This book was hard to review because I was given a copy of this in exchange for an honest opinion without reading the previous books. The author did a good job giving the reader the background, so you didn’t feel lost having jumped into the series mid way, however the book fell short for me. I never felt the connection with the Rachael and Merrick, felt the writer relied too much on sex to keep the story flowing. I’m not a prude when it comes to good sex in books, but it shouldn’t be used to keep the reader interested. I also felt like I was reading a bad soap opera which seems to be the trends these days with writers. A good series can have cliff hangers but there has to be a promise of a happy ending to keep you going. This one just read like the writer and publisher are counting their money all the way to the bank. When the book ended I had not only had no interest in what came next but have no intention on starting from the first in the series. I got this book as a guaranteed-available free read through NetGalley. If I weren't obligated to do a review for NetGalley to increase my likelihood of getting additional books to review for NetGalley, I would have DNF'd this book 10% in. My utter disdain and despisement of all the characters just grew and grew as I read, until I was spewing vitriol at the characters as I flipped the pages. These characters are exactly the kind that drive me ape. They are shallow and selfish, and they swing widely between huge emotional highs and lows like a drunken see-saw. Interspersed with acrobatic sex. Perhaps Merrick and Rachael would be more appealing to me in 10 years, if they were actually to grow up and become rational and reasonable adults. As they are currently, however, I just want to smack them for their immature and over the top overreactions to everything. This is a huge soap opera.The desire of these two to subsume themselves into the screwed up 'us' is so unhealthy."We wanted to climb into each other's skin. Making love wasn't enough. F*%king wasn't enough. Whatever we were doing was what came next and it wasn't enough. We need more, the complete and utter taking of the other person"This book is part of a series, and I definitely felt lost not having read the previous books. However, since I hated this book, it didn't matter to me that I didn't know the back story. And holy crap, the total soap opera ending was the cherry in the whole effed up mess. Thank goodness this was only 240 pages so it didn't take too much time to finish. This book may appeal to those who enjoy the angst and up and down emotions of romance series like Sylvia Day's Aftershock or her Crossfire series, or the Inside Out series by Lisa Renee Jones.
What do You think about Given (2014)?
Loved this book, it was a fantastic read & I couldn't put it down. I truly recommend this series
—Viji
Just loving this series, will be a bit sad after I read the final book!
—shivangi
