This is a really hard book for me to review. I've been sitting on my feelings for weeks now and I've finally had enough. I'm a HUGE Ty and Zane fan (Zane more than Ty) but this book... it was an extreme struggle to get into and definitely my least favorite of the series. I feel like Jenn said it perfectly, but here goes. This is my opinion and if you don't like it, tough shit. Write your own damn review. Btw, this contains spoilers.The first 20% or so were brutal to get through. The flashbacks didn't add much to the story and, in fact, made me put the book down for something else to read. I hate flashbacks with a passion but every once and a while I'll come across a book I don't mind it in because there's a smooth transition between the present day and the past. This book? I felt like I was getting whiplash because it was present, past, present, past, etc. within what felt like pages of each other. It was highly annoying and made me angry, to be honest.
The story in itself is a hot mess. A crap load of inconsistencies I won't even TRY to explain (this review would be even longer than it is if I did) not just within the story but also relating to the timeline of THE WHOLE SERIES, Ty's ex-lovers coming out the woodwork left and right, ridiculously melodramatic situations and, on top of that, the annoying Nick. Oh, Nick, how you could be killed off and I wouldn't shed a tear for you. I'm sorry but Nick? He's a low-budget carbon copy of Zane. Not as cool, not as intense, definitely not as hot and no matter how much he tries WILL NEVER BE AS BADASS. Not only did I hate Nick but the fact that he took up more POV scenes than Ty? That's ridiculous. This is about Ty and Zane NOT about Nick giving a play by play OF Ty and Zane. Half of his POV scenes in the book should have been from either Ty or Zane NOT from Nick.
I felt like half of the problems that caused most of the situations in this story should have been addressed AT LEAST two books ago. This is the 7th book for crying out loud and WE ARE JUST NOW LEARNING NEW THINGS ABOUT THESE CHARACTERS?! They've been together for YEARS, yet Ty's exes, that he was only with for a MAX OF A FEW MONTHS, know more about Ty than Zane does?? Are you fucking kidding me?! I'm sorry but that's unacceptable. We should know Ty and Zane like the back of our hand and let me tell you, up until this book? I was a loyal fan. I've reread this series so many times I've lost count. I don't plan to ever reread this one. The DRAMA within this story drove me nuts. Extremely unnecessary, I felt like I was watching a soap opera at times.
The most hated thing about this series (besides Nick) was Liam Bell. Liam. Fucking. Bell. Know it all, strategist extraordinaire... oh, yeah, and Ty's ex-lover that TY SHOT. Is he a traitor? Is he an ally? Does he want to get into Zane's pants? Is he fucking Houdini?! I don't really know! BUT I can tell you that he somehow mind fucked every single person in this book to do EXACTLY as he planned so that, in the end, HE WAS THE MASTERMIND BEHIND EVERYTHING! *GASP* Give me a break. Out of everything that happened, it's hard to stomach that Liam who hasn't spoken to Ty in YEARS, never met Zane or anything somehow predicted EVERYONE'S moves? Ummmm, no.
Lastly, the ending sucked. I'm sorry but after all that and THERE'S A CLIFFHANGER? Not only that but NOTHING feels resolved. The resolution between Ty and Zane is half-assed at best and now they don't even have time to work things out further because Ty's being deployed? Like we didn't see that a mile away anyway but STILL. Unacceptable. Oh, and yeah, there are SOOOOO many unanswered questions I feel like my head is bursting with them. Tiny observations by Ty and Zane that were never elaborated on only led to questions. If you're going to have these boys be observant, at least follow up with answers to the subsequent questions that readers are going to obviously wonder about (Burns/Not Burns at a party, anyone?).
At this point, it was already a bad story for me but now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'd like to say that it was fun to see Ty's whole team. I liked being able to see their wacky ways (I LOVE DIGGER!). I liked how even though Zane was pissed at Ty (rightly so because that fucker got on my nerves. Ty needed a few hard bitch slaps) he still road in to rescue Ty like a white knight on his trusty steed. IT WAS COMPLETELY AWESOME. There were a few scenes that I really liked such as Zane beating the shit out of Ty and the brief moments of suspense that were not enough. Actually, there was a brief period of time where I was actually starting to like the story (somewhere in the middle I think) but then, things started to go downhill again and my brief enjoyment went out the window. I HATED the ridiculous fact that Ty and Zane had 'met in the past' but at the same time the romantic in me thought it was cute. But, hello? How does Zane not remember meeting Ty YET he compared all his lovers to Ty? Does that mean he compared Ty with the old Ty? And WHY are we just learning about this now? Oh, yeah, I forgot because ZANE ALSO FORGOT but he still compared his lovers to a guy he couldn't even remember.
For what it's worth, this is my opinion. If you feel differently, that's your prerogative but I just couldn't love this book like I would have expected I would. I was disappointed and to be honest, I felt like not only had Ty and Zane moved backward in their relationship but the whole plot was utterly predictable. I KNEW what was going to happen by the end of the story and the resolution to the conflicts that just kept popping up out of nowhere. This book was just too cluttered with unnecessary drama and it made for a poorly entertaining read.
The only reason I'm giving a neutral rating is because I know right after I read the book, I didn't hate it but I didn't love it but having written this review, it's hard to think of things that I actually liked. This book has already given me enough headaches, I'm not going to add to it by deciding what the right rating is because I know DAMN WELL it's not a five but not a one either. *sigh*
