Review: Incredible and exciting ending to the Remedy series
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 13, 2014
Keep You From Harm (Remedy #1) was one of the bigger surprises for me last year. I loved it so much and the paranormal aspect to it was especially unexpected. When the opportunity came along to participate in the tour for the sequel and second part of the Remedy duology, TO HAVE AND TO HARM, it was a no-brainer. Especially given the crazy cliffhanger at the end of the first book. The best news is that, not only is the cliffhanger resolved quickly, but I was completely caught up in Raielle's and Lucas' story that I finished the book in 24 hours.Raielle is in LA against her will being forced to live a life she doesn't want away from Lucas, the love of her life. Meanwhile, Lucas has never given up on finding her. When he finally does, he resolves to never leave her side again. He turns out to be her rock and the only one out there that she can truly trust as everyone tries to bend her to fit their own agenda. Raielle needs to reach deep down to finally take charge of her own life.Ray is a great heroine, albeit a bit too self-deprecating at times. She has this amazing ability to heal the sick and injured and a desire to learn how to control it so she can use it to its full potential. However, she has a hard time reconciling the price that has to be paid sometimes for healing to take place. Ray harbors some serious guilt over a lot of things, and it causes her to wallow in indecision and insecurity at times.Through it all though, Lucas is her rock. This boy never ONCE gave up on her or waffled in his devotion to Ray and their relationship. Sure, his alpha overprotective nature reared its head many, many times, and that was met by resistance from Raielle, but his heart was always in the right place.Ray and Lucas were amazing together. These two constantly risked their lives for one another. There was a lot of ups and downs for them; a lot of outside forces trying to wrench them apart. I can't imagine building a relationship in a situation like that.There was a lot more emphasis in this book on Raielle's healing abilities. In fact, the entire focus is on the people in LA with abilities like Ray's and the empire that Ray's father built around them. I loved that so much more attention was given to this aspect of the story. We learned some of the backstory and the rules surrounding the healing abilities.There was also a lot more heat and sweet sexy times in book 2. Those scenes were so well-written. They weren't as overt as many NA books, but the chemistry and connection between the characters was perfect. To Have and to Harm is told in dual POV, and Lucas' chapters are my favorites.The interesting thing about To Have and to Harm is that the big showdown between Ray, Lucas and the "big bad" occurred at around 70% through the book. I was really surprised, because usually that is an event reserved for the final 10% of the book. At first I was a little taken aback by this, but the more I thought about it, the more I loved it! How often does the big event happen, then the loose ends are very quickly tied up so that the book can end, but we as the reader are always left wanting more? Even though we get some big stuff happening much earlier than expected, it gave us a good 30% to find out what happened next for Ray and Lucas. It was so incredibly satisfying.To Have and to Harm was a fantastic new adult paranormal romance. There aren't nearly enough of those out there. Debra Doxer can feel free to continue creating them - I'll certainly continue reading them.