The Life You Stole (Life #2)

Jewel E Ann is a one click for me. And this book is well written. It is also not a romance novel. If I wanted to, and expected to, read a thriller I would rate it a 4.5. Maybe I misunderstood that this wouldnt be a romance, and this review is based on my personal taste, not the quality of the writing. It is what I would have wanted to see before reading the duet.

*Spoilers*

Cheating is a non starter for me. The reason I read romance is to escape chronic depression. I am in it for the HEA, though my favorites are compelling and every bit as challenging and affirming as books that fall into the literary fiction category. For that reason Jewel E Ann is one of my favorite authors.

I felt sick to my stomach when I read the prologue of the first book. It kept me up nights. I read it over and over for clues. I was so swept up in waiting several weeks to read Evelyn and Ronins HEA that it interfered with daily life. If that isnt the mark of an excellent book I dont know what it.

By the night of the 19th I convinced myself that Ronin cheated psychologically due to the connection between his and Lilas mind rather than physically. I loved the first book so much that I did mental gymnastics to deal with the cheating.

This book was under my skin so completely that I stayed up until midnight last night to read it the moment it landed in my Kindle library. And that speaks to the quality of writing. While reading the first book I knew Lilas accident was a suicide attempt and Graham was a bad guy. But figuring out stuff like that happens with the finest books. And, hey, I thought I figured out the cheating as well and was wrong.

Ronin was a different character in the second book because of the depression and pain he shared with Lila. That rang true even though it was difficult to read. But stuff is difficult to read, life is difficult, that worked for me. On the other hand, the ending was shockingly abrupt. Again, maybe that is the way with thrillers. But I missed the journey Ronin took to put himself, and themselves, back together because even if it wasnt *his* depression the aftermath of what happened would have been complicated and painful and rich in terms of material. Same with Evelyn recovering from the betrayal. It isnt any readers place to dictate how an author wraps up a story, it is only what I missed and might not be a second thought for most readers.

The abrupt ending also bothered me because the two books were so disjointed in style. The duet would have worked for me if the second book circled back to the first in tone. Watching them reconcile and reconnect would have served that purpose. As it stands, the two books dont read as companions. We dont get to see the Ronin of the first book, the guy who was so possessive of Evie that he the idea of her being in an almost threesome with their friends before he and she were together drove him to claim her with his words and actions even on the eve of rehab. He was deeply flawed, but he was all in. I like to believe he returned to a deeper and more complex version of that man and I wanted to read about it. I wanted the bad taste of the betrayal out of my mouth, I wanted to believe there was a path to an HEA. The ending didnt satisfy that for me.

This is the first review Ive written. And I feel pretty guilty I was first compelled to review a book that didnt work for me because there are so many books, specifically so many Jewel E Ann books, that keep me up at night and make me daydream because I love them so much. Jewel E Anns Jack and Jill series, Jersey Six, Only Trick, Idle Bloom, Perfectly Adequate all fall into that category. She is an amazing author and will always be a one click for me.

If you love thrillers this truly is the book for you.

Ummmmm. 5 stars is just not adequate.
I am not sure that I will ever have another experience reading like I did with this duet.

What I am about to say…. I mean it truly in the best way possible.
I didn’t just read this book mentally… Hell yes, it was stimulating and suspenseful and kept my mind guessing the whole time. But what made this so different was that I PHYSICALLY felt this book. It made me nervous, sick to my stomach, my heart was racing the WHOLE time and I was totally uncomfortable. I read this SO fast because I needed to feel better.

And because of that… I could totally understand where Ronin was coming from… How physical feelings can influence your decisions. This story is mind-bending. The way 4 lives can be tangled up into one… how one decision can start a snowball effect that can’t be stopped.

My goodness, what a roller-coaster of emotions. I went into this second half of the story expecting one thing and came out feeling a whole other way. This is the epitome of why I love books so much.

My mind has been blown!!! I literally saw NONE of that coming!! I sat on the edge of my couch throughout the entire book. My nails are gone and my lip is bloody from constantly biting it. I am pretty sure my dog hates me for scaring the crap out of her so many times as I jumped up and screamed NOOOO dont you dare!!! Trust me if she had a middle finger she would be giving it to me. As always with Jewels books I could not put this book down!!! I could not predict anything which put me more on edge. One minute I was swooning the next minute my heart was being ripped from my chest. I didnt know who to trust, what to think or how to feel!!! In other words it was brilliant!! As far as what I love the most about this duet? It is so unlike anything Ive ever read before. After finishing TLYS my mind is left reeling my heart is both hurting and fulfilled , however, in true Jewel fashion she makes all the pain and suffering worth it in the end. These are characters I will be thinking about long after I have turned the last page. They leave a lasting impression and your heart and soul. This is for sure a duet I will be reaching for over and over again over the years. My best advice is buckle up for one heck of a bumpy ride!

Turns out I’m in the minority with a 2 star review. I am so disappointed I’m unfollowing this author, not because she isn’t talented. She is very talented, but more so the subject matter. I read for enjoyment and this was just disturbing. I’m not saying I can’t handle some drama or conflict but there are only so many reading hours in a day and I don’t want to devote them to this kind of content that leaves you feeling peeved with the world.

Don’t friends talk to each other? Not Graham, he’s not worth a single thought. Ronin, Evelyn and Lila? If just one of them would have communicated with one of the others, puzzle pieces would fall into place and so much tragedy might have been avoided. The Epilogue did not improve my mood any. Without giving anything away, I was irritated that “friend(s)” was used and not friend. Graham lost that title.

I didn’t think I could love this the second book more than I did the first, but I was totally captivated by every word Jewel E Ann wrote in this last instalment of the life series. The story carries straight on from the last book where we were left with so many unanswered questions, and my heart in my mouth, I couldn’t wait to get started and find out what was to happen.

This is such a unique complex situation these four people have found themselves in, but mainly this focuses on Ronin and Lila. I felt this book was fairly dark and seeped in sadness and hopelessness more than the first book. What I felt for Lila and her pain and what she was going through literally tore me apart; my heart was breaking for that woman. So strong and yet so pitifully vulnerable. Ronin was going through much the same but no where near as severe as Lila. The whole story posed questions sending my mind into turmoil and my heart plummeting to the ground on so many occasions. The characters were all wonderfully written and it was so very easy to relate in some form to what they were all going through, but not really knowing in which direction Jewel was going to take us. Many a time I thought I knew what was happening, but it was so much worse than I ever thought.

This Author always has that wonderful knack of taking you down the rabbit hole which leads to endless mind F$$$S that you can never quite work out until it slaps you right in the face.
Jewel E Ann is amazingly talented with a brilliant imagination which shows perfectly in this truly unique duet.

One of my top reads for this year most definitely. Absolutely mind blowing in all ways possible. Phenomenal !!!

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