Verdict: A captivity romance with a genuinely appealing femdom dynamic and a mystery that stops being one about fifty pages in — and a power imbalance stacked so high that a sympathetic reader of this subgenre still came away uneasy.
Best for: Readers who already like this author’s dominant-older-woman formula, who want captivity played as protection rather than menace, and who are not looking for the ethics to be interrogated.
Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — romance.io bands it “Explicit open door”; the BDSM is light by this author’s standards)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.4/5 — a 3.88 Goodreads average across 1,648 ratings, with the three-star band as large as the four-star band in our sample)
Tropes: Captivity romance, age gap, billionaire, femdom, light BDSM, kidnapped for her own protection, island isolation, rich woman and poor woman, secrets and reveals, series opener.
Capturing Tess is the first book in Anna Stone’s contemporary Queens series, published in December 2022, and it takes a twenty-something with no family and a dead-end diner job and has her kidnapped by an older billionaire who installs her in an island mansion and insists it is for her own safety.
The numbers sit lower than this author’s usual: 3.88 on Goodreads across 1,648 ratings with 185 written reviews, 4.4 on Amazon across 1,337, and 3.77 on romance.io. That is a full two-tenths under her Assistant to the CEO and it is not because readers stopped liking the formula. The reasons are specific, and one of them is worth reading before you buy.
What Is Capturing Tess About?
This is captivity romance in its softer register: the kidnapping is framed from the start as protection rather than as menace, and the island is a gilded one. That framing is what separates it from genuinely dark captivity books — there is no cruelty here, and the reader is invited to relax into the fantasy fairly quickly. Whether that is a feature or a dodge is exactly what readers disagree about.
Tess is introduced through deprivation: no family, a diner job that goes nowhere, and no habit of expecting anything better. That is efficient characterisation and it is also the problem several readers identify — a woman with nothing, taken somewhere she cannot leave, by someone with everything. Ava is introduced through control: seductive, commanding, wealthy enough that the island is hers, and certain that what she is doing is necessary. There is a reason for the abduction and the book keeps it back, which is the engine of the first half.
What Makes This Captivity Sapphic Romance Work
- The dynamic is this author’s strongest suit: A dominant older woman and a younger woman coming apart under her attention is the thing Anna Stone writes best, and readers who come for it say it is present and correct.
- The setting earns the isolation: An island mansion removes every external distraction, which is what a two-hander of this kind needs.
- Light BDSM, consistently: Readers describe intense romance with light kink, the same calibration that works in her other books, and nobody reports it going further than advertised.
- The twist lands for some: Even a reader who predicted it reports still reacting to it, and another held back a star specifically because she was still thinking about it days later.
- Complementary leads: Reviewers praise the way the two women have different strengths that fit together, which is more than the premise strictly requires.
Book Synopsis
Tess Bennett has no family and no margin. The diner shifts cover rent and not much else, and the future is not something she has been in the habit of picturing, because picturing it has never changed anything. She is twenty-something, unattached in the sense of having nobody to notice, and entirely ordinary — which is what makes what happens next so disorienting.
One night she is taken. The woman who takes her is older, wealthy beyond anything Tess has been near, and completely composed about it. Ava does not behave like a criminal; she behaves like someone executing a decision. The destination is a mansion on a private island, and the explanation Tess is given is that this is for her own safety — an explanation offered without the details that would make it comprehensible.
What follows is confinement in extraordinary comfort with the only other person on the island. Ava is unreadable and in charge; Tess has nothing to do but adjust to her. The question the first half withholds is why any of this is happening and what Tess is to the woman who arranged it, and the question the second half raises is what it means that, somewhere along the way, Tess stopped wanting to leave.
My Review
The dynamic is the draw and it works. Anna Stone has a formula — a commanding older woman, a younger one undone by being paid attention to, light kink, high heat — and readers who come for that report finding it here. One reviewer summarises the appeal exactly: hot, dominating sex mixed with the vulnerability of falling for someone technically out of reach. The island setting removes everything else from the frame, which is the correct decision for a book that is really about two people in a room.
The first structural problem is the mystery. The book withholds why Tess has been taken, and that withholding is the engine of the opening — but the most detailed critical review says the central mystery stops being one about fifty pages in, and that once it does, the flaws underneath become visible. That matches the ratings shape: in our thirty-review sample the three-star band is exactly as large as the four-star band, which is what happens when a book’s propulsion runs out before its page count does.
The second problem is the one worth reading carefully, because it comes from a reader who explicitly says she is a sucker for age-gap romance and does not normally criticise the dynamic. Her objection is cumulative rather than squeamish: Tess is barely past legal drinking age, she is in love with her captor, and she is written as needing to be looked after from one moment to the next. Stack those and the older woman stops reading as dominant and starts reading as someone taking advantage. She also notes that the book tells you the two are in love without showing it — that outside of sex they are frequently distant, cold and territorial, and behave like people in a transaction rather than people who want each other’s company.
That is one voice, and plenty of readers of this exact subgenre had no such reaction. But it identifies something real about the design. A captivity romance can work when the captive has some power — wit, leverage, refusal — and this one gives Tess almost none by construction: no family, no money, no options, and a personality written as pliable. The fantasy depends on not examining that, and this reviewer examined it.
The twist itself divides people productively rather than badly. One reader held her fourth star back while she worked out how she felt; another predicted it and still reacted. That is a twist doing its job. The problem is not the reveal, it is that the fifty pages before it are asked to carry more suspense than they have.
My honest note: The femdom is good and the setting is right, but the power arithmetic never balances and the mystery expires early. If you read Anna Stone for the dynamic and do not want the ethics poked, this delivers; if the phrase Stockholm syndrome would bother you here, believe that instinct.
| Element | In Capturing Tess |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Tess Bennett & Ava — a twenty-something with no family or money, and the older billionaire who abducts her to an island |
| Core tropes | Captivity romance, age gap, billionaire, femdom, light BDSM, taken for her own protection, isolation, secrets |
| Setting | A secluded private island mansion — total isolation with the two leads and nothing else |
| Heat level | 4/5 — explicit open door, with kink lighter than the premise suggests |
| Series | Queens book 1; readers report a resolution and no cliffhanger |
| Content notes | Kidnapping and captivity, a very large power imbalance across age, wealth and freedom, captor-captive romance with dynamics at least one reader names as Stockholm syndrome, explicit sexual content. No published content-warning list exists for this title |
How Dark and Spicy Is Capturing Tess?
Four out of five on heat. romance.io bands it “Explicit open door” across 26 ratings, and readers describe intense scenes with light BDSM — the same calibration as this author’s other work rather than anything more extreme. Nobody reports the kink going further than the packaging suggests.
On darkness, the honest answer is that this is a captivity premise played soft. There is no cruelty, no threat of harm, and the abduction is framed as protection from the first chapter. What there is instead is a power imbalance that never resolves — age, money, freedom and information all sit on one side — and a captive who falls in love with her captor. At least one reader names Stockholm syndrome directly. If you want captivity written darker and more deliberately, Precious Red Pearls is the 5/5 comparison. For the same author at the same heat with a consensual arrangement instead, Being Hers is a 4/5.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you already read this author for the dominant-older-woman dynamic, you want captivity as fantasy rather than threat, isolation two-handers appeal to you, and you would rather not have the power imbalance examined.
You may want to skip it if: a captive with no leverage at all bothers you, you want the mystery to hold past the halfway mark, you need the love to be shown rather than asserted, or captor-and-captive is a dynamic you avoid.
In short: good femdom on an island, wrapped around a power arithmetic the book never balances.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (August 2026)
This is a mid-list title with a solid readership and a lukewarm middle: 1,648 Goodreads ratings against 185 written reviews, 1,337 on Amazon with 12 per cent of ratings at three stars, and 26 on romance.io. There is no trade coverage and no StoryGraph community data visible. The audiobook is narrated by Allie Shae and runs six hours and thirty-six minutes. A structural note about the discourse: an unusually high proportion of these reviews are from established readers of this author comparing the book against her other work, which is why so many of them read as calibration rather than discovery.
Prefer audio? Listen to Capturing Tess on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The dynamic, first — a dominant older woman and a submissive with a difficult past is what this author’s readers come for, and they report getting it. Second, the setting: the island isolation is repeatedly named as making the two-hander work. Third, the complementarity of the leads, with reviewers praising how their different strengths fit. Fourth, the twist, which even readers who saw it coming say still landed. And fifth, reliability — several reviewers say some version of “if you have read an Anna Stone book you know what to expect”, and mean it approvingly.
What readers argue about and complain about: The mystery, first — the most detailed critical review says the central secret is transparent about fifty pages in, and that once it is, the weaknesses become obvious. Second, and most seriously, the power imbalance: a self-described fan of age-gap romance objects that the younger woman is barely past legal drinking age, is in love with her captor, and is written as needing constant coddling, which together make the older woman look like she is taking advantage. Third, from the same review, telling rather than showing — the reader is told these two are in love while they behave, outside of sex, as distant, cold and territorial. Fourth, and mildly, that the book is more of the same for readers who have worked through this author’s catalogue. The split is not about darkness tolerance; it is about whether you want the fantasy examined.
The series question worth asking first: This opens the Queens series and resolves on its own — no reviewer in our sample reports a cliffhanger. If you are choosing between this author’s books rather than reading all of them, the numbers point elsewhere: Assistant to the CEO rates higher at 4.09 with the same dynamic and a cleaner premise, and Being Hers gives the femdom far more interiority.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Capturing Tess a dark romance?
Not really. The captivity is framed as protection from the start, there is no cruelty, and readers describe it as fantasy rather than threat. What it does have is a very large unresolved power imbalance.
Does Capturing Tess end on a cliffhanger?
No. It resolves and opens the Queens series; no reviewer in our sample reports a cliffhanger.
How explicit is Capturing Tess?
A 4/5. romance.io bands it “Explicit open door”, with BDSM that readers consistently describe as light.
Is there a Stockholm syndrome element?
At least one reader names it directly: the younger woman falls in love with her captor, and the imbalance across age, money, freedom and information never resolves. Whether that reads as fantasy or as a problem is the book’s main dividing line.
Is there an audiobook?
Yes, narrated by Allie Shae and running six hours and thirty-six minutes. It is stocked on Libro.fm.
Is it on Kindle Unlimited?
Yes, verified on the Amazon product page. Kindle Unlimited availability changes without notice, so check the listing before you rely on it.
If You Loved Capturing Tess, Read These Next
Assistant to the CEO is the same author’s better-rated take on the same dynamic, at the top heat band and without the captivity. Being Hers gives the femdom real interiority across a full series. And Precious Red Pearls is where to go if you want a captivity premise played properly dark rather than as fantasy. More in our spicy Kindle Unlimited list and across all our book reviews.
The Bottom Line
Capturing Tess sets out to put this author’s best dynamic on a private island and let it run, and for readers who want that it succeeds: the femdom is well judged, the isolation is the right structure, the leads complement each other, and the twist gives people something to argue about. What it does not manage is a mystery that survives its own first half, or a power balance that holds up when somebody looks at it — a captive with no family, no money and no leverage, written as needing constant care. Read it as fantasy or not at all. Check Capturing Tess on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Capturing Tess ranks as a soft captivity romance with a hard imbalance — well-executed femdom in an ideal setting, held back by a mystery that expires early and a power arithmetic the book declines to examine, and best approached as fantasy by readers who already like this author’s formula.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ 3.88 average across 1,648 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 4.4 on Amazon across 1,337 ratings
- ✓ Dynamic praised by the author’s regular readers
- ✓ Three-star band equals the four-star band
Romance ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5
- ✓ Femdom dynamic is the author’s strongest suit
- ✓ Isolation forces the two together properly
- ✓ Complementary strengths noted by reviewers
- ✓ Love asserted rather than shown outside sex
Characters ★★★☆☆ 3/5
- ✓ Ava composed and genuinely unreadable
- ✓ Tess’s deprivation efficiently established
- ✓ Twist recontextualises both
- ✓ Tess written as needing constant coddling
Writing ★★★☆☆ 3.2/5
- ✓ Clean and readable throughout
- ✓ Island setting rendered effectively
- ✓ Reveal structured with some care
- ✓ Telling over showing named by critics
Emotional Impact ★★★☆☆ 3.2/5
- ✓ Vulnerability of being seen lands well
- ✓ Twist affects even readers who predicted it
- ✓ Isolation creates real intimacy
- ✓ Leads described as distant and territorial
Heat Level ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ romance.io: “Explicit open door”
- ✓ Intense scenes with light BDSM
- ✓ Consistent with the author’s other work
- ✓ Kink lighter than the premise implies
Ending ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ Resolves; no cliffhanger reported
- ✓ Opens the Queens series
- ✓ Twist gives the ending real weight
- ✓ Power imbalance unresolved at the close
Re-read Value ★★★☆☆ 3.1/5
- ✓ 6h36m audiobook read by Allie Shae
- ✓ Short enough to revisit
- ✓ Twist rewards a second read
- ✓ Mystery has nothing left once known
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