Review: had potential, but fell short of my expectations
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 25, 2014
*copied from my blogIn the final book of the series, Jade and Garrett’s relationship is put to the test as the Kensington family starts to feel the wrath of this ‘secret society’ as they punish Garrett’s father for killing Sinclair.Jade and Garrett seem to be on Cloud 9 thinking that everything is going their way. They decide to spend the summer together in California getting to know one another and making sure that they can have that future that they want, but all that gets challenged when Garrett is chosen by the society.Garrett is forced to give Jade up and pursue the life that they want but Jade is not quick to quit on the person that she loves the most. Her and Garrett work together to try and get him out of the society’s hold so that they can have that future that they promised one another.It’s not really clear if this is the last book in the series, when writing this review, I am going to go under the assumption that it’s the final book because of the way it ended and I can’t find any information stating that there will be a fifth book. But considering how some authors can be, I wouldn’t be surprised if a fifth book did come out.With that being said, I got to say that I was a disappointed with the book. Throughout the last two maybe three books, Garrett talks about this secret society that his father is a part of and controls him, but we don’t really get to see why it is that they are so afraid of it or who is even in it. I would have been more interested to see the inner workings of that society and just how deep it goes. Yes, I know we find out some information about them and Garrett’s past, but I think it would have been more effective and maybe made the society more scary if they actually showed them in action effecting Garrett and Jade’s life directly.In regards to Jade’s and Garrett’s relationship, it was the same as it has been in the last three books with the back and forth. The book had potential to really grab the reader’s attention when Garrett got sucked into his father’s situation, but it fell short of my expectations. I would have liked it more if they actually did break up and spend some time apart. Yes, I know that they really loved each other but how could you really know that they are ‘the one’ without really seeing other people.Another disappointment was the Carson character. I think that she really could have explored his story more and made it more interesting as he seemed to be gun-ho on getting dirt on Garrett. It would have been a great introduction to the society and showing how evil they could be. Even if she added a part where Jade actually sees that file that Carson told her about and sees how evil that society could be. That probably would have helped develop the society more.Now with all that bad stuff I just wrote, it could be wiped out if there’s more books in the series so this should be taken with that in mind.For the good in the book, I liked the addition of Jade’s grandparents and her creating a relationship with them. I was hesitant to trust them at first, which was kind of the point, but as Jade spent more time with them, you could see that they were genuinely happy to spend time with her and felt bad about what their son did to her mom.Jade did develop throughout the story and it was a fun ride seeing her change. Jade’s development is definitely the best part in the entire series. She was reluctant to let Garrett in and change her, but slowly and gradually over time he was able to. I think when it comes to having a person change a part of who they are, especially something that’s been embedded in us forever, it’s not something that can change overnight. It takes time and effort. Or in this case, a lot of arguments and apologies.