With more lives at stake and games in motion, Ellie, Camden and Javier form an uneasy alliance that will take them from the treacherous streets of inner-city Mexico to the wilds of the Honduran jungles in order to find their freedom. But with liberty just on the horizon, the cost might come at their own redemption.
Kindle Edition, 226 pages
Published October 15th 2013 by Forever
*eArc received from publisher for review via NetGalley*
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We reviewed book two: Shooting Scars HERE
Our Review:
I only recently began this series and I feel lucky that I didn't have to wait too long between books to see how the stories of Camden, Javier, and Ellie end. Lucky bitch. Hahaha. But really, I'm so glad you're on this KH bandwagon, yo.
We begin right were Shooting Scars ended...with no break in the action. Ellie is sitting in the Jeep between her two lovers trying to wrap her brain around how the fuck she got there and how the fuck she's going to manage to get out of there. I was kinda wondering the same thing myself.
Awkward. I think those moments right after everything went down at the end of Shooting Scars send Ellie into major mindfuck mode. She doesn't know which way is up, or how to trust Javier, or if Camden will trust her. And really...if she trusts herself. Even through everything that goes on in this book (and there is a lot of action!) I was glad to see KH put a lot of self reflection and self discovery in there for our favorite heroine. Team Ellie anyone?
Awkward. I think those moments right after everything went down at the end of Shooting Scars send Ellie into major mindfuck mode. She doesn't know which way is up, or how to trust Javier, or if Camden will trust her. And really...if she trusts herself. Even through everything that goes on in this book (and there is a lot of action!) I was glad to see KH put a lot of self reflection and self discovery in there for our favorite heroine. Team Ellie anyone?
As these three traverse the cities and wilds of Mexico, I felt myself holding my breath to see what crazy ass thing would happen next. I never knew who on Team Javier could be trusted; for every sketchy thing he did, he also seemed to have legitimately decent and even sometimes helpful ideas too. But Javier's past was just too much for me to overcome so even when I felt a smidge bad for him, I just never felt I could trust him. I found his motives questionable and honestly thought he was lying the entire time...and in retrospect, maybe he was lying through more of the 3 book series than I originally suspected.
Javier, Javier, Javier. He takes this book through several game changers and I think he is even more bipolar than I am. Or he's schizophrenic. As I am now done with my mental health class and I know these things. Right. Kidding. Anywho...is he misunderstood? I'm not sure. But I do know that there are a lot of Team Javier members out there. I'm personally not one of them, but this fucked up love triangle has a lot of chinks in its armor for a reason!
Javier, Javier, Javier. He takes this book through several game changers and I think he is even more bipolar than I am. Or he's schizophrenic. As I am now done with my mental health class and I know these things. Right. Kidding. Anywho...is he misunderstood? I'm not sure. But I do know that there are a lot of Team Javier members out there. I'm personally not one of them, but this fucked up love triangle has a lot of chinks in its armor for a reason!
Camden, on the other hand, I trusted implicitly. I knew he was hurting not only from the bullet to the shoulder but also by Ellie's betrayal. I kept hoping against hope that she would find a way to break through his hurt and make him understand why she did what she did. To his credit, no matter how pissed off he was, he stuck by Ellie and helped her, protected her, and was the friend she needed throughout.
Camden is my love. I've loved him since Karina posted teaser pics of her idea of the perfect real life him before the first book came out (Um...why haven't I seen these??!!!I SERIOUSLY need to see these...). And I have loved him since he sort of dove down the rabbit hole to further destruction in the last installment. Poor guy cannot get a break. If I had a dollar for every time that Shelley texted "Poor Camden" to me during our reading of this book alone, I could seriously buy a lot of books. Poor Camden. Poor Ellie. Poor Javier. True story.
Camden is my love. I've loved him since Karina posted teaser pics of her idea of the perfect real life him before the first book came out (Um...why haven't I seen these??!!!I SERIOUSLY need to see these...). And I have loved him since he sort of dove down the rabbit hole to further destruction in the last installment. Poor guy cannot get a break. If I had a dollar for every time that Shelley texted "Poor Camden" to me during our reading of this book alone, I could seriously buy a lot of books. Poor Camden. Poor Ellie. Poor Javier. True story.
Ellie. One of my favorite badass heroines ever. I mean I know that she's got this good heart underneath her tough exterior...and I love that she's got it, but is it wrong that I also love how badass she is? In this novel, I think we saw more of the tender Ellie than we've seen before. It seems like her burning hatred and anger aren't her sole motivating factors and she's willing to see herself in the future as someone who can be good...if only Camden will help her get there.
The revenge she has held on to for so long was slipping away in the last book, only to come within her grasp with both hands in Shooting Scars. Is it enough for her? Maybe. Maybe not. The dynamics definitely change this time around, and Ellie while definitely bad ass...becomes even more multi-dimensional in my book! Again...Team Ellie, yes?
Travis, Gus, and Ellie's mom make appearances on this journey of revenge and redemption. Explosions, chases, killing, gross insects, and bathroom sex do too! Haha. Karina Halle does not hold back and keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way to the end and I loved every second of it. This is a definite must read! Don't forget against a tree sex, down in the mud sex...and oh yeah...lots and lots of explosions and chases and emotion and cartels and badassery. Find out who gets the girl, and who gets even more than they bargained for in the process in the conclusion to this amazing series! (I'm even linking the whole series below, so no excuses!!)
Shelley: 5 Stars
Courtney: 5 Stars
The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).
Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.
Karina is represented by Scott Waxman of the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency.
Courtney: 5 Stars
About the Author
Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.
Karina is represented by Scott Waxman of the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency.
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