Review: ★Never Tear Us Apart★ by Monica Murphy

Never Tear Us Apart
Series: Never Tear Us Apart, #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Monica Murphy
Release Date: January 5, 2015

Perfect for readers of Colleen Hoover, Jay Crownover, and K. A. Tucker, the first novel in this darkly sexy contemporary series from bestselling author Monica Murphy kicks off an emotionally powerful two-part tale of forbidden love.
 
Crazy how eight years can disappear in an instant. One look at Katie Watts, and I’m a fifteen-year-old again—the one who risked everything to save a terrified girl from her twisted kidnapper. She’s grown-up now—beautiful, quiet, composed—and telling her story to the world. A story that involves me in more ways than you can imagine. She used to call me her guardian angel. Sure, I risked my life, but she was worth dying for.

I need to make contact with her. Just to ensure that she’s safe.

Somehow we reconnect. We become friends . . . but I want more. I want to make her mine. And she wants me too. Does she know who I am? Has she figured me out? Not yet. But she will. In the meantime, I need to make sure that whatever hold that animal had on her is gone.

So, yeah, I’m stealing these moments with her. Savoring them. Knowing, dreading, that she’ll soon find out who I really am. And everything will fall apart. All because of that twisted, perverted monster sitting on death row. Her kidnapper. A convicted serial killer.

My father.

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I want her. As wrong and twisted as I know it is, I can’t deny it.
I want her, all for myself.

Sometimes you read a book that touches you on an emotional level. It’s a book that burrows into your very heart and grabs hold. A book that’s different yet unforgettable. A book that touches on a deeply emotional and dark subject and yet gives you the light at the end of the tunnel for it. THIS, this was that book for me. I think this may easily be one of my favorite books I’ve read by this author to date. It was beautiful, poignant, and perfectly written. This could not have been an easy book for Monica Murphy to write, and yet she pulled it off flawlessly.

Katie Watts. Pretty. Blond. Innocent. Sweet and trusting and needing me so damn bad. She was the one I kept chasing like a drug. She was the one I could never have.

Never tear us apart is told in dual POV with flashes from present to past. It’s done in a flash of memory, allowing the reader to be truly a part of their story. You get to experience it along with the characters and that was one of the things I appreciated the most about it. So often it’s easy to just tell the reader about the emotions and experience, yet the author truly shows you. She sucks you into their story and their past. She makes you feel right along with them.

Katie Watts survived something at twelve years old that no child should ever experience. She saw the very core of human darkness and she’s been a shell of a person since. Countless therapy sessions and eight years have helped her deal with it but not truly heal. The one light in the darkness of the memory is the guardian angel in the shape of a fifteen year old boy that saved her life. No matter how much time has gone by, he’s still her rock. Her everything. Even if she hasn’t seen him since that day.

Ethan watches Katie from afar. Does she know who he is? Does she know how he feels about her? Can he ever allow himself to just get close to her to show her? He knows that he’s the only one that truly understands her. He knows he just may be the only one that may be able to heal her.

And that is the only thing you should know going in. Trust me on this. You don’t want more than what that synopsis gives you. You want to experience these details as they unfold in the story. You’ll enjoy it that much more.

What I can tell you is this was a slow paced romance, and realistically so. Considering Katie’s history and the way that things start, it wouldn’t be true to the characters to have it any other way. That doesn’t make their romance any less poignant, though. If anything, that added burn just makes it that much better.

There was no turning back. Not for us. Not today. And I don’t want to turn back. I want him. Every time I’m near him I feel greedy. Like I want to grab hold of him and tell the world that he’s mine. That he belongs to me.”

If you’re concerned about certain dark aspects of Katie’s past, don’t be. The author did an amazing job of giving you the idea but not truly going into detail. She gives the reader just enough to use their imagination but not overwhelmingly so, if that makes sense. Kudos to you, Miss Murphy, for pulling that off.

If you’re looking for something a little different, Never Tear Us Apart is a must read. Part one of a duet, it does end on a cliffhanger, and book two will be out in May. I didn’t even mind the cliffhanger because it didn’t feel contrived or like it was added for shock value. Everything about this book just worked. I can’t recommend it enough.

The conclusion to Ethan and Katie’s story will be Never Let You Go

Releasing May 3, 2016