REVIEW: PLAYING DEAD
I want to start by saying that this was soooooo out of my comfort zone! I have always been a romance reader with a little smut thrown in there!! HA! Upon recommendation from my lovely friend Scarlett, I started this trilogy. Lindsey has since become a friend of mine and I am so very happy that I read these because I thoroughly enjoyed everything about these books! Like I said I will review them each individually as there is tons of content.
I have said before that I am not a writer, so I don’t use big words about what kind of writing these authors do, or formats, or persons or prose or whatever. This is just my take on the book and I am just me, a country girl that likes to read and talk about it.
Synopsis
Megan Walden has the perfect life, she is the perfect wife, has the perfect husband, she is the perfect friend, everything is about perfection. On a night out with her friend, Clara, she runs into Mr. Harper Cain (his character is cast as Jamie Dornan, I’m sure you know who he is). At that point her life is changed forever.
Jesus, can I just start by saying that other than JR Ward, I have never read any paranormal/horror/fantasy nothing!!! So when I started this book I was seriously thinking that I was gonna get some hot vampire sex and a big ole love story!!! Well, I did get some pretty hot vampire sex, but the love story…not so much. Although there is love in the background, it’s not the basis of this book. We get a slight taste in this book but it develops as the series progresses.
Megan Walden, I loved her, she has to be one of my favorite female leads. She has no idea what she is about to face and her life is just one big ball of perfection…so she thinks. She has a husband that she fell in love with when she was seventeen years old. She wears what he wants her to wear, eats where he wants to eat, she even wears the only perfume that he picks out for her. I think this gets a little mundane for her and she does something that is very un-Megan like. She goes out with Clara while Brandon, her loving, lying, bastard of a husband (hated him), is off with his buddies (which is pretty often mind you). So, on this particular night, she glances up into the eyes of a very handsome man and that is all she wrote.
Harper Cain, charismatic, hot, demonic, devilish, tall, green eyed hottie that he is, happens to be on an assignment. That assignment…kill Megan Walden. When he finds her in this bar his life and his mission change forever. He has one job to do and he can’t do it because he sees something in her that makes him modify his plans. Harper has had a bit of a hard life. He has experienced heartache and this, in turn, has made him hard and cold. We see Harper in a position of authority with Megan but we also see him open up a tiny bit and he begins to thaw. Love begins to happen in this book and even though they act like they totally hate each other the sexual tension is there not to mention hot vampire sex!!!
"His face changing; becoming something else, something that tugged at the memories of my childhood nightmares. A monster. A myth. Nothing but make-believe. Hammer horror films and hollywood fantasy. Graphic novels and goth dreams."
"Never once, in my worst nightmares had I ever imagined I would die like this. Crawling around in some dark pit, like some desperate crack advice; my heart destroyed under the strain of my own need."
"I'm an assassin remember? You don't hunt an assassin. An assassin hunts you. You were foolish to think otherwise."
I was really surprised to find myself so enthralled in this tale of lies and deceit…God the lies!!! Reading Brandon was like reading Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde!!! He totally had two lives going but they were still entwined with one another, Meagan being none the wiser. She was blind to what was right in front of her face!! Harper helps her see exactly what is going on. He is a complete bastard while doing it but it made me love him even more!!
I didn’t think Megan was a weak character at all, I think she kind of blended in, she wasn’t one to stand out in the crowd, but I didn’t see strength in her until later. It isn’t until after she meets Garrick that her power really comes out. I believe between him and Harper they take her on this transformation journey, so to speak and she becomes a badass…a force to be reckoned with. We meet a few characters in this book that carry over into the next 2 books. These characters set the stage for some major happenings in Megan’s life. Even after the transformation she still has no idea what is in store for her and that is explored more as this story develops.
I recently spoke to Lindsey about the Prologue. I love a prologue, to me it sets the tone for the book. The first time I read it I think I read so fast that I didn’t even realize how major it was. When I read it this last time I was like “WOW”!!! It just sucked me right in.
I am so impressed with Lindsey’s story telling. She has the ability to draw you in and her descriptions and attention to detail are phenomenal. The storyline was perfect and in the end, this book was fabulous, however, the series only got better for me. It is an intriguing, dark tale full of secrets, love, finding out that whatever life throws at you, you can’t depend on someone else to catch you, you have to dig and find that inner strength. By the end of this book I was really wanting more. It's not a cliffhanger at all but by the time the Epilogue is over you are left wanting to know what happens to Megan and Harper. Not to mention, she opens up a lovely can of worms at the end and you know in your gut that something big is planned for our heroine.
I am reviewing my Wattpad reads, as these are some of my favorite authors. If you are into paranormal/fantasy/horror I urge you to go and download that app and start reading!!! Lindsey is one of the best and I am so blessed to have been introduced to her work. Between she and Scarlett, they have transformed me from just your everyday romance reader to one that is willing to step out on a limb for something new and exciting. Don’t forget, if you read, hit that star button down in the left hand corner and vote, and leave a comment!!!
As always thanks for stopping by!!
All my love
K
