Review: Reckless by Selene Charles

Reckless by Selene Charles
Series: Tempted #2
Published by Indie
Published on: May 17, 2015
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Pages: 278
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

Amazon | GoodReads

The day Flint DeLuca moved to Whispering Bluff, TN she thought her life was over...until she met the dark, brooding, and seriously hot Cain. And then things were epic. Until they weren't.

Prom night, her school is bombed by a pack of monsters known as hive, Flint's nearly killed in the explosion and her best friend Abel is kidnapped—all of it orchestrated by Cain's crazy mother, Layla aka The Hive Queen.

The race is on to find Abel before Layla can turn him into one of her twisted creatures. But when a sword keeps appearing and disappearing in Flint's room, one that bears strange markings on it and hints at a secret buried deep in her past, Flint's already chaotic life is turned upside down. Now not only must she find a way to save Abel, but everything she thought she knew of her world and her life is about to change forever...

It’s really hard to review a second book in a series without spoilers-especially when the first book ended with such a big cliffhanger. Do I talk around what happened that was the catalyst for just about everything that happens in this second one? It’s a slippery slope for sure. So if you have any thoughts about reading the first book and haven’t already, I will say that you really shouldn’t read this review. Oh, and don’t read the blurb either! However, I will try and minimize any spoilerish aspects if I can.

The story picks up just minutes after the first book ends-always good when a cliffhanger is involved. Flint has been injured and has been taken by the Queen of the Hive. The Hive is made up of minions that have been made into grotesque insect like humanoids by the Queen. Abel has disappeared, and Cain is frantically trying to find Flint. And so this story continues.

Whereas the first book had everyone hunting the Queen with no knowledge of who she is or where she is hiding, this one is about finding her-after she has been unmasked. It’s also about Flint’s journey to discovery of what and who she really is in this paranormal world. If she thought Carnival Diabolique(her new home)was strange, it’s nothing to what her life is becoming. By her side is Cain, her love and fiercest protector. He’s not exactly all human, but then neither is she. And they are not the same supernatural character. Flint’s dad has done a big change as well-he, of course, is still human, but he’s having an extremely hard time with Flint and her new life-to the point that I was really unhappy with him at times, but then it was pretty realistic if this were really happening. But it’s Abel that has the hardest time in this book, and because he was a favorite character for me from the beginning, this part of the read was extremely intense and dark for me, and really would be for any reader.

Paranormal aspects of this read were well executed by the author, and managed to surprise me at times with the unique world building. As before, the characters were all well rounded and well written, nothing cookie cutter here. As far as pacing, it was a page turner from start to finish, and an extremely fast read.

The first book was definitely for young adults, but I would put this one more in the adult camp, mainly due to the dark subject matter and the brutal violence involved. Brutal being the operative word here. It also jumps into sexual scene territory-more explicit than any young adult sexual scene I have ever read. So yeah, not for young teens this time around. I am not sure when the next book is being released, but I will be checking often to see when it comes out-because these books are just that good!

Tempted Series
My Review

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