ARC Review: Torn (Connections #2) by Kim Karr

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: NAL Trade
352 Pages

Rock star River Wilde brought Dahlia London back from the brink of hopelessness with his unwavering love and devotion. But their entangled history is about to test the strength of their relationship…

Dahlia was certain she had found true love and met her "Once in a Lifetime’ when she reconnected with River. But Dahlia’s world comes crashing down when someone from her past resurfaces, and all of River’s carefully hidden secrets are exposed.
                                                                                                  River wants to show Dahlia that life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass—it’s about dancing in the rain. But how many times can one broken heart be mended?  Will River and Dahlia be able to stay together or will they be torn apart?

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Warning: Contains spoilers from the first book.

Why does the model on the cover have black hair when your MC has blonde??? Ugh, anyway…

Well, we’re slowly getting better. Part 2 of the Connections series picks up right where the first left off, River and Dahlia are about to head to Vegas to get married when Dahlia gets a phone call that changes everything: Ben’s alive. So of course the wedding’s put on hold, emotions are thrown out of whack, everything is drama drama drama, but unlike the first book, there’s at least a reason for the drama. 

The book is told from mostly Dahlia’s POV’s, with entries from Ben’s journals. It was an interesting way to introduce the character of Ben. The ending of the first book was a journal entry of Ben’s explaining why he faked his death and here we are told of his journey back into his life through his diary. First off, he keeps a diary – wait sorry, journal? And also, what did Dahlia ever see in him? He’s a grade A asshole. Everything that came out of his mouth just made me want to cringe. His main goal is to get Dahlia back just to get her back. I don’t honestly believe that he loves her, she’s just a possession to him. It’s sick. 

River and Dahlia’s relationship is also explored more here. We finally move from just sex to angry sex, make up sex, sex instead of talking, and of course sex for the sake of sex. Dahlia spends the whole time running from any type of serious conversation with River about Ben because she’s scared of what will happen. When she does try to talk to him, it turns into a sex scene. Then when River tries to leave the conversation, she gets pissed that he’s constantly running away. Umm, excuse me? What have you been doing this entire time? Oh yeah, running. 

The mystery of how Ben knows River’s family is finally explained (called it in the first book). The music references still drown out the actually scenes they’re in. Dahlia finally makes a decision between the two and life goes on. Slightly better than the first and I’m glad to see the author progressing, but still not one I would recommend. 

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

Book Review: Connected (Connections #1) by Kim Karr

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: March 22, 2014
Publisher: NAL
352 Pages

What if a ‘Once in a Lifetime’ could happen twice?

Suffering from a past full of tragedy, Dahlia London's soul has been left completely shattered. Happily ever after is a far cry from reality in her world. But, when she is reconnected with her past, the bonds that form are irrefutable.

When River Wilde, lead singer of The Wilde Ones, comes back into Dahlia’s life, the intensity that fires their relationship combined with underlying feelings that have never died lead her to believe she has met her soulmate.

Struggling with confusion as old connections fade and new ones begin, Dahlia's grief begins to lift--but guilt remains. River wants to be the one to mend all that is torn within her.

But with a past that is never really gone, can their future survive?

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There are multiple things that turn me off when reading a book:

1. Drama for the sake of drama

2. Pop culture references that add nothing to the story

3. Sex in place of plot

That’s just a few. And Connected had all of the above. Dahlia London has lost everyone – her parents, her fiancé. She’s given up. For two years she just exists, never leaves her house. Finally, her best friend convinces her to go back to work and on her first assignment, Dahlia meets someone she thought she’d never see again, rock star River Wilde. River hasn’t stopped thinking about Dahlia since he met her that one night years ago. When she stumbles back into his life he’s determined not to let her go. 

What seemed to be a story about heartbreak, loss and the pain of rebuilding your life after everything dies, turned into sex, sex, drama, and more sex. While I felt for Dahlia, I also found her to be extremely naïve and brainless. Her fiancé is acting really strange right before he is killed, her house is ransacked but nothing was taken, she’s attacked after the killer is released from jail – and this is all just coincidence??? How is she so oblivious?

While I enjoyed River, I felt absolutely no connection between the two other than physical. It doesn’t help that on every page there had to be at least one mention of how attractive the other was. Real connections are more than skin deep and I didn’t feel it with them. And the sex, that seemed to be all they did. You can’t substitute plot with sex, it doesn’t work. I skimmed half of the book because of this.

When they weren’t having sex, the author just threw out random plot drama that was so overdone I found myself rolling my eyes. There was also too much focus on materialistic things such as outfits and cars. It made the characters, especially Dahlia seem shallow. And I get that River is a musician, but the constant mentions of songs was a little too much. I felt like I was being drowned in the playlist for no reason. 

The ending was sort of a cliffhanger. I will be reading the next one just to see how that cliffhanger plays out and also to find out if the author is as predictable as I think she is. Hopefully, we get less of the materialistic padding we got here and more focus on actual character development. 

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.