Review: 5 Outstanding - Mind-blowing -Stars
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 20, 2013
-SPOILER FREE REVIEWsteamy, dangerous, passionate,one-in-a-kind, mesmerizing,...I'm at loss finding the right words to express how much this book blew my mind. I'm mean, my heart and nerves were relieved I finished the book, but my mind was screaming for more, more of this awesomeness. I'm not fan-girling here but it's the truth when I say Karina wrote am outstanding sequel to Sins & Needles. She didn't disappoint with Shooting Scars; no, not in the slightest. It is a maddening, suspense-filled, sometimes heartbreaking, and hot as hell book. It made me laugh, yell, and put me on edge. I had to take breaks in between to recollect my nerves, calm down my heart and mind. This book exceeded all my expectations and was filled with everything I'm looking for in a book. If you think Sins & Needles was awesome, just wait until you read Shooting Scars; it's loaded, so buckle up because it's a ride that you won't forget too easily. The book starts where Sins & Needles left off - Ellie in Javier's car, leaving Camden behind, driving into the unknown.Javier. He's like a forbidden fruit - you know it's wrong but you still want to have a taste of it. Javier is dangerous, violent, but also very tempting and charming. Throughout SS I was fighting with myself to NOT fall for him cause he's good, real good. His charm, his remarks, just everything seems to be well timed and planned,so he says the right things to the right time to turn your reservations towards him to mush.He screams danger but you still don't want, can't stay away from him. I understand why Ellie fell for him in the first place and why it is hard to resist him, even in SS -he has this special pull that is hard to resist. I know he deserves love and I know and felt that he loves Ellie but his need for revenge overpowers it; when you think you saw a glimpse of love in his eyes, and were about to kinda forgive him, right then he turns his switch back on and is the drug lord we come to know and love. But Karina evolved his character even more and I loved to read more about him, his past, his feeling, and his plans.Camden, my handsome, tattooed, and favorite man in the series. He had finally enough, getting screwed over by everyone and one thing was for certain, he was determined to get his woman back. I loved to see more of his bad-ass side and wasn't one bit surprised by it. Even in Sins & Needles I knew if the right thing or someone triggers him he'll explode -and he did. Reading his pov broke my lil heart sometimes and I felt his heartache, but admired his stubbornness and determination not to give up on hope. He's loyal and passionate and he fights for the people he loves - he's a keeper. He's not so different from Javier and you'll see that when you get a glimpse into his head. But he's aware that Javier won't give up Ellie so easily either. Will he win Ellie back? Is he able to get her away from Javier? It'll will be a long road until then...Ellie, sweet Ellie is my very favorite heroine and conartist ever. She's strong, passionate,witty and in the right moments weak. She's also tough and I admired it throughout the book. She sacrificed her new future just to keep Camden safe and I felt her pain and how much she wanted to start fresh with him but couldn't. Now sitting in the car with her ex-lover, uncertain what's going to happen next to her, if she makes it out alive or if he's making her sacrifice more things/people she loves and cares about; it was torture for me to read it too, sitting in the unknown about his plans. Her pov made my heart race; seriously I was on the edge and was hoping, praying and yelling about the things that happened in her pov. I can't blame her for her choices though, I might have done the same things; but nonetheless, it hurt to read and all I could think was `No, no, no,..' It's hard to decide when your body doesn't agree with your heart and mind.It's easier to fall back into old habits then facing the truth; the thruth that she can't run forever.The story is written in dual povs, which was awesome; while in the first 50% Camden's pov kept me calm and kinda relaxed, Ellie's made my heart race and mind go crazy. It was perfectly balanced until around 65%, then both povs made me positively go nuts; it was filled with suspense and thrilling moments that made my heart beat so hard I thought it'd pop out of my chest.The book had some surprises in it and I loved those, I kind of put pieces by pieces of the given infos together and liked the outcome. I can't point out a single thing that I didn't like in the book.Just when you think things can't get more intense, Karina puts another thing on top of it... the last 10% of the book will definitive make your head spin -freaking awesome!! Didn't see that coming but loved it.Karina's style of writing hooks you real bad and real fast, the reading pace and flow of the story couldn't be any better. She has this special way of developing her characters and story line throughout her books, which amazes me every time I read a book of hers and it makes it hard to not fall for her character -no matter if they are saints or real bad asses. When I think back that I stumbled by accident over her first book, Sins & Needles, I can only smile and say again, glad I did back then.The Artists Trilogy is for me a one-in-a-kind of story and a must read!!.*ARC given by Grand Central Publishing*