Review: Just breath...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 22, 2014
Where oh where to start? I'm a fan of Lily White's dark, twisted writings, so when she says to me - have you read my Estate Series under my other pen name - and I say no and get a head shake, I know it's time to move on that.I went in blind and was immediately drawn in by the Prologue. Just from that I knew this was going to be a dark journey into the mouth of madness. I know I sound all dramatic but it's soooo true!Joseph Fallen spans some fifteen years if I did my calculations right (don't worry it's not some crazy 1000 page book). In that time we meet a sweet, caring, loving young couple in Joseph and Arianna Carmichael. All Arianna wants is to love and care for her husband, live a simple life creating a home and family with him. Joseph, on the other hand, is power hungry. Enough is never actually enough. Every play he makes, every move, he does in the name of giving Arianna what he believes she deserves, despite her continued protests.Their lives begin to spiral when Joseph buys an old hotel and converts it to their home. One side is his business, where Arianna is never to go...ever. The other is their home. At first it seems innocent enough that he simply wants to keep things separate but we soon discover it's because he wants to keep Arianna from discovering exactly how he came to so much power. As time goes on Joseph changes, or maybe just lets his true colors show. He switches from warm, doting husband to cold and calculating; eventually becoming cruel and down right vicious towards Arianna. Things happen that put into play Arianna being exposed to his business dealings, things that change their relationship and threaten her very being.I'll tell you exactly what I told Lily/M.S...."[I ran] the gamut of emotions, most on the tale end of cold and harsh." She literally made me cry at one point and when I was done wiping away my tears, they came back full force. No one and nothing is safe in this story. I may have even told her she was evil.I want so badly to tell you about what happened in the woods when a guy got *gasp*ed; or later when another guy was *gasp* and *gasp*ed...but I CAN'T! There were things I saw coming but just kept chanting, "she wouldn't...couldn't". WRONG!Amongst all the lunacy that grows with each passing day, week and year, amongst all the pain and twisted darkness, there is a small spot of light...it flickers but it's there. Warm, sweet, beautiful light...hope. Hope for an end from the pain, hope for escape, hope for love and hope for a release - even if it means no tomorrow. All I have to say when you jump in to this - remind yourself to just breath.This was a crazy BLEEPIN story and given the way it all ended I am very much looking forward to the next book, Madeline Abducted (The Estate #1).