The Muses' Circle: December 2014

Title: Perfect Chaos (Unyielding, #1)
Author: Nashoda Rose
ASIN: B00Q0SZ8W6
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Dark Romance
Length: 248 pgs
Binding: E-book, Paperback
Published: 24 November 2014
Buy: Amazon, B&N, iTunes, KOBO

Synopsis:

Georgie

I lie to survive.

Have since I was sixteen and my world fell into chaos. But I found a way to endure, or rather it found me. Now I’m a prisoner of my own doing, hiding behind a false mask so no one sees the truth. Not even the man I want but can’t have—Deck. But I messed up and the lies are spilling over, out of control.

Deck is unrelenting and will settle for nothing less than the truth. He demands everything from me—EVERYTHING—even if it rips me apart.

DECK

I kill for a living.

Unyielding—It’s how I survive in my line of work. I bend people to my will…except Georgie. But that ends now. I've played her game for far too long, but not anymore. Now I think it's time we play mine.

*18+ due to sexual content, strong language and violence.

My Rating:

My Review: After being introduced to Deck in Overwhelmed by You, book 2 in the Tear Asunder series, I was just about frothing at the mouth for his and Georgie's story to be told. (You can read my review of Overwhelmed by You which includes my first impression of Deck HERE). The man just oozes sex appeal with his possessive, alpha male characteristics and strong, silent, take charge, take-no-shit attitude. Georgie, on the other hand, is his complete opposite in every way--an outgoing, outrageous flirt with a penchant for a bottle of hair dye. My curiosity was piqued-- how were these two going to work as a couple?

That being said, the best word to describe how I felt by the time I reached the last page of Perfect Chaos is...underwhelmed. It's been a couple of weeks since finishing the book and I'm still having trouble pinpointing exactly what bothered me. I was so sure this was going to be an easy slam dunk, 5 star rating kind of story. Imagine my frustration at only being able to rate it a 3.5 at best.

Here is what I did like. The first thing I noticed was the alternating perspectives between Deck and Georgie. I was so ecstatic and relieved to learn this because in Overwhelmed by You, the whole book was in Kat's perspective except for the Prologue. I thought the author was going to do the same with Perfect Chaos. Thankfully, the author must have realized the importance of giving Deck a voice. He's the type of character you definitely want to get inside his head.

I also thought the chemistry between Deck and Georgie was off the hook. The man was like a block of ice and only Georgie's fiery spirit and personality could thaw him out. I absolutely loved the way she would bait Deck by making him jealous. She would say some of the most outrageous things to get him riled up, whether it be her joking about being sexually involved with one of his men (Tyler) or pretending to be an out of control party girl heading down a bad road. She knew how to push his buttons and when she poked him too far, it was really fun (and hot) to see Deck finally claim her.

Nashoda Rose also writes in some great secondary characters which is one of the first things I admired about her Tear Asunder series. While we do get glimpses of Crisis and Kite-- two band members that still need their own books for that series, we are introduced to a new set of males, men that follow under Deck's leadership. Tyler, Vic, Kai-- Nashoda did a pretty good job giving these secondary characters just enough page time to pique your interest for future sitings as the series progresses.

While I still struggle to pinpoint some of the things that bothered me about the story, there were two problems that were quite clear. The first thing that bugged me was the lack of characterization for Deck. The author was on the right track by giving us his POV throughout the book, However, we barely scratch the service as far as getting to really know him. While we get flashbacks of Georgie, all we are told about Deck is that he had a troubled childhood. Key word TOLD. It would have been nice to be SHOWN which could have been easily done by giving us a few flashback scenes to a younger Deck. His character felt all surface, not enough depth and sadly, this was a huge turn off for me.

I was also bothered by an uncharacteristic choice the author made towards the end of the story. Deck is supposed to be the best of the best when it comes to security, safety-- especially when it has to do with Georgie. When he is out of the country on a mission, he either leaves a man behind to keep an eye on her or sets up cameras everywhere or has a tracker on her phone, etc. He's almost a bit OCD about it. Yet for some ungodly-- and uncharacteristic reason, Deck drops Georgie off at her apartment and leaves her alone. He doesn't have eyes on her or anything set up for her protection after learning that this terrifying organization known as VAULT is after her (well, not exactly after HER, but still she is in danger). Of course something bad happens because he left her which I won't get into further because of spoiler territory. My point is, this was just a very unbelievable part of the story-- as if the author couldn't come up with a better way to get Georgie alone. It just doesn't fit Deck's character at all which really bothered me.

Perfect Chaos definitely had its highs and lows. It started out strong with a heart wrenching opening and great alternating POV between hero and heroine. The chemistry between Deck and Georgie was HOT, the sex scenes were scorching, and the author does a good job setting us up with strong secondary characters to look forward to in future books. What seems to be lacking is a story that felt rushed and mediocre characterization and depth which makes it hard to fully relate and connect with that character. While I still plan to give this new series another shot, I find myself more looking forward to book 3 in the Tear Asunder series than I do for book 2 in this one.

best wishes,mia

about the author

Nashoda Rose lives in Toronto with her assortment of pets. She writes contemporary romance with a splash of darkness, or maybe it’s a tidal wave. Her novella "With You" is the first in the Tear Asunder series, followed by the novel "Torn from You" and "Overwhelmed by You". When she isn’t writing, she can be found sitting in a field reading with her dog at her side while her horses graze nearby. She loves interacting with her readers on Facebook and chatting about her addiction—books.

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