ARC Review: Faith by Terry Towers

Emily

I had no idea the wickedness that lay beneath his angelic features and pleasurable touch.

I wanted one night out to be wild and crazy; to be like all the other young women my age. I'd been living such a sheltered life that when a new group of friends took me to a nightclub for some drinks and dancing - nothing overly rebellious, considering - I jumped at the chance.

And you can imagine my surprise when the sexiest man at the club, heck, the sexiest man I'd ever set eyes upon wanted to spend some alone time getting to know the plain Jane daughter of a pastor! I jumped at the chance. Most of the other young women regularly left with men they'd just met and nothing bad ever happened, so what were the chances it would turn out badly for me?

I had no idea...

Tanner

I had no idea she'd challenge everything I believed about myself and make me feel.

My job is simple - train them and break their spirits without shattering their minds, which isn't the easiest task, I assure you. But I'm the best at what I do.

But now The Organization I previously worked for is gone and I'm a freelancer - of sorts. And I couldn't be happier. I used to have to abide by their rules, follow their protocol, but not anymore. The lives and minds of the women are mine to do with as I please.

Unfortunately for Emily Fennel, the daughter of a small-town pastor, she'd caught my attention. She was so pure and virtuous, she's the light in contrast to my darkness and she's going to be my greatest accomplishment.

People thought I was a monster before...

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MY REVIEW

Faith by Terry Towers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 well that was different STARS

“A part of me was telling me not to go with him, that it was a very bad idea. Bad things happened to careless and reckless girls who went alone with strange men. But there was another part of me that wanted to be like the rest of the girls.”

It just goes to show that trying to be like everyone else is a bad idea. Bad idea indeed. Of course going with the strange guy doesn't work out the way she thought it would...but we'll get back to that in a second.

Faith was my very first read by Terry Towers and this woman can write dark and twisted, let me tell you. WOW. I enjoyed reading it, the beginning was a bit rough for me, but the ending made up for a few things. I sure have a lot of opinions, so let's do this...

“A shiver of anticipation raced through me. What was wrong with me? He'd hurt me, humiliated me, taken me from those I loved, and I was reacting to his touch. I was disgusted with him, but more with myself.”

Tanner is a human trafficker and a self-proclaimed psychopath. Cold hearted, calculated and with no morals whatsoever. He kidnaps girls, breaks and trains them, and then sells them to the highest bidder. One night he finds himself in a club monitoring his next prey. But the girl gets lucky when his eyes fall on her friend Emily instead. The mousy and shy daughter of a pastor is about to have a surprise of a lifetime and Tanner is about to get a lot more than he bargained for.

Emily almost made me stop reading after a few pages. This girl has some serious problems with making good choices. Translation: she is absolutely incapable of making any good choices AT ALL. You see, she goes with this perfectly looking stranger on a walk out of the club and then on top asks him for a ride home.

GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT!

And it's her first night out EVER as well. She lived a sheltered life, full with strict rules and faithful people. And yes, she is a blushing virgin.

Amen.

On top of that she takes the whole situation pretty well, she is calm and yields quite easily. Oh and I should mention, Emily believes she was put in this place as a slave for a good reason...god has plans for her...

*head desk*

Oh shut up...she has FAITH! See what I did there?

“Emily, I know what we have is--”

“Complicated.”

“Royally fucked up, was what I was thinking, but complicated works as well.”

On the one hand this book was everything I thought it would be when I picked it up, straight forward story and rather predictable. On the other hand I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about this book.

Should I pity the less than smart girl who out of sheer naivety gets herself into the bad situation? Probably, yes - she didn't ask for this, just like a girl with a short skirt doesn't ask to be raped, but I can't lie I'm most certainly judging Emily.

Ultimately she takes the whole captivity remarkably well. She struggles, but I guess she has a strong survival instinct. My problem is that I just don't understand her and I sure as hell can't relate...with all that religious mumbo jumbo - just no.

Should I hate the man who dedicated his life to make other people suffer? Yes, most definitely, and yet...I guess I'm supposed to like him. In the beginning there were no redeemable qualities for him - and that really made me uncomfortable. I want them bad, yes - although maybe not quite that evil. Or maybe I do?

Problem is, and that's just where you lose me, he changes from a evil bastard with no remorse to love sick puppy in a second and it's disconcerting to say the least. Bottom line...I didn't care for this character.

Two main characters and I couldn't connect with either one? Not good!

Not only the characters, but also my feelings where all over the place while reading Faith. I guess you can tell by now. And things get even more complicated when they fall for each other.

Funny thing, Tanner gets there a lot sooner than Emily. I guess that's a nice way to go, but I'm still not that interested.

Emily was just easy prey whichever way you look at it. She was conditioned by her father her whole life and she wouldn't be able to spot a healthy relationship if it bit her on the nose.

Maybe I should shut off my brain while reading captive-romance-trope books. Ugh, the dilemma!

All of that made it hard for me to rate this book. The writing wasn't phenomenal, but it was alright. The story got my head spinning - so that's good - but it also left things to be desired. The things I really loved about this book are the scorching sex scenes. Seriously amazing. And the twist near the end was so unexpected and sick, I just couldn't help but love it.

All in all I'm going with a diplomatic 3 Star rating. Faith wasn't spectacular, but not bad either. Thanks for your time.



**ARC very kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.