Elect by Rachel Van Dyken
Series: Eagle Elite #2
Publication date: December 2nd, 2014
Pages: 267
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
Nixon Abandonato made his choice. And now he has to pay the price. Tracey is the love of his life, but being with him has made her a target of his family's enemies. The only way to keep Trace alive is convince the world she leans nothing to him.
Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family's sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend... But Trace isn't ready to give up on a future with Nix--and if he won't fight for them, she will.
In the end, a sacrifice must be made. A life for a life. For what better way to cover a multitude of sins than with the blood of a sinner...
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Review:
I received an e-cop of this book from the publishers at NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The first book in this series, Elite, finished on a moderate cliffhanger. By moderate cliffhanger I mean that I was anxious to see what happened next but I didn't feel I would die if I didn't find out as soon as humanly possible. I wanted to see what happened with Nixon and Tracey after all they had done in hopes of being together. I was worried that there was going to be something else that came along and ruined things for them and after reading the synopsis... my fears were realized. Still, I needed to know why on Earth Nixon would push Trace into his best friend, Chase's, arms. So began my excursion into the Eagle Elite world once more.
Nixon was happy with Trace. He still worried that their relationship would raise questions and peak the interests of the enemies he still had. He was afraid that he was going to lose her all over again but this time more permanently. He felt he had to do what was for the best and that was to pretend that Trace and him were not together. Instead, he wanted the world to think that Trace was actually with his best friend, and right hand, Chase. It was not long before Nixon realized this may be a huge mistake. Chase had feelings for Trace and while Nixon wanted to believe that his best friend would never betray him, he knew of Trace's allure. Despite wanting to rip his best friend's head off for laying hands and lips upon his property, Nixon watched with his heart breaking every moment they were together.
Chase struggled between being Nixon's best friend and wanting to be the man that Trace loved wholeheartedly. He didn't want to betray his childhood friend but Trace seemed to be the air he breathed and he didn't want to let her go. Chase fully embraced the mission to pretend to be Trace's boyfriend and hoped that over the course of time that Trace would choose him over Nixon in the end.
This book read a lot like Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. With the best friend hungry for more drooling over the naive heroine and the hero letting his woman go in hopes of saving her from certain doom. Really, it almost felt exactly like Meyer's book. As a person who is not really a fan of Twilight this book was lackluster for me. I found myself rolling my eyes at the whole "leaving her for her own good" and "choose me even though you kinda only love me as a friend" situations. I was kind of disappointed with this sequel.
Also, I really didn't like the changing narrators. I had to constantly flip back to the beginning of the chapters to see who was talking each time. I liked the first book because it stayed as Trace being the narrator. It didn't change every five seconds. Changing narrators seems to be a lot of work for readers, in my opinion. Instead of getting lost in the world we are having to make sure we focus on who's point of view we are witnessing things through. I am all for getting the male perspective in books, but I would have liked to see what Trace was thinking periodically.
I think that Elect has fallen into the tumultuous group of being a disappoint sequel. It happens a lot in series. If the first book didn't end in a cliffhanger, I would advise skipping this book. However, if you are into the whole love triangle that is really reminiscent of Twilight then have at Elect.
