So, recently, I’ve become a member of Calinda’s street team, and I realized that while I had reviewed her book a while ago (back in April according to Goodreads), I never posted it to my blog.  So, here I am.  I highly encourage checking out this book.  It was a brilliant find.

Review

I was really looking forward to reading this as I helped the author overcome a case of indecision on how to end the book. I still say Marissa should have punched Jason in the nose at the end…

This book was a very fun read. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Marissa is a strong, female lead who is frequently shocked and disgusted (and rightfully so, shesh!) by the world unfolding around her. While before she lived a fairly ordinary life, now she finds herself falling for (and bound to) a man she barely knows, stalked by an ex-boyfriend who gave me the creeps even through my tablet, and an elusive psycho who’s been stalking her since childhood (even though she didn’t know it).

I could have done without some of the more gruesome scenes (except the final fight scene – which was awesome). Marissa is constantly second guessing herself as she’s submerged into a world she knows far too little about.

I liked the relationships in the book. There’s a good degree of complexity that’s refreshing to see. Crazy Betty was awesome too, wielding her tarot cards and not giving a damn what others thought of her (I somehow have a tendency to be fond of the crazy-acting older ladies). Not to mention, her talking dead dog! I liked the dichotomy of the bad guy, “El demonio.” He wasn’t simply a caricature of evil. After the book ended, I couldn’t help wondering exactly how he came to be the way he was. What went wrong? Was it the loss of someone he loved? Or was he always predestined to follow that path? His evil actions were rarely the acts of a cold, calculating mind but those of a man in a fit of rage – fearful for the power he wielded but not quite evil.

Oh and that final fight scene. Brilliant! It was like something out of a horror movie! The scene capitalizes on the fact that our minds can conjure more terrifying things than even an author can whip up. Nothing is more terrifying than the imagined monsters that slither and stalk in the shadows of our minds. Just. Brilliant.

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