I started this book and until I finished it, I basically didn't move my behind off the sofa - it was that good.
It picked up where "End Of Eternity", the first book in this series, left off.
With the last book ending on one hell of a cliffhanger, I was holding my breath while trying to find out if Carmen would have to endure another tragedy.
But Loretta Lost didn't give it away right from the start, so I was reading frantically until my heart broke for Carmen and I nearly wished that I could go back to the uncertainty of the previous pages.
I mean, how much can one person endure?
Carmen's life has become a living nightmare and it is hard for her to find her path. As much as I'd like to grab her by the shoulders and give her a good shake, for all that she went through, she's still admirably strong and sane. Who can really blame her, that she doesn't want to be alone?
It's just a pity that she all too willingly allows assholes like Brad to become a part of her life. The best friend of her deceased husband, he seems to offer the stability and safety she so desperately craves. This makes her slightly blind or even careless when it comes to his flaws. The red flags that do come up, she ignores - trying to believe in the good of people. An endearing quality when faced with well-meaning people, can become potentially threatening with dangerous ones. But Carmen needs to cling to any sliver of hope - especially since the man that makes her heart sing, isn't hers to want. Carmen is a character with so many layers and so much hidden strength, that she only needs to tap into. It'd be so easy to judge her, to dismiss her as having a few screws loose - but Loretta Lost makes it impossible to do that. It's hard to picture what Carmen went through, coupled with her desire to be loved and to then not at least acknowledge her behaviour as understandable.
With Brad, she allowed a man in her lie that seems to be two-faced. There is something about him that just doesn't seem right and the more the book progresses, the more this proves to be true. Yet, he can turn on the charm like nobody's business and knows how to exploit Carmen's vulnerability, making her dependent on him. But he might have underestimated her strength and the fact, that she has people looking out for her.
People like Owen. Though he can't be hers, he is still there for her. Sweet, caring, loyal Owen, who seems so perfect and yet is so lost - lost in a relationship that doesn't make him happy anymore. A relationship that suffocates him. But he is a man of his word and both his promise and his guilt keep him loyal to his girlfriend, Caroline. It seems though, that his heart has left the relationship a while ago and is now falling for Carmen - seeing the person she really is and not the person everyone expects her to be.
With characters, who have an immense amount of depth, this story is even more intense than the first book. It seems like page by page, Loretta Lost peels back more and more layers to their personalities, exposing things about them, that make them seem human and real.
But dear mother of all that's holy, does this book end with a cliffhanger that had me shaking my head and mumbling "OMG". I cannot wait for book three.
5+ get-lost-in-the-story stars.