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A review by kayla_llbr
Torture to Her Soul by J.M. Darhower
2.0
"We're a tragedy in the making. The game of tug-of-war we're playing will end up destroying us, because she doesn't have it in her to surrender, and I can't let go."
Tug-of-war is definitely one word I would use to describe my feelings toward this series. On one hand I LOVED Monster in His Eyes. It was intriguing and sexy and left me wanting more. I loved it so much that I read it 3 times in one week. It was a solid 5 star read. So imagine my surprise and sadness when I had to force myself just to finish Torture to Her Soul. There a quite a few things that just didn't work for me and surprisingly one of them was Naz.
"She doesn't want to love me. I don't blame her. But the fact remains that she does. She loves me. And she probably hates that fact more than she hates me most days."
What worked so well from MIHE was seeing how mysterious and secretive Naz was from Karissa's POV. You never really got a grasp on how he was thinking. Sure, he could love you one minute and have his hand wrapped around your throat the next, but that was the beauty of it. All of Naz's vague responses, his explosive reactions, and the mystery surrounding his life were lost when the story switched to his POV in Torture. While I would have appreciated a couple chapters from him, especially after that killer prologue that Torture starts out with, I was really disappointed that it never went back to Karissa. Some books work great with male POV and to me this just wasn't one of them. No amount of Naz's dry wit and charm could save what was already a sinking ship.
"This kiss feels like hunger and more like heartache, like she's quenching a thirst by trying to remember how to drink. Tiny sips."
But mostly I was really disappointed by how underwhelmed I was with the plot. For almost the entire book it's nothing but Naz wanting Karissa and Karissa hating Naz. Not even their explosive chemistry could stem the boredom I felt while reading. It was a literal tug-of-war with not much else going on and it go old real fast. It wasn't until that last 50% of the story that it finally started going somewhere and by that time I just wanted it to be over with. Had I not enjoyed Darhower's writing (despite how bored I was with the story) and wanted resolution (one that left me underwhelmed) I would have DNF'd this early on.
"Regret. I've never regretted anything. I certainly don't want to start now."
I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting to feel from the conclusion to this story but regret wasn't it.
2.5 stars*
*ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review*
Tug-of-war is definitely one word I would use to describe my feelings toward this series. On one hand I LOVED Monster in His Eyes. It was intriguing and sexy and left me wanting more. I loved it so much that I read it 3 times in one week. It was a solid 5 star read. So imagine my surprise and sadness when I had to force myself just to finish Torture to Her Soul. There a quite a few things that just didn't work for me and surprisingly one of them was Naz.
"She doesn't want to love me. I don't blame her. But the fact remains that she does. She loves me. And she probably hates that fact more than she hates me most days."
What worked so well from MIHE was seeing how mysterious and secretive Naz was from Karissa's POV. You never really got a grasp on how he was thinking. Sure, he could love you one minute and have his hand wrapped around your throat the next, but that was the beauty of it. All of Naz's vague responses, his explosive reactions, and the mystery surrounding his life were lost when the story switched to his POV in Torture. While I would have appreciated a couple chapters from him, especially after that killer prologue that Torture starts out with, I was really disappointed that it never went back to Karissa. Some books work great with male POV and to me this just wasn't one of them. No amount of Naz's dry wit and charm could save what was already a sinking ship.
"This kiss feels like hunger and more like heartache, like she's quenching a thirst by trying to remember how to drink. Tiny sips."
But mostly I was really disappointed by how underwhelmed I was with the plot. For almost the entire book it's nothing but Naz wanting Karissa and Karissa hating Naz. Not even their explosive chemistry could stem the boredom I felt while reading. It was a literal tug-of-war with not much else going on and it go old real fast. It wasn't until that last 50% of the story that it finally started going somewhere and by that time I just wanted it to be over with. Had I not enjoyed Darhower's writing (despite how bored I was with the story) and wanted resolution (one that left me underwhelmed) I would have DNF'd this early on.
"Regret. I've never regretted anything. I certainly don't want to start now."
I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting to feel from the conclusion to this story but regret wasn't it.
2.5 stars*
*ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review*