Review: Love is Insecure
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 18, 2011
I'll start by saying that this book is well worth the read, especially after the cliffhanger left from Love is Darkness, however I disappointingly did not enjoy it nearly as much.  That enjoyment does not have anything to do with the events that take place or the plot that unfolds, but rather goes back to Valerie and my disappointment in her.  The actions, indecision, and second guessing, combined with some rather surprising turn of events, solidly classify this series as a paranormal soap opera and not the kickbutt urban fantasy I was hoping it would become.  So not to provide spoilers, I'll keep this synopsis light and focus more on the things that worked really well vs. the things that are starting to annoy me.Valerie Dearborn is the last known empath in this world or any other.  After her mother was murdered by a vampire and they rescue a boy Jack who's lost his parents to a vampire, she ended up losing her childhood dreams to her father's and Jack's obsession with revenge.  Because of her empathic abilities, the tortured and obsessed motives are crippling for her, and she craves a normal existence.  Only her love for Jack and her deep attraction to Lucas, the vampire king, who needs Valerie's help to bring back otherworldly creatures to balance out the evil of the vampires, make it difficult for Valerie to walk away and leaves her in a strange love triangle where she's not sure what she should do. So instead of thinking things through and trying to figure out who she really is as an empath, and what she wants, she jumps head first into trying just about anything that ultimately leads her to the world of the Fey and the attentions of the Fey king.The history of the Fey is really interesting and keeps you intrigued on where the story is going and just what Valerie's role is in all of that. Her series of, for lack of a better word, experiments, should have helped her flush out what felt right and what felt wrong, I mean she is an empath right? In the end, she's as clueless as she's ever been and instead of being left with two ambiguous men in her life, she's left with three.This book is no filler and there's lots of sex this go around, along with some surprising revelations, but I find myself feeling the same things I felt back in the first book.  With a second installment, I'm riding dangerously close to not caring for any of the characters and when you don't have someone you're rooting for, it's an easy way to lose interest altogether. Rachel's role in this book is nothing short of obnoxious and I had to roll my eyes at one point where she's monologuing about how she's never killed anyone who wasn't truly evil.... hmmm she must have forgotten about gutting Valerie like a fish in the first book, that or it doesn't count because she didn't die.  I guess intent doesn't matter in this case. Regardless, it was an annoying distraction to create more drama and felt over manipulated.  The titles of the books imply that Valerie is exploring what love is, and clearly she's yet to find it, but I was rather hoping she could at least try finding it with herself.  I felt Valerie's turmoil in the first book, but this go around, she doesn't even try to go for normal. Instead she walks in, eyes wide open, and everything turns into regrets and misplaced indignation.