Review ‘More Than A Slave’ by Anaëlle Gadeyne

Alexander
Anderson has a reputation that would strike fear into the heart of the devil
himself. And now, Aria Starbird is his property.

Aria has spent only a few months as a lowly slave, but already her happy
childhood memories were starting to fade under the weight of her brutal
existence.
When she is sold to Lord Anderson at an auction, she cannot help but be afraid.
Lord Anderson is known for his cruelty. He is fiendish and handsome and as
wicked as he is wealthy.

However, as she gets to know her new master, she realizes there is more to him
than meets the eye. Over time, she is able to penetrate his tough exterior, and
begins to understand the struggle of a man who believes love is a weakness, but
whose heart is now yearning for something unknown.

As the two let down their walls and discover each other’s truths, will Aria be
able to tame Alexander’s inner-beast?

A view
weeks ago I was asked to review ‘More Than A Slave’. To be honest I was a
little unsure of this read. I love romance novel, and I also really love
historical romance novels. This sounded like a nice Historical Romance story
but the whole Slave bit confused me a little. But I decided to give this book a
try.

In ‘More
Than A Slave’ we meet Aria Starbird. Aria is a slave. Her parents sold her a
view months ago after they tried everything else to get by. They thought they
sold her to a nice gentleman who would take care of her. But nothing was less
true. Aria’s life has been one horrific event after the other. But she still
has her voice.

One
afternoon Aria is auctioned and sold to Lord Anderson. Aria has heard of
Alexander Anderson, he supposedly is a monster and very aggressive. But Aria
soon finds out there is much more to this man than meets the eye.

I’m really
torn writing this review. Why you ask? Well, because on the one hand I really
disliked this book, but on the other hand I really enjoyed it. There were many
moments while reading this book, that I just didn’t get it. It felt at times
like there were two stories entwined into one. The whole slave bit was just
terrible. I didn’t get it at all. The violence towards these slaves where just
horrific. But then there was the romance between Aria and Alexander and I would
love those two together.

What I
especially didn’t get was why there had to be such violence in this book? The
romance alone was enough to make this book very interesting and fun to read. I
get the whole ‘bad-guy’ versus ‘cinderella’ kind of girl part, but this was too
much. Alexander could have been only rude and slightly aggressive, that would
have made the point too. But the whole love torturing bit was just too much.
Which really is too bad because I loved the relationship between Aria and
Alexander.

The
romance between Aria and Alexander was the reason I kept reading this book. I
loved those two together, and I loved reading how they seemed to make each
other better. It was really fun to read how they slowly got to know each other.
It was a little frustrating to read how easily they made these wrong
conclusions about what the other one did and why. But I kind of understood
those insecurities.

There were
some great other characters in this book. Alexanders siblings and their love
interests.. I really enjoyed reading about those characters. But with them there
were also these violent bits I just didn’t get. 

This book
would have totally been a five star read for me without the slave bit, and the
violence. I honestly think this book would have been much better if Aria was a
maid. Maids are common in Historical Romance novels. Slavery and how violent
everyone was around them, I don’t need to read about that in a romance book. Or
any other book for that matter.

Anaëlle
Gadeyna is a 19 year old French writer. ‘More Than A Slave’ is her first book. 

For more
information about Anaëlle please visit her on Facebook or Twitter.

I received this book from Inkitt in exchange for my honest review.