The Romance Reviews
Both Kendra and Blake have spent the past ten years coming to terms over the psychological and emotional impact of an incident that went too far. In Kendra's case, it may well have affected the type of men she's dated and her emotional response to them. In Blake's case, it set him on the path toward rectifying his past while protecting Kendra in the present. Except that Kendra doesn't know that he's her supposed knight in shining armor. Much like the other stories in this series, the two main characters have been set on an impossible path that eventually leads toward love and a happily ever after, but the road there is rife with potholes. Likes: The premise is interesting. Kendra's reaction both at the inciting incident and after reads really well and it's easy to develop sympathy toward her. The little voice in her head and the red flag warnings concerning Blake straddled the line for me and I found myself wanting to shout either "let it go" or "no, no, no, take it further" (and yes, I'm trying to avoid spoilers). Dislikes: I'm on the fence about Blake, which is a good thing because it means Ms. Tate did her job creating this character. That said, given how long Blake has been "protecting" Kendra comes across as so incredibly stalkerish that I had a hard time accepting the happily ever after. Now, what I mean by that is that my brain couldn't get past the stalker aspects; the story itself takes us down that path to HEA quite well. I guess what I mean to say is that Blake left me unsettled. This story could definitely have taken a far different path and while I'm glad that the author didn't take us down that dark rabbit hole, I'm still up in the air about how I feel. RELENTLESS is book 3 in the Tortured Love series by Ravenna Tate and it's exactly that. Of the three stories I've read thus far, it's my least favorite as I had difficulty wrapping my head around the stalker aspect, but that's just me. If there aren't any warnings, there's a bit of kink involved but it isn't over the top or out of place to the story.