From Goodreads: There are two sides to every story. In this dark and sexy companion novel to the New York Times bestseller A Terrible Love, experience the sizzling passion and pulse-pounding suspense through FBI agent Cas Steele’s eyes as he hunts down a psychopath…and falls for the killer’s prey.
Cas has been charged with an unsavory task: manipulate the hauntingly beautiful Jewell MacLeod—a woman he has every reason to hate—and slowly gain her trust in order to use her as bait to lure in a killer. But as the killer draws closer, Cas realizes that he can’t deny the scorching chemistry that ignites between him and Jewell, even if giving into his physical desire for her means jeopardizing his mission…and opening himself up to the possibility of a real and terrible love…
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Have you ever read a novel and wondered what the other main characters were thinking and feeling as the events unfolded on the page of a first-person narrative. Remember Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyers? That tease of a half-finished manuscript that presented Twilight from Edwards point of view, showing readers where he went when he left Bella’s side; giving inside glimpses into his head and heart? Remember that? I nearly died when I got to the last chapter and read that Meyers wouldn’t be completing it because someone leaked it. It was such a great story and it was my first experience with reading a novel from another character’s perspective, a writing technique that I actually haven’t seen very often. Sure, I’ve seen authors publish a chapter here or there rewritten from another character’s point-of-view, but not so much in the way of entire novels.
Well, New York Times Bestselling Author Marata Eros (aka. Tamara Rose Blodgett) gives us just that in A Brutal Tenderness, the amazing companion novel to A Terrible Love. This time, we see the entire story through Cas’ eyes, living his thoughts and feelings alongside him as he takes on Jewell’s case in attempts to flush out a murderer. And it’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.
I adored A Terrible Love; Eros handles a delicate situation extremely well, and her writing is absolutely phenomenal, gluing the reader to the story one riveting page at a time. And to be honest, I thought that novel was the end of a wonderful story, and it never crossed my mind to question what Cas was doing when he wasn’t near Jewell, or what he was thinking on a deeper level than what Eros presents readers with in the original novel. But with A Brutal Tenderness, Eros captivates her readers once again, answering questions I didn’t even know I had, and shining a brighter light on an already wonderful story through the eyes of Cas.
When I first read the synopsis, I didn’t think it was the same story due to the alias that Jewell takes on from the get-go: Jess Mackey. Though the synopsis sounds similar in both A Terrible Love and A Brutal Tenderness, the use of aliases versus full names in the book blurbs threw me off for just a bit, until I began reading and realized exactly what it was—and I was ecstatic!
One of the aspects that I really loved about this novel is that it casts Cas in a completely different light and his decisions, which irked me often in A Terrible Love, made much more sense and were actually out of love for Jewell as opposed to scorn, like I originally thought throughout much of A Terrible Love. Likewise, readers are given insight into his reasoning for disliking Jewell so much in the very beginning, showing his emotional breakdowns as they come, and being able to visually see Cas change his tune as he got to know Jewell was a bonus given to readers through this change in perspective.
Eros is a genius, and this novel is, indeed, the perfect companion to A Terrible Love, but make sure you read A Terrible Love first so you don’t ruin any of the surprises. Five stars.
Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books have been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on August 26, 2013.
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Eros is running an epic giveaway in which you can win the following:
eCopy of A Terrible Love
Galley copy of A Brutal Tenderness
Author swag
New Guess handbag/purse
Trust me, both novels are amazing, and you don’t want to miss out!
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