BLOG TOUR REVIEW: Torn (Wicked Saga #2)

The wait is almost over - TORN releases tomorrow, and I promise you it's totally worth the wait. Prepare for some completely epic feels of all kinds.

Torn (Wicked Saga #2), by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publish Date: July 19, 2016
Publisher: self-published
Format: ARC, provided by the author and Inkslinger PR
Genre: new adult paranormal romance
To Buy: Amazon | iBooks

Rating: 5 STARS

(Synopsis) Torn between duty and survival, nothing can be the same. 

Everything Ivy Morgan thought she knew has been turned on its head. After being betrayed and then nearly killed by the Prince of the Fae, she’s left bruised and devastated—and with an earth-shattering secret that she must keep at all costs. And if the Order finds out her secret, they’ll kill her.

Then there’s Ren Owens, the sexy, tattooed Elite member of the Order who has been sharing Ivy’s bed and claiming her heart. Their chemistry is smoking hot, but Ivy knows that Ren has always valued his duty to the Order above all else—he could never touch her if he knew the truth. That is, if he let her live at all. Yet how can she live with herself if she lies to him?

But as the Fae Prince begins to close in, intent on permanently opening the gates to the Otherworld, Ivy is running out of options. If she doesn’t figure out who she can trust—and fast—it’s not only her heart that will be torn apart, but civilization itself.

The book hangover is real with this one, my friends. And, I wouldn't have it any other way. I didn't read Torn as soon as I got it. I needed some time to prepare myself for, what I knew would be, this epic tide of feels. No amount of time, however, could've prepared me for Torn. 

I don't feel like I can tell you much about the plot without giving away some major spoilers, so I won't talk about the plot much in this review, other than to say that Torn picks up immediately where Wicked left off - with Ivy recovering from her near fatal battle with the Fae Prince and dealing with some pretty intense feelings about Ren and her traitorous BFF Val. Ivy has some major decisions to make, and she's completely... well, torn... about what to do.

Torn is a fair bit darker than Wicked was, and with good reason. The death and destruction that was brought upon The Order at the end of Wicked set the mood as we go into Torn. That, along with Ivy's new information about her lineage and the implications that has on her budding relationship with Ren cast an ominous pall over the entire book. It's absolutely intense and completely effective. I was engaged and engrossed, and even during the times when I had to put the book aside for a bit of an emotional break, I still found myself thinking about it.

Jen Armentrout does villains like no one's business. In all the 1,000+ books I've read over the past five years or so, I don't think there is any character I've hated more than the Fae Prince in Torn. 

We only caught a brief glimpse of him at the end of Wicked, but that was enough to know that he was a special kind of evil. Oh, trust me peeps - you have NO idea. The things he does to the characters I love (and even the characters I don't love) had me dreaming of all the wonderful ways Jen could make him suffer in the end. And I totally trust her for that, too. I believe in her HEAs, and I also believe that Ivy's and Ren's HEA can not happen while this overconfident psychotic asshole still exists. So, I'm already looking forward to the day when these two measly humans kick his fairy ass. 

For as much as I hated the Fae Prince and his underlings, I conversely loved Ivy, Ren and Tink with every fiber of my bookish being. 

Your heart has no choice but to break over Ivy's situation. She's completely in love with a boy who was sent to kill her, only he doesn't know it yet. Does she tell him? Does she keep it a secret? Her struggle is very real, but my girl is brave and incredibly strong. Her choices - trusting Val, loving Ren, protecting Tink - they all have consequences, and she owns every single one of them. 

And Ren - there no words for how much I love this guy. It approaches Aiden St. Delphi love, which - trust me - is HUGE. His actions in Torn speak to his true character, so if you ever questioned his motives in Wicked, I assure you, those questions are answered now. 

Despite the darkness and intense feels in Torn, there are a few delightful surprises and moments of hilarity in Torn, and nearly all of them are delivered by Tink. Thank goodness for this creature. He was perfect for breaking up the seriousness, which was much needed at times. His continued love of Amazon Prime, beignets, and all things Ivy brought smiles to my face when I didn't think it possible.  

And now, we begin the long wait for the final book in the Wicked Saga, BRAVE. I would say you can't improve on perfection, but based on the choices made at the end of Torn, I expect that may be the case with the final book in this amazing paranormal series. 

#1 New York Times and #1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Learn more about Jen --> Website ** Facebook ** Twitter ** Author Goodreads