ARC Review: Torn by Jennifer L Armentrout

Book: Torn, Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: The Wicked Saga #2

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Release Date July 19^th, 2016

Torn between duty and survival, nothing can be the same. 

Everything Ivy Morgan thought she knew has been turned on its head. After being betrayed and then nearly killed by the Prince of the Fae, she’s left bruised and devastated—and with an earth-shattering secret that she must keep at all costs. And if the Order finds out her secret, they’ll kill her. 

Then there’s Ren Owens, the sexy, tattooed Elite member of the Order who has been sharing Ivy’s bed and claiming her heart. Their chemistry is smoking hot, but Ivy knows that Ren has always valued his duty to the Order above all else—he could never touch her if he knew the truth. That is, if he let her live at all. Yet how can she live with herself if she lies to him? 

But as the Fae Prince begins to close in, intent on permanently opening the gates to the Otherworld, Ivy is running out of options. If she doesn’t figure out who she can trust—and fast—it’s not only her heart that will be torn apart, but civilization itself.

Reading a JLA book is a lot like coming home. Whenever I read a new book of hers and get sucked into the world with such great characters, engaging plot and wonderful world building, I’m reminded why she’s my favourite author.

This book was like breathing a breath of fresh air. It takes off directly after Wicked – and I mean DIRECTLY, it’s almost like reading the next chapter of that book than the start of a new one – and Ivy has discovered that she’s not human, she’s a Halfling – half faerie, half human. And that she’s part of an evil prince’s plan to create an “apocalypse baby” to open the gates to the Faery world permanently.

I literally flew through this book. It gripped me by its talons and wouldn’t let go until I’d finished it. I loved reading about Ivy again, as she’s such a funny and independent protagonist. And she’s my age as this is NA, so she was that much more relatable and mature compared to the usual seventeen year olds of YA books. I loved how stubborn she was and how she tried to be strong no matter what.

And Ren and Tink were so funny. Tink in particular is impossible not to love; I laughed or was constantly smiling every time he appeared.  Ren is so delicious, and so completely in love with Ivy. The two of them together just made me melt. We get quite a few sexy scenes with him and Ivy but we also got so many moments where they simply clicked, and showed us why they’re so good together.

We also get a proper introduction to the Prince of the faeries, and his plan to get Ivy pregnant with his child that will permanently open the gates back to his world. I have a slight love of those evil bad boys and when I discovered he had to “woo” Ivy as he can’t impregnate her without her permission, I was so excited to see his interactions with Ivy. And, needless to say, I loved them.  I can’t say too much about them for spoiler reasons, but if you have a bad boy fetish like me, you’ll love them ;)  

There were a few small issues, however: I felt that some aspects of the plot were quite predictable (which also happened in Wicked). I also didn’t like that the story picked up right after the ending of Wicked without any explanation as to what really happened in the first book, and no reminders about certain characters or places. As Wicked came out over a year and a half ago and I didn’t have time to re-read it, it was a little confusing at first.

Overall, this story was a great addition to this series, and I can’t wait for the final in this trilogy to find out what happens to these characters.

*Thanks to Jennifer and her publicist, Kelly Simmon, for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

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