A few days ago, I reviewed the first book of this series, Taken, here. Today, we have the second book in the duet, Torn. Because this is the second book of a duet, there are going to be spoilers for the first book here. I will try to avoid them as much as possible, because you know I don’t want to spoil anyone, but it’s the nature of the beast. If you haven’t read Taken yet, I highly recommend it, especially now that we have the second book out. So, if you have read the story, and you are ready for my review, take a leap off my cliff with me.
OK, if you’ve come down here, you are either ready to read my review or you like spoilers. Either way, you were warned.
We left off with Lucinda shooting Sebastian and Ethan capturing Helena, after Lucinda set her up. This does not bode well for either of them because we all know that Lucinda is a psycho. I mean, she should totally be diagnosed, because damn.
Lucinda takes Helena and puts her in a stone room somewhere underground in Venice. It’s dark, it’s dank, it’s cold, and Helena is there all alone. Well, all alone except for Lucinda and Ethan. Lucinda takes her hate out on Helena and tries to get Ethan to rape her, after all, she’s a Willow Girl, and that’s what they are there for, right? Only Ethan isn’t willing to go there because he’s still afraid of Sebastian. Which he totally should be. Then Lucinda leaves Helena down, in the dark, really all alone this time. Helena keeps counting on Sebastian to save her, but the longer she’s in the cold dark, the less hope she has of him coming for her.
Natasha has done an excellent job with this book and with the duet in general. The way that her characters interact with each other, in whatever combination, is great. She really shows the tension between Gregory and Sebastian, and how hard everything happening is on both of them. She also does a fantastic job with Lucinda. Lucinda is a predator, plain and simple. She has taken poor Ethan and groomed him into what he is. I mean, it’s not her fault that he acquired brain damage, but she’s taken advantage of that and turned him into her puppet. Of course, he could’ve tried to go against her, and we saw that he can make decisions that Lucinda doesn’t like, but still, she has twisted and groomed him. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. I said elsewhere that there was nothing that Natasha could do to redeem Lucinda for me. I mean, Lucinda could find god, become a nun, and spend the rest of her life working in a leper colony, and I would still totally hate the bitch. And that still holds true.
I can totally see more books coming out of this world, and I really hope that Natasha writes them.
I find the death of Sebastian’s mother to be a little too serendipitous for Lucinda. I think that she had her hand in at least his mother’s death, and possibly his father’s death as well. It’s nasty as hell that she might have killed Seb’s mom, considering that they were sisters.
I want to know who Helena’s sister Amy is mixed up with. Since she’s in the same general area as Ethan, I really want to say that it’s him, but I don’t know.
I hope we get stories for both Ethan and Gregory, because I can see how Natasha may have set them up for both.
That’s all I have to say on this one. If you like dark, go check this out. Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 