Review: Love from MustReadBooksOrDie
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 21, 2013
Shel: I only recently began this series and I feel lucky that I didn't have to wait too long between books to see how the stories of Camden, Javier, and Ellie end. Court: Lucky. Hahaha. But really, I'm so glad you're on this KH bandwagon, yo.Shel: We begin right were Shooting Scars ended...with no break in the action. Ellie is sitting in the Jeep between her two lovers trying to wrap her brain around how she got there and how she's going to manage to get out of there. I was kinda wondering the same thing myself.Court: Awkward. I think those moments right after everything went down at the end of Shooting Scars send Ellie into major (edit) mode. She doesn't know which way is up, or how to trust Javier, or if Camden will trust her. And really...if she trusts herself. Even through everything that goes on in this book (and there is a lot of action!) I was glad to see KH put a lot of self reflection and self discovery in there for our favorite heroine. Team Ellie anyone?Shel: As these three traverse the cities and wilds of Mexico, I felt myself holding my breath to see what crazy thing would happen next. I never knew who on Team Javier could be trusted; for every sketchy thing he did, he also seemed to have legitimately decent and even sometimes helpful ideas too. But Javier's past was just too much for me to overcome so even when I felt a smidge bad for him, I just never felt I could trust him. I found his motives questionable and honestly thought he was lying the entire time...and in retrospect, maybe he was lying through more of the 3 book series than I originally suspected.Court: Javier, Javier, Javier. He takes this book through several game changers and I think he is even more bipolar than I am. Or he's schizophrenic. As I am now done with my mental health class and I know these things. Right. Kidding. Anywho...is he misunderstood? I'm not sure. But I do know that there are a lot of Team Javier members out there. I'm personally not one of them, but this jacked up love triangle has a lot of chinks in its armor for a reason!Shel: Camden, on the other hand, I trusted implicitly. I knew he was hurting not only from the bullet to the shoulder but also by Ellie's betrayal. I kept hoping against hope that she would find a way to break through his hurt and make him understand why she did what she did. To his credit, no matter how p'ed off he was, he stuck by Ellie and helped her, protected her, and was the friend she needed throughout.Court: Camden is my love. I've loved him since Karina posted teaser pics of her idea of the perfect real life him before the first book came out Shel: (Um...why haven't I seen these??!!!I SERIOUSLY need to see these...). And I have loved him since he sort of dove down the rabbit hole to further destruction in the last installment. Poor guy cannot get a break. If I had a dollar for every time that Shelley texted "Poor Camden" to me during our reading of this book alone, I could seriously buy a lot of books. Poor Camden. Poor Ellie. Poor Javier. True story.Shel: Ellie. One of my favorite heroines ever. I mean I know that she's got this good heart underneath her tough exterior...and I love that she's got it, but is it wrong that I also love how awesome she is? In this novel, I think we saw more of the tender Ellie than we've seen before. It seems like her burning hatred and anger aren't her sole motivating factors and she's willing to see herself in the future as someone who can be good...if only Camden will help her get there.Court: The revenge she has held on to for so long was slipping away in the last book, only to come within her grasp with both hands in Shooting Scars. Is it enough for her? Maybe. Maybe not. The dynamics definitely change this time around, and Ellie while definitely bad (edit)...becomes even more multi-dimensional in my book! Again...Team Ellie, yes?Shel: Travis, Gus, and Ellie's mom make appearances on this journey of revenge and redemption. Explosions, chases, killing, gross insects, and bathroom sex do too! Haha. Karina Halle does not hold back and keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way to the end and I loved every second of it. This is a definite must read! Court: Don't forget against a tree sex, down in the mud sex...and oh yeah...lots and lots of explosions and chases and emotion and cartels. Find out who gets the girl, and who gets even more than they bargained for in the process in the conclusion to this amazing series!Shelley: 5 Stars Courtney: 5 Stars