“I let you walk away, Julia. I let you go, but I can still take you back if I want.”
Four months ago I ran away. I left him behind. The man who stalked me, took control of my body, and claimed he loved me.
Now he’s returned. Like dripping razor blades, he has slashed his way back into my life. But everything is different.
He doesn’t want me anymore.
I expected him to come back, to be sorry. I even planned to forgive him. I should have known that he would discard me like everyone else in my life. But I’m going to change that.
My billionaire stalker has come to say goodbye…only this time I plan to keep him.
I let you walk away, Julia. I let you go, but I can still take you back if I want.
Well…hell. I devoured this book and yet I’m still left feeling…conflicted. There were parts I loved, parts that shocked me, and then there were parts that I just still don’t know how I feel about.
The ending of book 1 left me feeling unsure about Cole and his obsession with Julia. When all the cards were on the table and the truth was out, I was shocked as shit. Can an obsession that deep that leads you to stalk a woman for 2 years in your compulsive desire to have her ever lead to anything real? That was the one question I wanted an answer to in book 2, and you know what? I got it…mostly.
Don’t expect this to be anything close to what the first book was like, because you’ll be grossly disappointed. I found this to be more story and character driven, and it sure as fuck was grittier. It definitely wasn’t as erotic as the first, but that didn’t really bother me in the least.
Clinging to Rapture is told in alternating flashbacks of past and present. It takes you back to that day 2 years ago that began an obsession that’s only burned hotter with each step that Cole got closer to Julia. The present begins with 4 months after Julia has left Cole after learning the truth behind how and why they met. She’s now barely making ends meet by working at a rundown gas station left only with memories that run hot and cold of her past life. The last person she expects to walk into the doors when she’s working is Cole…actually scratch that. Let’s make that Cole and his spawn of satan fiance.
No really. I mean what in the ever loving fuck? We go from one extreme of Cole being obsessed with Julia…to him being engaged to the bitch that he left the second Julia came on his radar 2 years ago. Seriously? SERIOUSLY?! Oh, did I mention that his men are still following Julia? Yeah.
And as much as Julia knows she should feel otherwise and tries to fight it, her feelings for Cole are a lot stronger than what she ever expected.
Readers that don’t enjoy constant flashbacks, may not like this one. Luckily, I wasn’t one of them. That actually worked for me. Big time. I needed that explanation and back story that I felt was missing in book 1. I gobbled up every little morsel of Cole’s past that Megan D. Martin threw my way. He went from an erotic enigma, to a very real, and a very broken man, with an obviously dark past.
His struggle with his obsession with Julia and trying to let her go was palpable. And he almost does it, until her life is in danger and everything else ceases to be of importance.
Now the suspense part of the book was crazy. It will leave you thinking you know who’s behind it, only to have you question it again a chapter later. Is it Julia’s psycho ex? Cole even more psycho fiance? Or Cole’s beyond psycho mother? I don’t fucking know! But I do know that some of the twists that the author throws at you left me in a disturbed state of WTF. (but that’s a good thing)
So why not 5 stars? A few things really. I don’t fully understand or connect to Cole’s reasons for going back to the fiance that he’s obviously no longer in love with and is just plain batshit cray. He constantly allowed her to degrade Julia where all I wanted him to do was kick her bitch on wheels ass out of his house. Also, considering his relationship with his mother, I just didn’t buy into his reasoning of doing anything for her. But perhaps that’s something that will be better explained in the 3rd book.
The cliffhanger here was not as bad as it was in the first book, but certainly still present. While the relationship between Cole and Julia is mostly established again, there’s still the death threat that is looming over them both. All I know? I need the 3rd book like fucking YESTERDAY! Gah.
And don’t miss the first book in the trilogy
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