Publication Dates: January 14, 2014 and May 31, 2014
Published: Lilliana Anderson
Reviewer: Barbara
My Rating:
and
***Content warning*** it's advised that readers be over 18 years of age before reading this novel due to sexual content and adult situations.
This story is set in Australia, which sets a beautiful backdrop for a story that has more dark moments than rays of sunshine. Its the ying to the yang so to speak.
There is a time in everyone’s life where you take a step out into life and decide I can do this. I can be an adult. Be on my own.. but if you have a father like Etta’s you may not get that choice. Overprotective parents can hold you back to the point of acting out as we see in this book.
In this series we meet Henrietta, or Etta as she likes to be called. Young beautiful, naive, college student living up to an image she no longer believes in. She is only 17, ready to get away from a confined life and wanting to be free. Does she really understand what it is to be on her own? Not a chance. She is too sheltered but the desire to be her own person wins out. When she goes to look at flats with her ex-boyfriend / friend Aaron she meets Damien. Resident bad boy. Cocky, arrogant and completely taken by Etta the moment he sees her. This is where the tug-o-war between good and evil starts.
When she turns 18 Etta is out of her parents home and into a flat with two other girls from her college. She has a quiet, safe place to live but then something with her and Damien happens. She is drawn to him more and more. Days, weeks pass and Etta is completely wrapped up in Damien and her with her. They share a bond thick as the Nile river but its on a dangerous slope. Her friends start to miss her, tell her she is changing and no one is a fan of Damien. His fierceness, his drive starts to scare Etta but she can’t tell him no. After a few months Etta figures out she is in way over her head. She has become pregnant at 18. Her life as she knows it is over. Aaron, the boy in love with the girl she used to be comes to the rescue.
Going home and telling your parents you have messed up is bad enough but to tell them you are pregnant.. well it destroys a little part in each of them. Aaron agrees to take Etta away. Damien can never find out what is happening. While in Damien’s apartment packing her things she is horrified to find him in an awkward place with someone else. Storming out and running to get away he confronts her. Etta stands her ground. She lies to Damien, a lie that will rip her and him apart. Etta gets away from him and Aaron takes her away. Ten hours to another state.
There is a time in everyone’s life where you take a step out into life and decide I can do this. I can be an adult. Be on my own.. but if you have a father like Etta’s you may not get that choice. Overprotective parents can hold you back to the point of acting out as we see in this book.
In this series we meet Henrietta, or Etta as she likes to be called. Young beautiful, naive, college student living up to an image she no longer believes in. She is only 17, ready to get away from a confined life and wanting to be free. Does she really understand what it is to be on her own? Not a chance. She is too sheltered but the desire to be her own person wins out. When she goes to look at flats with her ex-boyfriend / friend Aaron she meets Damien. Resident bad boy. Cocky, arrogant and completely taken by Etta the moment he sees her. This is where the tug-o-war between good and evil starts.
When she turns 18 Etta is out of her parents home and into a flat with two other girls from her college. She has a quiet, safe place to live but then something with her and Damien happens. She is drawn to him more and more. Days, weeks pass and Etta is completely wrapped up in Damien and her with her. They share a bond thick as the Nile river but its on a dangerous slope. Her friends start to miss her, tell her she is changing and no one is a fan of Damien. His fierceness, his drive starts to scare Etta but she can’t tell him no. After a few months Etta figures out she is in way over her head. She has become pregnant at 18. Her life as she knows it is over. Aaron, the boy in love with the girl she used to be comes to the rescue.
Going home and telling your parents you have messed up is bad enough but to tell them you are pregnant.. well it destroys a little part in each of them. Aaron agrees to take Etta away. Damien can never find out what is happening. While in Damien’s apartment packing her things she is horrified to find him in an awkward place with someone else. Storming out and running to get away he confronts her. Etta stands her ground. She lies to Damien, a lie that will rip her and him apart. Etta gets away from him and Aaron takes her away. Ten hours to another state.
Leaving her to her own so he can go back to finish his year out at the Uni Aaron is torn. He just left the woman he loves in a house, 10 hours away pregnant and alone. He makes a promise to finish out Uni and go back to her. As soon as Uni is done Aaron goes back to her. He is the salvation she is needing that the time. The weeks pass and Etta is still trying to heal. After the baby is born Etta and Aaron move on with their lives. Making their home a stable, content place to be and raise their family.. until Damien shows up…
Now, Lillianna did something I've never seen before.. she wrote 2 separate books for the second installment of Drawn. this way the reader can choose their own hero. Is it faithful always there for Etta Aaron? Or is it the bad boy who isn't all that bad?
Those of us that chose Aaron have a book filled with the trials and tribulations Etta and Aaron go through to get their happy ever after. Trust me its a tear-jerker with an ending no one would see coming.
Then there are the ones of us that are team Damien.. again it shows Etta and Aaron moving on and then Damien pops back up. The struggles and mental breaks keep coming. the work it takes them to get to where they want and need to be are heartbreaking at times.
I couldn't put these books down and yes I read both of the second books. I am team Aaron so I read Obsession first. Then something in my mind said “What about Damien” so I read Redemption as well. All three of these books are wonderful and I recommend to anyone who wants a good, action packed, heart stomping read.
