R&R Review Monday: Envious Obsession by Katie Keller-Nieman

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Envious Series #2

Goodreads Blurb:

"When you’ve lost your mind, do you know it? Do you believe in reincarnation? What about destiny? How about love? I did, but not anymore.

For years, Sandy’s life has been ruled by her visions. They led her to her soul mate, Eric. They warned her not to trust her childhood friend Aurora. But they were a lie. She was on the verge of having everything she ever wanted. Just when she was about to have it all, though, it slipped through her fingers. Sandy is sick. With this revelation, her world crashes in around her. Her visions are written off as hallucinations, symptoms of her illness, not memories of past lives. But while she may not believe any longer, she is far from safe. Aurora is not the kind person everyone thinks she is. She is dangerous and obsessed with Sandy, and Todd can’t help getting caught in the crossfire. Protecting his cousin Sandy once seemed so easy for him, but now it threatens to take away everything Todd fought so hard for: his sobriety, his sanity and his future. The closer he gets to Sandy, the more danger they both are in. Still, he is determined to do whatever it takes to keep Sandy safe. (Contains mature language and themes.)"

Review:

Thank you to the author, Katie Keller-Nieman, for gifting me with a copy of Envious Obsession in exchange for an honest review!

This is the second book in the Envious series and focuses on Sandy after she is told that her 'visions' aren't really visions at all.  There are some spoilers for the first book in this review (inevitably).

1.  The plot.  Like I said above, this book is focused on Sandy after she realizes that her 'visions' aren't really visions anymore.  You'd think this would diminish the fantasy aspect of this book but it doesn't at all.  There's a constant feeling of unease as you progress through and you get the distinct impression that perhaps they were really visons after all and that something supernatural is happening with Aurora as well.  This really keeps the book moving forward.  The plot itself was very good and was very engaging.  It's the characters that are causing the knocked star.

2.  The characters.  This is where I had an issue with this book.  Some of the relationships between different characters in this book had me so confused and a bit frustrated.  Like Sandy and Todd.  They constantly argued and had petty fights about things that were misunderstandings and then neither of them really stepped up and was a grown up about it.  In many of their interactions, Todd is always yelling and breaking things and Sandy is yelling and they hurt each other.  And then Todd will try to 'protect' Sandy from things.  It just didn't make any sense whatsoever.  I do feel so bad for Sandy, though, because everyone is just staying away from her in an effort to protect her so she doesn't really have any friends anymore and because of their 'protection' it's really hard for her to make new friends.  Her character was one I really enjoyed.

3.  The writing.  The writing has a dark and almost gritty feel as there are a lot of drugs and nastiness involved.  You know how some books feel very clean and white and fresh (most contemporaries for me)?  Well this book had a color, it would be black or dark gray.  I'm not quite sure how to explain it but it has that feeling of darkness in it which was really cool when it came to the themes that were being displayed.

The Final Verdict:

A very nice dark, gritty book with a stellar plotline.  However, the relationships between characters were really strange and I couldn't wrap my head around them.

4 stars