Summary
Zero’s an arrogant, enigmatic, dangerous hacker.
He wants to protect me.
Pity.
He’s too late. I’m a lost cause.
I narrowly escaped death only to now live on a knife’s edge, constantly checking the shadows for monsters.
And I can’t trust him.
He knows far too much about me, and I know nothing about him.
Even still, this inscrutable stranger burrows his way under my skin and into my heart.
With only a look, Zero makes me feel more alive than ever before.
And that’s the problem.
I should be dead.
I’m the aftermath of a tragedy.
Broken.
A victim.
But he calls me a survivor.
He’s wrong.
There’s no way I’ll cheat death twice, not when it’s breathing down my neck.
Review
(audiobook) It wasn’t exactly a let down as I still enjoyed the book, but some of its elements did bother me.
I found the characters interesting. The tragedy that starts the book was such a shock, for Morgan and for me. It sort of sets the mood of the story. And we see Morgan before, and Morgan after. She’s a broken character. She still shows some strength, and I liked that. She’s paired with Zero, a recluse with a dark past who uses his computer skills to do good. The book is really about how they slowly connect and heal each other.
And that’s the first thing that annoyed me a little. They become this special someone for each other, for which they break their rules, yet I didn’t see how they came to that conclusion. Attraction, yes, sure. A bit intrigued, why not–for the reasons stated above. But such devotion requires a level of connection I didn’t see here.
I thought the tough topics were handled with care. I didn’t see much manicheism–except for the traffickers and buyers who are human garbage. The trauma associated with being a victim of a trafficking ring isn’t glossed over, and survivor guilt is a thing.
While it is a standalone, a couple of characters and references were a bit confusing without having read the previous books. And some plot points are left open by the end of the book. I felt sometimes that I missed the beginning and the end of the story. It wasn’t too bothersome though.
Narrators were good, but I wasn’t a fan of the voices they did for the other sex. Those narrators together would have been better in duet narration in my opinion. I especially didn’t like the female narrator’s male voice. They had the right energy for their own character though.
Quickie
- Series: Scarred hearts #5 (can be read as a standalone, but linked to other books by the same author)
- Hashtags: #romantic suspense #survivors #PTSD
- Triggers: human trafficking, mention of past abuse, violence, death, substance use and abuse
- Main couple: Morgan Rothwell & Zero
- Hotness: 3/5
- Romance: 3/5
- + the author was sensible enough to not write anything graphic about Zero’s childhood
- – I couldn’t see why Morgan was so special to Zero
Stalker mode
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