Book title: Hope Restrained by M.S. Willis
Series: The Estate #2
Genre: Dark Romance/Horror
Release date: January 30, 2014
She was meant to be his assassin
A forced player in a rivalry within The Estate
Yet her loyalty was to no person but herself
When Hope is taken captive by Xander Black
She becomes the one thing that can ensure Aaron’s reign
Raised within a rival crime network, Hope Delacroix wanted nothing to do with The Estate. A fierce warrior, Hope is given no choice but to kill Aaron Carmichael. Caught in her attempt, Hope is captured by Aaron’s top guard in an effort to discover who sent her.
Ever loyal and protective, Xander Black’s sole objective is to defend Aaron and Maddy. Willing to do whatever is necessary, Xander gives in to darkness in order to force information out of Hope.
As Xander enslaves Hope to break her down completely, he learns that in the two years since Joseph Carmichael’s death, dissension still exists within The Estate.
“I find it ironic that your name is Hope…especially considering that you have none.” ~ Xander Black
A forced player in a rivalry within The Estate
Yet her loyalty was to no person but herself
When Hope is taken captive by Xander Black
She becomes the one thing that can ensure Aaron’s reign
Raised within a rival crime network, Hope Delacroix wanted nothing to do with The Estate. A fierce warrior, Hope is given no choice but to kill Aaron Carmichael. Caught in her attempt, Hope is captured by Aaron’s top guard in an effort to discover who sent her.
Ever loyal and protective, Xander Black’s sole objective is to defend Aaron and Maddy. Willing to do whatever is necessary, Xander gives in to darkness in order to force information out of Hope.
As Xander enslaves Hope to break her down completely, he learns that in the two years since Joseph Carmichael’s death, dissension still exists within The Estate.
“I find it ironic that your name is Hope…especially considering that you have none.” ~ Xander Black
3.5 stars!
Let’s face the facts people.
With Joseph gone, there goes our badass villain *poopyface*
Xander was pretty kickbutt in Madeleine, Abducted so I was ecstatic to hear he’d be getting his own book!
After reading
OKAY.
First, I have to say that M.S. Willis has a unique talent that 90% of other authors don’t have, and that’s her writing. Not the writing style, mind you, but the actual words. Her prose is almost lyrical, and scenes are so provocative and evocative I could pretty much envision the entire book as a movie. My standards of good writing is when an author is so exceptionally skilled that they are able to transport readers to whatever time period/scene/setting their books are set in and to make us forget our surroundings. M.S. Willis has consistently delivered that again and again with each book in the Estate series, and Hope Restrained is no exception.
So what did I not like?
1. Xander and Hope’s connection. Or the lack of. From the way they “meet” to Xander’s interrogation of her to his blossoming affection for her seemed stilted and forced. I really didn’t think there was enough character development on this part to warrant Xander’s insta-love for Hope.
2. Xander: Badass turned Pussy Later in the book (around 85%) I realized that just like Aaron needs Maddy to keep him grounded, Hope needs Xander, but I didn’t expect that so I was genuinely surprised at how...soft Xander got. He was like play dough in Hope’s hands. Besides, for a top notch assassin, he certainly got slapped around by Hope a lot.
3. Aaron: Executioner turned Shrew. Now don’t get me wrong, for the most part, Aaron was his usual dark self but after a few scenes that originally convinced me he had more common sense than Xander, he then turned into a frillish housewife.
4. I felt disconnected with the Estate. The past two books in the series had something in common (besides being freaking AMAZING): the plot, the characters, and basically everything always revolved around the Estate, meaning no matter what part I was reading, I would always be aware of the threat and danger the Estate posed. This added to the thrill, the dark, the mindfuck that these books posed. In Hope Restrained, I felt isolated from the workings of the Estate. If I hadn’t read the first two books, I’d tell you that the Estate is composed of Aaron, Maddy, Xander, Hope, Jason, Patrick, and the housemaid. That’s it. It isn’t until 70% where I could really grasp how the Estate played a role in this second book of the Estate series.
But despite what I didn’t like, this book still made for a great dark read! There were times I was like:
And when the characters were like:
I was like:
.............
Definitely looking forward to book 3, Honor Bound! She’s got an interesting story...
ARC kindly provided by author in exchange for an honest review.
~Review by Feifei
M.S. Willis is a romance novelist whose debut novel, Control, was released in 2013. Although currently writing in the romance genre, Willis has plans to expand her literary pursuits into multiple genres and has no fear conquering difficult subject matters in her writing. Willis is a native Floridian who is also a photographer and musician. When not absorbing herself in written, visual or musical expression, Willis is an adrenaline junkie, a ‘closet’ video game enthusiast, and an avid outdoors person and nature lover. Visit M.S. Willis on her author page
Follow on Twitter - @mswillisbooks
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