REVIEW: Conscience (Bellator Saga book 2) by Cecilia London

Shel: Let me start by saying that if you have a hard time reading about violent, torturous events then I'm going to suggest that you think long and hard about whether you want to read this novel because IT IS BRUTAL. I was a nervous wreck for a vast majority of this book and when I wasn't nervous, I was horrified. Truly. And yet I was compelled to read every word, every chapter because even if Caroline hates this poem:

So, I'm sorry I'm perpetually behind, and writing this that way too...but this was a harrowing installment into the political games that Caroline and Jack are playing. We got a slight taste of it in book one, but I don't think I was really as prepared for what was to come as Shelley tried to help me be. I think that I thought I could handle it...but she is right. It is seriously hard to read. Caroline goes through so much in this book! Gah! 

Shel: I had hope. I hate this deep hope that there would be vengeance, goodness...SOMETHING to help me get through the dark and bleak pages of inhumanity (I know you think I'm exaggerating and maybe I am a smidge, but seriously, it was bleak) and the only things that helped were:

• knowing there were books 3-6 to read
• the titles of book 4-6
• the chapters when we got to see Jack and Caroline fall more and more in love with each other

Court: I'm going to be unpopular in this, but I am going to say it. I really struggled through some of the chapters with Caroline and Jack in the past. I don't know why. I guess because I wanted to get back in the present with her, and find out why things were happening and just see if even one good thing might happen to her through this installment. The pace of these parts is balls to the wall, so the other while entirely necessary, I know, but...the pace was slower. *Hangs head* I feel that I enjoyed the later parts of the past much more, and the scenes with Caroline and Christine. 

Shel: Don't get me wrong, the writing, the plot, the characters, the sexiness, and my ginormous curiosity about how the heck Jack and Caroline ended up where they are are all reasons I was reading but duuuuuuude, sometimes even with all that goodness I had to put this novel down and take a walk or just take a breath because it was INTENSE. I was either like this: 

or like this: 

Shel: I guess you could say that I was highly engaged. Court: uh, yes your tweets and texts were indicative that you were. I agree. I got there. Just wow. 

Shel: I'm so impressed with Caroline (and all of her people) but I don't know how she did what she did. She's like my new favorite badass.  I also enjoyed the love story of Jack and Caroline and all of their haters and friends. But now I'm very, very curious about how book 3 is going to turn out and lucky for us all, it is out. Court: Thank God. I may've taken me a while in this one to get where Cecilia needed me to be to be excited about book 3 (I'm there now, I promise!) but I am so excited about the next part! I'll go get on that now, k?!?! K!

Want to know more? Here are the details:

An escape plan foiled…

A determined woman…

One last tiny sliver of hope...

Jack will find me.

The Fed wants answers. And Caroline is determined not to provide them. They pull out all the stops, testing her sanity, testing her strength, testing her humanity.

Jack will find me.

Subject to cruel and merciless treatment at the hands of a government she once trusted, Caroline clings to her sole lifeline, her only chance at maintaining her tenuous hold on reality: her memories of her husband, Jack, her children, Marguerite and Sophie, and the friends who mean the world to her.

Jack will find me.

But what happens when hope starts to fade? How long until her interrogators cross over into the unspeakable sadism she fears ? How long before she finally breaks apart?

Conscience is not a standalone and must be read after the first book in The Bellator Saga, Dissident. Trigger Warning: This book contains graphic violence and psychological and physical trauma, along with an oftentimes raw, dark, and gritty plot.

For readers 18+. Ends in a cliffhanger. 

BUY IT: Amazon

Find out more about CECILIA LONDON here.