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Review

4 ‘HOLY SHIT’ stars

Well damn, I’ve just been on a huge emotional ride! The love story of shy and innocent Emily, and underground fighter/almost-rockstar/bad boy Logan “Sculpt” takes a massive twist, and it is both shocking and absolutely mesmerising.

Torn From You picks up immediately following the devastating cliffhanger of With You. Emily has been kidnapped, subjected to hideous torture and abuse, and finds herself at the mercy of a sex slave trader. When she hear’s Logan’s voice in the middle of her suffering, she thinks that the man she loves has come to rescue her. She is wrong.

Where the book goes from here wasn’t really a surprise, but at the same time it was. Based on the blurb, I figured I knew what to expect, and while I was right, I wasn’t expecting the complexity of it all, and I also wasn’t expecting the raw brutality of it. I thought Rose did a great job of getting us inside the dark and dirty world that Emily was exposed to, and she certainly doesn’t pull any punches with the horrific reality of it all. I also thought she did well in describing Emily’s emotional reaction to all that she is subjected to, especially her confusion over Logan’s involvement and the uncertainty of her feelings towards him.

You made me love you then you wrecked me with it. Then…then you gave me back piece by piece every night only to take it away all over again in the morning.”

At this point, I want to say that while I admit that I found the prequel novella, With You, to be a little underwhelming, I think it’s an absolute essential to read before you start this book. It gives you a much needed introduction to the characters, and I think that knowing them the way that I did – particularly Logan – I was able to look at the first half of this book in a completely different way from somebody that doesn’t know him. I thought it was really obvious that he was there to protect her, and that he was doing his best to help her cope with the situation and eventually get her out. Others who have read this book feel differently, and I wonder if they doubted his intentions because they didn’t realise the depth of his love for her. Please note, I’m not trying to spark a hot debate here, these are just my feelings on the subject. I think if you read this book without the prequel, you may feel completely different about this part of it without having that character background.

“Follow the rules. If you don’t … you will be lost to this world, and I can’t stop it.”

While this certainly isn’t the first book to tackle the issue of sexual slavery, I really liked the twist on this one where we have a couple already in love, who are then exposed to the horrors, and then going on to deal with the after effects. This book doesn’t only give you those nasty details, and show how the characters handle it, but it jumps to two years post Emily’s escape, showing her somewhat recovered and living her life. Only for her past to come screeching back when Logan walks back into her life.

I’m a sucker for a man determined to win his girl over, and Logan certainly is that! And his mix of demanding alpha and gentle lover is sensational. He wants to explain, he wants forgiveness, and he wants Emily back, and he puts himself right out there for her, and his openness and patience is absolutely beautiful.

“Emily, you mean more to me than anything. I love you. I want to be with you … Help you get through this.”

“Please don’t ask me to let you go. I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough to do it again.”

Emily has been through hell, but she has come out a lot stronger, and I found her a lot more likeable in this book than she was in the novella. And I love that Logan acknowledges that. He is gentle with her, but he doesn’t treat her like she’s going to break at any moment. He fights like hell for her, and it’s clear from the very beginning that he was never going to give up on her.

“I’m not chasing after some chick I want to fuck. I’m chasing after a woman I love who isn’t letting me in.”

“You, Emily. You’re worth fighting for. I fought all my life, but never for anything worthwhile. Now… Now I’m fighting for my heart. Bullshit ends here and now.”

But with all of the nasty history between them, and an almost insurmountable amount of baggage, how do they find their way forward?

The story has a sensational cast of supporting characters. Emily and Logan’s friends are all very intertwined, and are a loyal and caring, yet hilariously crude bunch. Kat, Matt, Georgie, Deck, Ream, Crisis and Kite all bring something significant to the story – why they are all named so strangely, I have no idea, but there are some great set-ups for them and I’m really excited for future books of the series so we can see their stories unfold – and thank God Ream is next, because there are some big secrets there!

I really liked this book. Parts of it are shocking, but the love story is beautiful, and I loved watching the way the relationship between Emily and Logan changes and evolves – and yes, there is sexy time. Hot damn!! With all that they go through, sex is a very powerful thing, and I like how it is acknowledged as an important part of their relationship, and how that dynamic between them is explored.

There is humour mixed in with all of the emotion to keep it from getting too depressing, and the action-packed climax contains a few surprises and a whole heap of badassery before we get our HEA.

Nashoda Rose has tackled a lot in this book, and I think she did a great job at pulling it all together to give us a great read.

4 stars

Book provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Tear Assunder series