bondage. He wants to rescue his sibling and take out the sex slavery ring. To do they must enter the S&M world as a couple with her being his submissive and him as her ¿Control¿.

Boston has never looked grittier and dirtier even when Bush 41 accused Dukakis of crapping up the harbor or any Parker case then Cheyenne McCray¿s exciting but extremely dark portrayal of the human sexual slavery market. The story line is fast-paced from the opening scene when the abductee informs Kristin he would F her, but knows the rules of business starts with not to screw with the merchandise. That sets the tone of a terrific erotic police procedural starring a petit fiery dragon and her beloved Control.

Harriet Klausner

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