First of all, I feel like this book drops us in the middle of a story. We know that Elaine was in love, an all-encompassing passionate love, and that she lost him years before the book starts. Except that Darian is alive and well, and circumstances outside his control forced him to break Elaine's heart, but now the opportunity to rectify that is finally arrived and here is where the book starts. Except that I didn't feel anything for the love story. I understood her pain but I didn't think the way she reacted to the fiancé was necessary to explain how she would never be able to move on from the love of her life. And when Darian arrives, I didn't feel any spark between them. I was angry for Elaine, I thought that there had to have been some way to have them come back together before this. Why did it have to be SIX YEARS before he finally fought back? I think it would have been better if we'd had more scenes from the past to show just how devoted they were. Instead, it was a lot of this snarky back and forth that felt more like fighting than anything else, and it was actually him starting to put distance between them and I just didn't believe the love story. As the book continued, their connection felt very surface level, based on the physical, as they really didn't work to show us why they truly loved each other to begin with, either in the present or the past.
Next, I wasn't a fan of the characters. I felt bad for their situation but I didn't really like Elaine or Darian. Elaine had a tendency to be unnecessarily cruel and Darian was apparently some kind of dark, twisted man in his professional life and that was about it for him. They said they loved each other but a lot of their conversations were about the things Darian hid from the past or the developing situation between them. Again though, it was very surface level. You can tell me you love someone over and over but I won't believe it if I don't see a little more action to show that it's true.
The same goes for Moira. This was supposed to be Elaine's "sister" and yet, other than the fact that she's marrying the love of her life and that she rescued Elaine when she was severely depressed, I don't know much about her. Elaine and Moira studied Spanish when they were in school and they apparently love the language so much that they sprinkle it in their everyday conversation but to tell the truth, it felt stilted every time they dropped a "hermana" in their talks and as a Hispanic, I personally never call my sister "hermana" unless I'm making fun of her for not speaking enough Spanish so this just made me narrow my eyes a lot. But that is just me, maybe it's more prevalent in other communities? Honestly, thought, it felt like an act because you are again TELLING me she's your sister, albeit in a different language, but you are still not SHOWING me that she is your sister. And then you add in Liam, Moira's true love, and besides being protective and in love with his future wife, I know NOTHING about this character. And this is my point. I feel like I didn't learn enough about these people and what I did learn, I really didn't like. And the villain was despicable but I have no idea why there's so much inherently wrong with this guy because jealousy only goes so far unless this is just supposed to be the classic cartoonish villain. I do hope Darian gets the chance to torture him though, that will make my heart sing because YES, that guy deserves all of that and WORSE.
Last of all, the way that wedding played out. Was it necessary? It got bleak FAST and then when you find out the specifics followed with the time frame of just how long this lasted and I just wanted to throw in the towel because then the book just ENDS and we have to wait for some kind of resolution in another book. After everything that happened, we don't have enough time to see any kind of recovery, we are only told that a specific lead is dealing and then there is one last back and forth with most of our leads and DONE. I'm sorry to say that this was just not enough to really draw me in. I hated the situation, I wanted to see more of the characters together being truly in love, but it felt like a lot of lust and not enough deep connection between, well, ANY of the characters.
I wanted to love this book. It had all the things that usually make for an amazing read for me but unfortunately, for me, this book and I did not mesh. But again, I'm pretty sure I'll be the only reviewer to say that. My bet is that this will be a big favorite in the book community, and I will be happy to catch up reading the series in the future, once more of the storyline is settled.
Rating on my Scale: 5.5 Stars. I wanted to like it, I really, truly did, but this book and I will part ways here and hopefully meet again in the future so I can see a bloody end to the villain.
My thanks to Rattle the Stars PR and S.J. Sastre for the eARC of this book in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.
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