I'm staying with the series only because the story line is good. And the secondary characters interesting But it's difficult not to get bored at times. ( )

A lot of times, terrible things happen in books and the hero or heroine seems to cope with everything like it's no big deal. This second book in the trilogy takes a realistic view of the fallout from losing people you love in horrific ways. Rachel can be annoying at times in this book, but her grief and guilt ring very true. ( )

Seriously. It just kept getting better and better. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty:Beautiful story with amazing characters, wonderful romance, and heart pounding adventure! There were a few times I lost a little interest in the story, but overall this was an amazing read!

Opening Sentence:“What are you going to tell them?”

The Review:

With their home destroyed and nowhere else to go, the people of Baalboden decide to follow Logan and Rachel to a new home. They set out into the wilderness to travel to a neighboring city where they hope to find safety. But the dreaded commander has recruited an army and is in hot pursuit of their little group. He wants what Logan stole from him and he will stop at nothing to get it back. While racing across the wilderness the small group of survivors learns to fight and there is hope that maybe they will make it to safety, but then disaster strikes.

There is a traitor among them that has started killing off people one by one. Logan and Rachel don’t know who they can trust and soon all the pressure starts to take a toll on them. Will their love be able to survive this new obstacle? Will they be able to protect the ones they love or will they have to watch more people they care about die?

Rachel is racked with guilt from what she has done not only to the people she loves but also the people she has killed. I completely adored Rachel in the first book and sadly I felt a slight disconnect with her in this one. She is still a strong intelligent girl, but she lets her feeling of guilt and revenge drive her to make stupid decisions. I get that she is trying to deal with everything and it would be overwhelming, but I felt she takes things a little too far. She starts to push Logan away which made me mad, but it added the contention the story needed. But I am happy to say that by the end of the story, the Rachel I loved does make a reappearance and I am very hopeful that I will be able to fully reconnect with her again in the next book.

Logan is as cute as ever, but he has lost some of the confidence that I loved about him so much. Becoming the leader of their small group was very stressful for him and he wasn’t quite ready for the responsibility that was thrown at him. I felt that even though he made a lot of mistakes he did the best that he could and that made me admire him even more. He is very charming and the way he treats Rachel is so sweet. I love that he is smart and driven yet full of compassion and courage. I also really enjoyed that we got to know a lot more about his background, it made his story make a lot more sense! Logan captured my heart in Defiance and my love for him just grew more in this book.

This was a beautifully written story with non-stop action, adorable romance, and bitter betrayal. From the very first page you are thrown right back into the story and the pacing never seemed to falter. Even though this book had all these great elements, I still found myself losing interest at certain points in the book. I can’t really pinpoint exactly what it was that made me want to put the book down but there were a few times where I just didn’t feel like reading this book. Honestly, it may have been that I just wasn’t in the mood for a fantasy book or the fact that the book was rather depressing at times. Because of this it took me a very long time to get through this story, but once I picked it back up the final time, I finished it in one sitting. So with all that being said, I still really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to read the last book in the series! Redwine has amazing and captivating writing that is very fun to get lost in! I would highly recommend this series to anyone that is looking for a fantasy series with a dystopian type world!

Notable Scene:

Without waiting for a response, I walk away. Across the clearing. Through the eastern edge of camp and deep into the shadowy depths of the wasteland with its scrubby ferns and spongy moss, its reverent stillness and its well-kept secrets. I keep my head held high and my shoulders straight, though there’s no one left to see it. I won’t look weak and broken again. Not for Quinn. Not for anyone.

FTC Advisory: Balzer + Bray/Harper Teen provided me with a copy of Deception. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

I'm not sure how long it's been since I read Defiance, but I couldn't really remember any of the details of the story. There were enough references splashed throughout this book to refresh my memory, but not overdo it. And though I struggled with the violence and Rachel's ways of dealing with her pain, I thought Deception did a really good job of not falling into the middle book slump; it was a story all its own. There were enough things resolved and enough new challenges presented toward the end to keep me invested.

I have to say a major THANK YOU to Ms. Redwine for not implementing a love triangle or even the appearance of one. When Logan sees something that upsets him and he, naturally, jumps to conclusions, he immediately confronts Quinn and he explains and everything is fine. Immediately. Ah, breath of fresh air. Not to mention my respect for both characters really soared with how they handled it.

I knew who the "traitor" was from the first- anytime main characters are keeping secrets from one another, it's a red flag. But I was surprised by the family histories.

I'm looking forward to the last book! ( )