Review: What a mind bender!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2013
If you haven't read the first book in this series, you are missing out. Book two does not mess around and goes straight in to making nonsense of my brain right where book one left off. Morgan Parker- what did I just read? I knew you messed me up the first time but you didn't hold back at all this time and I am left here trying to clear my head around this mindf***. Damn you and your Jedi mind tricks.Here's the thing, for the majority of the book Morgan Parker navigates this story of love, deception and games people play through a series of texts between Jake and Katie.  And yes I said a series of texts. Do you know what this means? - no inner dialogue from the characters!!! Enter the minf****ery. You cannot surmise whether or not the characters are sincere, truthful or speaking form the heart. I freakin love this aspect of the story!!! It really gets you reeling. It also creates an interesting dimension to the story as I'm pretty sure no two people will interpret the story the same.The absence of inner thoughts has you unsure of whether you should love or hate Jake. Sympathize or dismiss Jake. And whether or not you commend Katie for dealing with Jake or do you want to walk up to her and punch her because she has messed with two people's lives.And Christine or is it Rachel- oh my heck my head is spinning like Rosemary's Baby. This character is a whole other complicated layer that I am dying to know where Parker is going to take this in the next book.Morgan Parker you infuriate me in all the best ways. I said it with the first book and I will say it with Textual Encounters 2--you write incredibly SMART stories. My mind is going Mach 8 trying to line up the facts and find the missing piece to the puzzle. Just when the reader thinks they have it all figured out another blind corner is thrown in your path.There are very few books out there that take your mind on a roller coaster ride where it isn't so much the angst that gets you but the intentions of the characters that make your mind foggy.  This isn't a very long book but when you are done, you need to get up, tell the voices in your head to be quiet and let you think for a moment, reach for the bottle of vodka and call your therapist.I will tell you, this one has a cliffhanger and I can't lie--Morgan Parker better be in his damn cave writing the next installment now!Textual Encounters 2 is a 4 star read for me because of its ability to second guess my thoughts, for its ability to make me want to throw my reader and its incredible ability to make me turn the pages faster to find the missing link.  D 4/5