Hey ya'll *Waves
I'm so happy to get to share my review of Torn with you today.
I absolutely FLOVE the Wicked Trilogy so far, and was so so excited to get an ARC of Torn.
Jen writes such amazing books and I couldn't wait to dive back into the Wicked world with Ivy, Ren and especially Tink ;)
I need to also send a huge thank you to Inkslinger PR for sending this wonderful ARC to me. KP and the whole team there are so amazing, and I can't think them enough for all they do for us bloggers :D
Torn between duty and survival, nothing can be the same.
Everything Ivy Morgan thought she knew has been turned on its head. After being betrayed and then nearly killed by the Prince of the Fae, she’s left bruised and devastated—and with an earth-shattering secret that she must keep at all costs. And if the Order finds out her secret, they’ll kill her.
Then there’s Ren Owens, the sexy, tattooed Elite member of the Order who has been sharing Ivy’s bed and claiming her heart. Their chemistry is smoking hot, but Ivy knows that Ren has always valued his duty to the Order above all else—he could never touch her if he knew the truth. That is, if he let her live at all. Yet how can she live with herself if she lies to him?
But as the Fae Prince begins to close in, intent on permanently opening the gates to the Otherworld, Ivy is running out of options. If she doesn’t figure out who she can trust—and fast—it’s not only her heart that will be torn apart, but civilization itself.
OMG ya'll... This book! So so so much love for this book. It filled in all those Wicked shaped holes in my chest so perfectly haha.
Over a year, I've waited for this book to be here, and it finally is!!!
And it was great. I got all my favorite characters i had been dying for, and got so much more to a story that while didn't leave me hanging... left me hanging (does that make sense?)
i have such a fun history with this series and couldn't be more excited to see how this one played out.
And Jen did not disappoint one bit. The only thing I could possibly complain about was that book three didn't start the minute Torn ended hehe!
Ok so to give you a little back story on how my love for this series came about...
So when Wicked came out last year I sort of missed the memo that it was being published Indi. And thus started an all day trip going from bookstore to bookstore searching for this dang book. Seriously I went to 2 different BAM's and about every other place I knew sold Jen's books in the past... And NONE of them could even pull it up in they're systems except for the audio book. Thinking I had the release date wrong somehow I checked Amazon and of course, they had both the Ebook and paperback. So I, being the weirdo that I am 1-clicked the Ebook and then Amazon Primed my paperback version. Actually this book was the first thing I ordered with my prime account and started my addiction into all things two day shipped and my dwindling pay checks haha!
Well after I finally got the thing ordered though I started pawing through Facebook... Of seriously right there on a bunch of the posts is all the buy links, and duh! It's INDI published blah blah blah. Yeah I felt like a total dork
But anyways... So it took me like a day and a half to finish Wicked and I loved it! But waiting over a year to find out what was gonna happen was killer. I mean I literally was dying to get back into that world. And as much as I love all of Jen's books, Wicked was by far one of my top favorites behind the Lux books, and I was quite impatiently waiting... and waiting hehe
When I got the email from Inkslinger asking asking if I would like to be considered for an ARC, I jumped on the chance. Anything to get me some more Tink. And Torn really acted as a great distraction from life right now.
Back at the end of February beginning of March we found out my mom had a pretty sizable tumor on the pituitary gland in her brain, and that it was causing a pretty severe case of hydrocephalus causing her to have have problems walking (That we originally thought was from a fall months before) (She also got so bad she eventually had to be in a wheelchair to get anywhere) and pretty severe memory loss that we had originally thought was possible early onset Alzheimer's or Dementia.
To give you an idea of what was going on. I just turned 23 this past June. I'm a nanny to 2 kids while I finish up a degree in biology while trying to get into a good Physical Therapy program after.
I would be in class till almost 12 or 1 in the afternoon and then be at work from 3-8 at night. Come home, cook, clean, and do homework or study. It left very little time for anything else and my mom was almost 100% dependent on me. I stopped working out, I stopped hanging out with people, I stopped blogging even. I was under an extreme amount of stress, and it effected a lot of my life.
And while my mom has gotten a lot better after the original surgery...She goes back in this Thursday for a 2nd one to remove the rest of the tumor. And while the first surgery was risky, the doctor went in through her nasal cavity which made for a less invasive surgery. But this time they will have to do a full go through the head surgery. So to say that things have been a little stressful again would be an understatement.
So getting lost in a good book for a little while was something I needed.
And man was Torn good.
It picked right up where Wicked left off and I found myself falling right back into that world so easily.
So much was going on in this book. At the end of Wicked so many things for Ivy had changed and we get a good amount of those things explained much more this book.
I found myself trying to guess what was going happening in this one more than I do in most books, and that's saying something because I am one of those annoying readers who will guess up a storm on what will happen. I'm sure you've heard me go on and on before about my"book mojo" and that's just the term my friends and I have come to call my weird way of usually guessing what's gonna happen in a book. Well this book seriously had me guessing so much. And i'm kinda proud to say that I guessed almost all the things in this book!!!!! And I had no one to even bounce my ideas off of (the sad life of a blogger with an ARC sometimes... NO ONE has read it but you in your book friend circle)
But I really like books that keep me guessing like that. They make it fun to read and then when it comes to a part that you had been speculating about and you find out if you were right or wrong it's fun.At least to me. But I'm a total sucker for guessing games of sorts in general. (Yes, I am also that person who shakes her Christmas presents to see if I can figure out what they are)
I also really liked how Jen continued to develop the characters in this book, while also some adding some new faces to the mix. And man did she up the Tink-ness! I absolutely love that little guy so much, and he brought just as much humor and even seriousness at times to this book if not more than Wicked. All his antics add those needed moments for Ivy to just take a brake from the craziness, and be able to bounce everything happening off someone who knows a little of the inside info on the Fae world.
Plus his relationship with Ren offers quite the comedic side to the book.
Something else about this book that I really liked. And you may think I'm crazy for saying it... Is how mad I would get. I mean there were parts of this book where I wanted to just reach in and strangle a few characters. Or throw my Kindle across the room. Both sounded like solid plans at a few points haha.
And the reason why I say I like that the book had moments like this for me, is because it means the writer has put a lot of emotion in it. When you make me feel mad for a character or something similar for the story in general, it means that that author has created such a detailed multi dimensional story that I feel like I'm being sucked right into it.
Jen does this with pretty much every book I've read from her. And her way of creating such amazingly detailed paranormal words just astounds me.
Like tonight while I was writing my review my niece, mom, and I were watching The Fifth Wave. And while I've read the book and loved the movie, all I could think about was Daemon, and the Lux series. (I mean who wouldn't when watching hot alien movies hehe)
Her books are just written in ways that really draw the reader in, and while they are books with these paranormal creatures like the Fae. They are so well written and so realistic, that I feel like if I were to go to New Orleans I should be watching my back for an evil Fae to come and try to feed on me or something. She ties fantasy and reality together to make this perfect mesh of everything good in a great read.
Plus the romance in this one is H.O.T.T.
I'm already a huge fan of Ren and Ivy. And Jen did not disappoint on all the warm fuzzies.
She always writes the super sexy scenes with still keeping the books from turning into overtly romantic books. Don't get me wrong. I love a good bow chicka wow wow time. But with these paranormal NA books, I also want all the action and well paranormalness (If that isn't a word it sure as heck is now) and Jen gives us tones in Torn. Between the Fae problem growing to epic proportions and some pretty interesting new stuff with Tink we get a good dose of it all.
And don't even get me started on the level of epic creepiness the bad guy in this one has. Talk about a good bad guy. The Fae prince doesn't quite have that same level of "bad" that some of Jen's other baddies have had in the past. (Probably used the word BAD way to much right there) But this one makes up for it in his sheer level of uber creep.
He kinda made my skin crawl a coupe times. Especially during one part where I was guessing what was going on, and just wanted to scream it out like Ivy might actually hear me and believe me or something. (Yeah I know. I'm weird)
but anyways he's a total creepy creep. And I give Jen some serious props for writing such a character.
And speaking of characters... Guess I should really get into talking about Ren and Ivy. Maybe even just a little more of everyone's favorite Brownie too ;)
So let's start with Ivy.
She is so fierce and awesome. I mean I can only wish I was as bad-A as that girl is.
She knows how to fight. She can throw a wooden steak like a pro. She loyal to a fault.She has the most awesome red hair, even if she thinks it's a pain. And shes super beautiful.
Ivy is put into an extremely difficult place in this book though.And is faced with some hard decisions to make, that effect her along with the entire world. (No pressure!)
decisions that she kinda has to make on her own. Because if anyone else knew about them they could get her killed.
Something else I really liked was how committed to her duty as an Order member Ivy was. Even after the Fae prince kicked her butt ten ways to Friday, she still jumps right back into things and does what she can to continue keeping everyone safe. And on top of all that she tries going to college classes and living a semi normal life the best way she can. Juggling that much stuff takes skills (And while she doesn't necessarily achieve it all, she still tries)
Ivy get's thrown some serious curve balls in this one and I like that while she keeps pushing through everything you get to see that she is human and that things do still effect her. No matter how hard she wants to, she can't do it all alone. And her putting her trust in others hands is a big step she makes in this book.
Also when Ivy sort of hits rock bottom essentially. She realizes it and knows she has to overcome it. She knows it will take work. And that the road ahead won't be easy. But she accepts it and relies on the people she cares about to get through it by her side.
And one of those people at her side is my honey Ren.
The tattooed cutie with the adorable floppy hair, and some serious ninja skills.
He's back and just as hot as ever. And his feelings for Ivy are real upfront and present almost the entire book.
Poor Ren really went through some difficult things growing up, and as we learn more about him the more we feel for him.But also love him as well.
He's just one of those characters that you just fall for quickly. He's kinda a smart a**, and has these amazing dimples that appear. And a smirk! I love a fictional guy with a smirk and dimples (Heck, I love a real guy with those too haha)
And much like Ivy, Ren is incredibly fierce and loyal to not only the Elite but to the people in his life he cares about. He's been trained to be good at what he does, and he uses that to his advantage when needed.
But Ren is also this insanely soft soul who, when he finds someone he cares for, puts everything into it. He's so gentle and loving towards Ivy. Even when she comes to him with some crazy crazy things. And his compassion for people is something I really liked. For such a harsh Job he's given he still manages to retain his humanity.
But Ren is seriously pushed in this book. I just wanted to wrap the big guy up in hug.
He lets so much just slide off his shoulders, but Ivy really does drop a mother load of stuff on him,and we see that thick outer shell of his sort of crack a few times.
He makes mistakes, but still tries his hardest to make it all right in the end.
And for someone who's duty is usually put before anything else. He realizes just how important other things in his life can be. And that not everything he was taught was right, may not necessarily be. That there are shades of grey between all the black and white.
Also his relationship or hate-relationship with Tink in this book was AH-MAZ-ING.
I laughed so hard a few times at the banter between him and the tiny brownie. Both care so much for Ivy and just want what is best for her. And both whip snarky quite hilarious barbs at the other just for the fun of it.
there is some major Tink-ness going down in this book, and one part in particular (you'll know it when you read it) had me about in tears laughing so hard.
But something else about Ren and Tink is that we get to see a side to them that isn't all sarcasm and snark. They figure out that they can actually help each other even if they don't like it. And I'm totally calling BROMANCE! DEAD AHEAD!
#TeamTen or #TeamRenk
Pretty much this book had everything Wicked started and more. It explained so much more to this story while infuriatingly leaving us hanging on a few things. But hey the ending didn't make me want to go all rage-y because I was left on the precipice of a pointy cliff. It did leave me wanting even more though, and already counting days until summer of next year.
I can't tell ya'll how much I really loved this book. I know this review was a bit tame for me. But this book was absolutely an awesome one. And is still by far one of my favorite series Jen has written.
I over the story line, the creepy bad guy, the characters in general, and the most adorable supporting brownie a book could ever have.
I can't wait to see how it all is going to end in Brave (And can I ask? I know at the end of the book Jen sets up the reasoning behind book 3's title... But is there also maybe something there to do with Ren's whole reference to Merida from the Disney movie Brave? Because that would be really cute)
I without a doubt give TORN
*****5 Stars*****
# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.
Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.
She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
