Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Book Review: Escaping Reality (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #1) by Lisa Renee Jones

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(I received this book to review from NetGalley.)

Description from Good Reads 
Infinite possibilities….
Infinite passion…..
Infinite danger….

His touch spirals through me, warm and sweet, wicked and hot. I shouldn’t trust him. I shouldn’t tell him my secrets. But how do I not when he is the reason I breathe? He is what I need.


At the young age of eighteen, tragedy and a dark secret force Lara to flee all she has known and loves to start a new life. Now years later, with a new identity as Amy, she’s finally dared to believe she is forgotten–even if she cannot forget. But just when she lets down her guard, the ghosts of her past are quick to punish her, forcing her back on the run.

On a plane, struggling to face the devastation of losing everything again and starting over, Amy meets Liam Stone, a darkly entrancing recluse billionaire, who is also a brilliant, and famous, prodigy architect. A man who knows what he wants and goes after it. And what he wants is Amy. Refusing to take “no” as an answer, he sweeps her into a passionate affair, pushing her to her erotic limits. He wants to possess her. He makes her want to be possessed. Liam demands everything from her, accepting nothing less. But what if she is too devastated by tragedy to know when he wants more than she should give? And what if there is more to Liam than meets the eyes?
 


My Review 
Let me start off this review by saying this is an erotic novel. There is a lot of sex. There is more sex than plot in this book.  
I didn't do much research on this book- I was just auto-approved to read it when I signed up for NetGalley. So I was a little surprised when all the sex started happening, to say the least.

And then, the comparisons in my head begin. "Oh, wow, this is a lot like Fifty Shades of Grey", I thought to myself. And I continued to think the same thing all throughout the book. Dominant male character, submissive female, worried friend, quick sex, secrets... just so many comparisons.

Not that that is a bad thing- I actually enjoyed the first book of that series (I gave it a four star rating on Good Reads). But this book didn't remind me of the first book in Fifty Shades, it reminded me more of the second. Not as good. But still a three star rating. And then it started to remind me of the third, which I gave a whopping two star review. One of my lowest reviews.

I enjoyed some of Escaping Reality. And not just the sex parts (honestly, I skimmed a lot of that because it was all the same phrasing, and I like a little more variety), but what part of the plot there actually was. I felt at times the plot was only used to drive the sex, which isn't a bad thing, but when you're writing towards a secret (the main character has a new identity, but we don't know why), there should be at least a peak of interest. 
And I lost interest about 60% of the way through when I thought to myself that I would get no answers by the end of this book. And I was right.

I know nothing. I know tiny pieces- I know about Liam's Dad, I get that Lara (aka Amy)'s father was an archaeologist, and something happened with a fire, but I have no clue who it was or what happened that had her parent's killed and her go into hiding. I don't know if Jared (her neighbor), or Meg (secretary at an office she was "hired" to work at) are in on anything, though I have my suspicions they definitely do. We also don't know if Liam really knows anything.

I just wanted a tiny sliver of an answer. And I got nothing! Which is why I don't consider this review to have spoilers- because there really wasn't a lot I could spoil.
With all of this said, I will most likely check out the second book, Infinite Possibilities (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #2). I do want to know what's going on. It hooked me enough for that. And also, the fact that it's a series of books and you really can't only read one, right??


You can purchase a paperback copy of this book from amazon.com here, or a copy for Kindle by clicking the following link - Escaping Reality (New Adult contemporary Romance) (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen).



FTC: I received this book to review from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This post does contain amazon.com affiliate links. All proceeds from purchases will be put back into this blog to purchase products to review.

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