Review: Aleatha Romig is a master manipulator
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 7, 2014
The first thing I need to do is put in a note of warning on this book.  This isn't a normal romance or type of love story.  This story is brutal, difficult and heartbreaking.  This book does have situations of beatings, kidnapping, strong sexual and at times violent situations.  If you do not like this type of book or subject then do not read this.  It isn’t for you.  You also need thru all three to get the full effect of what the book is about and how it plays because the main theme of this book is Perception.Aleatha Romig is all about perception.  In the beginning I wanted to jump thru and beat the daylights out of Tony.  He is perceived as a monster, a vicious man who did everything and anything he wanted to Claire.  The author showed us what kind of power he had and what he could do with it.  I have read reviews of what people thought of Claire and it was disappointing.  How are we to judge someone in that situation?  How can we read and not understand that she has lost everything about herself because one man is holding so much power over her.  I wanted to save Claire from this nightmare.  I put so much emotion into reading this book that it's taken a couple of days for me to settle into what all happened.  I couldn't believe the ending and how he could just leave her there in that jail and make her out to be this awful person.  But boy did I perceive what Ms. Romig wanted me to.  Such a manipulator :)Then book 2 happened and I was thrown thru a loop.  I was so proud that Claire was able to find her "balls" and go toe to toe with Tony.  She wasn't going to take his domineering, Alfa male crap.  Loved it.  However the drawback was that it made Tony want her more and unfortunately it didn't want to make him back down at all.  Thru most of the book I was all for Harry and his more gentle ways.  He was preserved to be right for Claire. There is that word again. Perceived.  Because you think you have a good hold on what is going on but you are completely wrong.  Harry commented it best - "Why do you allow him so much power".  We think that Tony is all powerful, omnificent man who can do anything to hurt Claire.  But the reality of it all doesn't match which leads us to book three.Book #3 made my jaw drop to the floor.  !!!!!Spoiler Alert!!!!!  I knew from Book 2 that Cathrine was not good and would play a much bigger role into what has happened with Claire.  However the lengths that she went just went beyond my thoughts.  Ms. Romig was able to show such raw emotions to convey all that happened.  I was not able to be for Harry anymore by the time the book ended and now not sure if I even like him for what he did.  I understood why he couldn't be honest with Claire about his job,  but the other stuff that he had going on made him look like a big old jerk.  Good for Aleatha to make us do this.  I ended up liking Tony more than I did before and saw what guilt did to him.  Guilt of what he did to Claire ate him alive.  Having a child proved that sometimes a person can be reborn too.  I was so sad though when some of the characters that I got into didn't get their happy ending.  I cried for Sophia.  She deserved to have a wonderful life but again this book wasn't written as a HEA.  This book was written to show that life isn't always fair and in life there are struggles and heartbreak we all must endure.  Tony quoted it best “ I cannot promise your happy ever after, not because you don’t deserve it but because I know myself and will probably screw it up but I will spend the rest of my life trying”.I gave this Series 5 stars because the author did exactly what she wanted us to do. She made us think and perceive one thing but when it was a completely different situation it floored me.  She is a master manipulator and I applaud her for this.