Tuesday 30 July 2013

[REVIEW] Complete Me by J. Kenner

Complete Me by J. Kenner
Published: July 2013
Age Group: Adult - 18A
Series: The Stark Trilogy [end]
 
ARC courtesy of Random House, provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review 

The story takes place where the last one ended. Damien is a suspect in a murder case and Nikki has joined him in Germany where the case is taking place. Damien and Nikki have a lot of trust issues and that's still the same in this book. Damien has a lot of secrets and I think this is the first book where Nikki really comes to a realization that there's a lot she doesn't know about the man she loves.

The story moves at a really brisk pace. The scenes, in my opinion, happened much too quickly. Some events there could have been a couple of chapters dedicated to the emotional response the characters had instead of resolving the issue in the same chapter or the next one.  There wasn't a lot to engage me in this book. I'll admit there were a lot of scenes I enjoyed, particularly involving Damien and Nikki and their lovely romance, and then there were scenes that seemed predictable, and somewhat boring even.

I didn't have extremely high expectations for this book although I did expect it to be good since Release Me and Claim Me were both interesting especially dealing with the character's psychological being and them trying to overcome their fears and their past. Complete Me was just missing all that. I didn't find myself emotionally attached to anyone - I didn't feel anything and as a die hard romantic and avid reader that's what probably hurt the most. This book didn't evoke anything inside me. In fact I finished reading it and didn't really remember any distinct passages that I absolutely loved.

I wasn't that surprised with the climax of this. There was one scene inside the coffee shop where Nikki is talking to a supposed friend and immediately after I read that I knew who that friend was and that I would expect her soon in the book as the villain.

The ending was okay in my opinion. I don't really think it was a complete ending for the series, as Complete Me is apparently the final book in the Stark Trilogy. I think this is a good ending for an installment and is usually how many books like this have ended their second volume.

This book entirely was subpar. Everything was boring and rushed. I'm still not really clear as to how the anonymous stalker turned out to be the same person. It just seemed like the notes from the stalker changed in meaning from the second book to the third. Maybe a detective would tell you that the stalker is getting more violent, or more agitated, or ready to make a move (which is what happened) but I also would believe it if someone told me that these were two different stalkers. In fact the latter seems to be more plausible to me.

I saw many people rating this book quite high and I don't understand why. Perhaps I'm missing something but I just didn't feel like this was an amazing book.
(3 because although I said how much I didn't feel much from this, Nikki and Damien's relationship is still one that I'm intrigued about and do find very interesting. Also because there were a couple of scenes that I quite enjoyed.)
BORROW
(Like many other books that are in the series I would say this is BORROW as a stand alone but if we're considering if one should purchase this based on the series then it would MEH)

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