Review - Hope Restrained (The Estate #2) - M.S. Willis

A Review by Carol

Book–Hope Restrained(The Estate #2)

Author – M. S. Willis

Publication Date – January 30, 2014

Type – Part of Series – No Cliffhanger

Genre –Romance, Dark

Rating – 5 out of 5 Stars

Book provided by Author (after I stalked and begged) in exchange for an honest review.

 Reading Order

Joseph Fallen (The Estate, #0.5) – Daddy O

Madeleine Abducted (The Estate #1) – Aaron and Maddy

Hope Restrained (The Estate #2) – Xander and Hope 

Honor Bound (The Estate #3) – Jason and Honor 

Synopsis

She was meant to be his assassin
A forced player in a rivalry within The Estate
Yet her loyalty was to no person but herself
When Hope is taken captive by Xander Black
She becomes the one thing that can ensure Aaron’s reign

Raised within a rival crime network, Hope Delacroix wanted nothing to do with The Estate. A fierce warrior, Hope is given no choice but to kill Aaron Carmichael. Caught in her attempt, Hope is captured by Aaron’s top guard in an effort to discover who sent her.

Ever loyal and protective, Xander Black’s sole objective is to defend Aaron and Maddy. Willing to do whatever is necessary, Xander gives in to darkness in order to force information out of Hope.

As Xander enslaves Hope to break her down completely, he learns that in the two years since Joseph Carmichael’s death, dissension still exists within The Estate.

“I find it ironic that your name is Hope…especially considering that you have none.” ~ Xander Black

Review

I went into this book with a heavy heart after reading some of the reviews on Goodreads.  Another reason is that I didn’t rate Madeleine Abducted high and thought this was going to be another so-so book for me.  See, it was JaHy that emailed me and begged me to try and get an ARC for StarAngels’ Reviews because of her love for the first 2 books.  I took on that challenge and with the help of my buddy Feifei…I was able to contact Ms. Willis and beg her for a copy to review.

I had another prior engagement for a tour review, so I let JaHy read it first for the blog.  My heart dropped when she emailed me that she wasn’t feeling it like the others.  Now normally, her and I agree on ratings for the most part so I was beginning to get an anxiety attack thinking we were both going to rate this book in the middle, and hurt some feelings.  You have to understand that every time I get an ARC to read directly from the author – it pains me to rate it low.  I do because that is our obligation to leave an honest review whether it be bad or spectacular.

Well, then I start seeing the reviews go up and I’m shocked ---- I start thinking to myself – do I do this?  Do I take the chance or leave it up to JaHy to review for the site?  With half a heart I dove in and after a few pages, I’m waiting for the “instant” love/attraction but in my head it just isn’t happening.  I understood where others could get that idea but I dug a bit further into Hope’s and Xander’s psyche and understood the deep rooted attraction they had for each other.  I would explain but it would explain too much of the story to you….just take note of the scenes leading up to and after the “captivity/fight”.

I do believe that this is my first 5 star rating for the New Year and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start 2014 off.  This was dark, this was cringe worthy and this stole my heart.  It wasn’t just about Hope but we are introduced to her twin sister. I can’t wait for the next book!

Ms. Willis – you outdid yourself with this book!  Never in a million years did I think I would be able to connect so closely to these characters while their relationship grew and their loyalties to each other and their family lead the way.  I am shocked, I am in awe and go ahead and crucify me that I loved this book as much as I did.

Re-Cap

Hope’s sister is abducted and tortured in order to get Hope to agree to handle an assassination attempt on Aaron.  Some networks in the Estate aren’t very happy about Aaron’s decision to stop the sex trafficking and slaves.  Hope botches the attempt and is taken captive by Xander to find out why she is trying to kill Aaron.

Xander tortures her with pain, sex and other juicy things…..but it’s a surprise to Xander when he finds out that pain is Hope’s weakness.  She gets high off it….well, doesn’t that just spark an extra interest in Hope for Xander.  Has he met his other half?  His soul-mate?  Hope resists all advances to the best of her ability and falls short especially when she is drugged.

Hmmm….if I go on – I may give away too many spoilers so I’m gonna end with a few MUSTS…..

Wrap-Up

DON’T LOOK at the Synopsis for the next book!!!  It will give away too much and you won’t enjoy this book as much.

Try to figure out why Hope and Xander connected so quick…the answer is in there! 

And by the time you reach toward the end of your book….don’t eat while reading! :-)