Review: SILENT GUILT brings us Nick's side as their story continues.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 11, 2014
THE STORY:When Shannon Taylor revealed the truth about her past with Nicholas Lockhart's father, his rage and hate grew beyond anything he has ever felt. But he also feels extreme guilt over what happened to her, and feels that it was his actions that day 10 years ago that resulted in Shannon being hurt. With the news of his father's murder, he knows that he's not worthy of her and plans to leave her, but as he's walking out the door she reveals that she's pregnant with his child. Even know this, he walks out the door as his guilt consumes him. What could have happened in Nick's past to make him feel so guilty?SILENT GUILT brings us Nick's side as their story continues. This time it's Nick who has something in his past that he has trouble talking about, like Shannon did in Silent No More. But Nick lets it eat away at him, making his already boiling rage go almost nuclear and he comes close to losing the two most important people in his life - Shannon and their unborn child. Nick really show a very ugly side of himself in this book. Some of it is understandable, while the rest is just him being a jerk and he knows it too. Shannon shows herself to be the strong woman I always thought she was as she deals with the fall out of revealing what happened to her 10 year ago.We do learn a bit more about Nikki and Jase in SILENT GUILT, but not enough to really tell us anything. It's like a teaser for their book to come. I wouldn't mind reading a book about the Chaney brothers, either.I also felt that there were way too many f-bombs in this book. I'm not someone who swears, so reading so many f-bombs made my eyes feel like they were bleeding. There were way more in this book than in the first. I don't know if that has to do with the change in POV, but it was just too much at times. That's really the only negative thing I have to say about the story.THE CAST:Nick: Learning about what happened to Shannon 10 years ago, puts his rage in the nuclear category. That day 10 years ago, on their birthday no less, something happened to cause Nick to feel extreme guilt and responsibility for what happened to her. It's eating away at him. He's becoming a jerk and he knows it.Shannon: Finally speaking out about what happened to her on her 17th birthday 10 years ago, has lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. She's looking forward to having her baby with Nick, but he's pulling away from her, making her feel rejected.Nikki: She feels like it's her fault that Shannon was hurt again by her father. But there is more beneath the surface that's eating at her. Her relationship with Jase is suffering as a result.Jase: He's starting to feels a lot of pent up anger, nowhere near as close as Nick, but it's simmering under the surface. Something is happening with him and Nikki that's causing the fissure between them.Jeffery: Hold a grudge against Nick for unknown reasons.THE VILLAIN:The villain is kind of hard to identify in SILENT GUILT. Nick's father will always be a villain, but with his death I can't say that he takes the villain role in this book.In many ways, Nick identifies himself as the villain. His guilt makes him feel that he's not worthy of everything that Shannon has to offer him. His temper is so short that everything sets him off. He basically becomes a huge jerk. He came so close many times to completely ruining any chance he had with Shannon.THE ROMANCE:Nick's and Shannon's relationship is on really rocky ground in this book. It's so close to being destroyed by Nick himself. In this first book, I said that if they want to make their relationship work they would have to overcome "his rage, her past, his father, her silence."In SILENT GUILT, everything that needs to be overcome has everything to do with Nick. Really he needs to overcome his own rage, his own past, his father, his own silence, and his guilt. The success of their relationship lays solely on Nick's shoulders this time around.I'm actually kind of surprised that Shannon took him back so many times. He was a really huge jerk to her on numerous occasions. But she also understand where it's all coming from, so she's able to forgive him when he apologize, because she knows that he really means it.I really hope that the birth of the baby is in the next book (although it's Nikki's and Jase's story). I'm really excited about the baby. Boy? Girl? I want to know!