Review: Mixed Feelings
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 12, 2011
I really enjoyed the first - SURVIVING PASSION, but for some reason this sequel did not pull me in as well as the first novel.  It's not bad by any means.A lot is happening in this sequel but it seemed the tempo was a lot slower also.  I did not find myself glued to the pages, reading as fast as I can in order to find out what happened next.  In fact, it took several days for me to finish because I would put my Kindle down, read a different book, and then come back to this one.While reading SURVIVING PASSION, I came to care about Dan & Selena.  I wanted them to have their HEA.  I felt involved with what happened to them.  In this sequel, the more I read - the more I could care less about what happened to Dan or what he was feeling.  Selena got tiring.  I understand from SURVIVING PASSION, that this sequel's plot is more about Dan & Selena coming to terms for the feelings that they have for each other and the traumas that occurred in the first novel but it just did not pull me in.  I think the main reason was that while Dan was the macho, strong, (very) silent type having to deal with the fact that he is not invincible, he came across in this novel as a clueless blockhead.  It's one thing to be the silent type - it's another to make decisions and take actions and he trusts nobody except himself to even give a hint till way after the fact?  That he felt the great need to protect Selena but was clueless that she was having panic attacks or had no need to check on her even when he was around? I know that this was central to the theme that Dan was so goal oriented to create a safe haven - a civilization, that he became so focused on that and did not take the time or have the time to learn more about Selena.  In too much of the novel, Selena was only an after-thought to Dan and Selena just dealt with it.The writing is good, no editing mistakes and the world building is effective but for me this is the end of the story.  I have no interest in reading the next book in the series.