Review: Mark's story continues and I LOVE it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 7, 2014
Can I just say how thrilled I am that Mark's story is continuing? He has been such an enigma. Such an elephant in the room. With this installment of his story, more puzzle pieces fall together, and even more show up. I can't explain why I'm so drawn to Mark. I have to know his story. The sooner, the better.For being on the shorter end of a novella it felt like a novel to me. There was SO much to take in and enjoy and so many nuances to take note of. This story picks up the day after The Master Undone. The day after Mark had an encounter of the hottest degree. And a few days after Mark's life has changed irrevocably in many different ways.Mark is slowly coming nose to nose with Chris Merit for my affection. Don't judge me! There's just something that became very apparent to me while I was reading this book. I feel Mark's pain and heartache like it's my own. Ms. Jones wrote him in such a way that he is both a mystery to me, and a character that, what I do know of him, is very relatable and understandable. So do I love this book? Heck yes! Do I urge you to read it? ABSOLUTELY! Just make sure you follow the reading order!! (down below) Fair warning, this may be a novella but it is imperative that you NOT skip it! In the end this whole series will be a very tightly woven web. Mark's story is a very big part of that. Everyone will be back together again in the fourth novel, No In Between (Aug. 19th!) and you'll need to know what Mark has been up to and what he's been through since we last saw him in Revealing Us.======WARNING! These are afterthoughts that I really wanted to get out and vent about. Be warned: there are mild spoilers for the PREVIOUS books in the following paragraph. If you're all caught up, proceed.======Time for brutal honesty: I FLOVE Mark and Crystal together. I know others have very different views on this, but just hear me out. If you've read the series you know that Mark is a master. He needs control, like he needs air to breathe. Yet, through a series of very unfortunate and traumatic events that control has been stripped from him. He is no longer the man he was, the man he built himself up to be to fight his demons. Right now, he's vulnerable. In comes Crystal. She's feisty. She's the opposite of any woman that Mark would be attracted to, and has no submissive qualities. Or so we think. Here's where I'm going to go out on a limb and hypothesize a bit. I think Crystal is exactly what Mark needs. I think there is SO much more to her than we see, even by the end of My Hunger. I have this gut feeling that she is going to surprise us all and not be at all what she seems. To me, she has the ability to tear away the last bit of torture that Mark is hanging onto and to help him build a more solid and open life. He will always be Mark, but the structure of his whole world is cracking. When it comes tumbling down, he needs someone with the ability to be versatile. Stubborn, yet submissive. Loving, yet strong. I truly believe that Crystal is that person. I know there is this big debate going on about Rebecca coming back and her being perfect for Mark. Here's my view on that: Rebecca was very scared and very unsure of herself. Yes, she grew into the lifestyle, but her hesitance would have slowly drained and ruined both herself and Mark. There is a difference between being shy and being submissive. You have to be strong to be a submissive. Rebecca just was not cut out for that life. She didn't have that defiance that Mark could play off of. Or that fire that pokes and prods until his true dom comes out. I think she tried to be someone she wasn't with him, and she was a ray of normalcy that he tried to strive for. I had my moments of wanting them to be together so badly. In the end, it never felt right with them. With Crystal I can just feel something coming that is going to be wonderful. I just hope I'm right!Happy Reading!*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*