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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
emotional
tense
medium-paced
I was debating 4.5 to 5 stars. I think I will just give it the full 5. This book so so good. Jennifer Hartmann is incredible. She is viewed as dark romance, but I don't agree. The romance in her books are so good! It is the situations around the romance that is dark and heart breaking. I consider her books more thriller with incredible romance included. This is a book about Everly who was kidnapped and held hostage. Into her two year imprisonment, Isaac ends up on the other side of the wall of her. He is undercover and accidentally got prisoned too. He was investigating a human trafficking ring where his sister was taken years before and he doesn't know what happened to her. The emotions that these two characters share before ever seeing each other is what makes Hartmann as good as she is. I have to read all her backlist. It is hard topics she writes about but the way she shows human growth and feelings makes her books 5 stars!
I'm not sure how to put into words how this book made me feel. It is a dark captive/ imprisonment romance. Love is a thread through the story, but the darkness of the survival of these characters is the truly gripping aspect of Irreversible.
Everly has been held captive for 2 years. She was an up and coming model and influencer with a sweet husband and a happy life. While she has been worn down by her captivity, there is still a spark in her. She wants to escape and survive. Isaac is the latest person to inhabit the room next door to her. She has heard many people come and go over the two years. Nobody has survived but her. But Isaac is different. His quest for vengeance makes him dangerous. And she finds hope in his confidence that they can escape.
The structure of the narrative is so clever. We have duel perspectives but also duel timelines with the main story being sandwiched between a future narrative. I loved how complete this makes the narrative feel and how it ties up loose ends.
If you've read JH before then you'll know what to expect from Irreversible. It is a dark and non conventional love story founded in trauma. These characters have to fight for their humanity and to find a future in which they can be settled. A brilliant and thought provoking love story.
Everly has been held captive for 2 years. She was an up and coming model and influencer with a sweet husband and a happy life. While she has been worn down by her captivity, there is still a spark in her. She wants to escape and survive. Isaac is the latest person to inhabit the room next door to her. She has heard many people come and go over the two years. Nobody has survived but her. But Isaac is different. His quest for vengeance makes him dangerous. And she finds hope in his confidence that they can escape.
The structure of the narrative is so clever. We have duel perspectives but also duel timelines with the main story being sandwiched between a future narrative. I loved how complete this makes the narrative feel and how it ties up loose ends.
If you've read JH before then you'll know what to expect from Irreversible. It is a dark and non conventional love story founded in trauma. These characters have to fight for their humanity and to find a future in which they can be settled. A brilliant and thought provoking love story.
Friends, a generally adore Jennifer Hartmann books. But this. This was just merp. What separates Jennifer Hartmann from a lot of other romance/smut suspense writers is her intense emotional continuity. This didn't have it. It was sterile. It felt forced.
If you've read this, did you feel the same way?? Like Everly and Isaac didn't have chemistry or trauma bonding like Hartmann's previous works.
MEH. It was just okay.
If you've read this, did you feel the same way?? Like Everly and Isaac didn't have chemistry or trauma bonding like Hartmann's previous works.
MEH. It was just okay.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Irreversible by Jennifer Hartmann & Chelley St. Clair
5 stars
Spice: đ„đ„đ„đ„/5
Jennifer Hartmann does not wrong in my eyes. I hesitated to read this one at first because I wasnât sure how it was going to compete with Still Beating which is a âsimilarâ plot line plus it was co-written by another author Iâve never read before. But man, I wish I had read this as soon as it came out.
I was hooked. I avoided all adult responsibilities as much as possible to read as much as I could. It was gritty, dark, raw, and so full of angst. There were some twists I saw coming, but some I did not see coming. The connection between the main characters, Isaac and Everly, jumped off the page.
5 stars
Spice: đ„đ„đ„đ„/5
Jennifer Hartmann does not wrong in my eyes. I hesitated to read this one at first because I wasnât sure how it was going to compete with Still Beating which is a âsimilarâ plot line plus it was co-written by another author Iâve never read before. But man, I wish I had read this as soon as it came out.
I was hooked. I avoided all adult responsibilities as much as possible to read as much as I could. It was gritty, dark, raw, and so full of angst. There were some twists I saw coming, but some I did not see coming. The connection between the main characters, Isaac and Everly, jumped off the page.
âExpectation is a thief of joyâit hinders living. You need to take every moment as it comes, knowing some moments will be difficult and some will be beautiful. We only thrive when weâre fully present.â
I was a little surprised at the turn of events on what Everly decided to do in the second half of the book, but I was all for the woman empowerment and taking back her control. Even though I did see some people disagreed with this, I can see why she decided for it. It was quite worth it when Isaac came back into the scene (because we all knew he would). Their back and forth was full of tension, angst, but an intense connection.
By the end of the book, both characters had tremendous personal growth. And I loved the ending of the book (as it started out in 2125) and I didnât quite get it until the end.
âGrief is such a complicated thing. It can crash over us like a heavy tide, pulling us under, only to release us with a sharp, cruel breath. Sometimes itâs quietâan unspoken weight that lingers, subtle but constant. It can scream, or it can whisper, reminding us of what weâve lost and what we can never reclaim. It doesnât heal. It teaches. And in its wake, thereâs an unexpected kind of peaceâthe kind that comes with the painful understanding that some parts of us are meant to stay broken.â
It appears there are two more books in this world. I assume one must be Tannerâs book. However, they left it as a guess on who the other hero would be? Any guesses?!
#avidreaderbookblog #readingislife #bookblogger #bookworm #bookbloggers #bookbloggerofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #romancebookstagram #romancebookstagrammer #angst #dark #gritty #jenniferhartmann #chelleystclair
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
After they escape captivity the story loses steam and direction for me. Everly's life as she knew it collapses and entomology theme be damned she becomes a stripper as her means of self-empowerment and regaining control.
Isaac and Tanner collaborate togaslight her into believing Isaac is dead as he takes off on a fantastical globe-trotting one-man journey to uproot their captor's criminal empire bit by bit like he's John Wick or something . In between this Isaac makes time to stalk Everly, haunting her periphery but denying her the closure of just talking it out . All the inroads Everly made towards melting Isaac's heart during their time in captivity combusts and in its place is a mixture of lust and resentment . Abrasive as always, he doesn't bow his head or compromise with her in the slightest. She has to mold herself to his will to return to his good graces despite her pleas for emotional connection.
Earlier on I could view Isaac as a jerk with a heart of gold, but during the later portions, especially when hehandwaves away him lying by omission by not letting Everly know Jasper is alive , he's just a jerk.
Isaac and Tanner collaborate to
Earlier on I could view Isaac as a jerk with a heart of gold, but during the later portions, especially when he
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF @44%
So much happened in this book and for as dark as it'd get the sunshine moments were everything.
"It kills me to watch, but I know sheâs not falling apart. Sheâs freeing herself."
----
Quotes I'll Obsess About:
What would we talk about? Our common thread is nothing but a wall, a madman, and a boatload of shared traumaânot exactly the foundation from which long-lasting friendships are grown.
âYouâve already killed me,â I volley back, stepping closer. âMight as well make it official.â
Heâs given up. And itâs the saddest thing Iâve ever seen.
âMy light isnât gone,â I mutter, wriggling my arms free from her grip. âIt just dimmed.â
Itâs not an orgasm. Itâs a motherf*cking catharsis.
Our ghosts wonât scatter, and our pasts wonât dissolve just because we want them to. But maybe learning to live with them is the point. Isaac isnât my salvation, and Iâm not his. Weâre something quieter, something steadierâtwo broken souls learning how to be whole alongside one another, even if the cracks still show.
Then my nose wrinkles at the thought of hosting a housewarming party. The guest list flashes through my mind: me, Isaac, a Los Angeles police detective, my traumatized best friend, a handful of strippers, and my mother with her small army of ferns.
âI didnât think it would feel like this.â
âLike what?â I ask, brushing a strand of plaster-coated hair from her face.
âLike I can breathe again.â Her voice trembles, but thereâs something in itâhope seeping through the cracks.
"It kills me to watch, but I know sheâs not falling apart. Sheâs freeing herself."
----
Quotes I'll Obsess About:
What would we talk about? Our common thread is nothing but a wall, a madman, and a boatload of shared traumaânot exactly the foundation from which long-lasting friendships are grown.
âYouâve already killed me,â I volley back, stepping closer. âMight as well make it official.â
Heâs given up. And itâs the saddest thing Iâve ever seen.
âMy light isnât gone,â I mutter, wriggling my arms free from her grip. âIt just dimmed.â
Itâs not an orgasm. Itâs a motherf*cking catharsis.
Our ghosts wonât scatter, and our pasts wonât dissolve just because we want them to. But maybe learning to live with them is the point. Isaac isnât my salvation, and Iâm not his. Weâre something quieter, something steadierâtwo broken souls learning how to be whole alongside one another, even if the cracks still show.
Then my nose wrinkles at the thought of hosting a housewarming party. The guest list flashes through my mind: me, Isaac, a Los Angeles police detective, my traumatized best friend, a handful of strippers, and my mother with her small army of ferns.
âI didnât think it would feel like this.â
âLike what?â I ask, brushing a strand of plaster-coated hair from her face.
âLike I can breathe again.â Her voice trembles, but thereâs something in itâhope seeping through the cracks.
FANTASTIC!! This was a great book that is a page-turner! I really enjoyed the story line. Great writing this book is highly recommended!