Review: Tainted (Broken #2) by A.E. Rought

Title: Tainted

Series: Broken #2

Previous book in this series: Broken

Author: A.E. Rought

Genre: YA, paranormal, retelling

Publication date: October 2013

Published by: Strange Chemistry

Source: For review from publishers via Netgalley

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Synopsis:

Alex Franks believes the madness is behind them. With Ascension Labs under his direction and the forces threatening Emma's life overcome, they have a chance at a normal life, and keeping his secrets safely buried. But a shadow rises from Alex’s past, and she wants him back. Criminally brilliant, Hailey Westmore will stop at nothing to claim the boy she was meant to be with.

Without warning, Emma Gentry finds she cannot trust anything. Not her mind, her memory, not even herself. Tragic events and unexpected deaths stalk Alex and Emma, testing them in ways they would never imagine, and may not survive. Alex carries a new secret, and a horrifying guilt that Hailey uses to her advantage.

Emma’s life and sanity hang in the balance, and Alex may have created a monster...

My rating: ★★★☆☆
I remember really loving Broken, the first book, so I was very excited to start this! But, unfortunately, this ended up being kind of meh.

First of all, the relationship between Emma and Alex was cheesy AF! Seriously, someone check my teeth for cavities...

I don’t know why I felt this way this time around. I remember really liking the romance in the last book, but I guess in that one they were just starting to get to know each other. In this one, they were just disgustingly sweet.

The story itself was frustrating. Weird things are going on with Emma--she keeps disappearing and comes back with missing chunks of time from her memory. And for some reason, no one could figure out why when it was so glaringly obvious!

I mean, Emma is acting strange and Alex’s jealous ex-girlfriend is back to probably wreak havoc on his new relationship? Oh, I wonder what’s going on with Emma... NOT! Hailey is apparently super smart, meaning that she is totally capable of mind controlling Emma in some sort of science-y way. I don’t know how Alex didn’t figure it out -_-

There is also a tragic thing that happens to Emma, and apparently, there was only one way for Alex to help her. I did not like this. I mean, can you say hypocrite. *sigh*

There was one shocking plot twist there at the end involving Emma’s dead boyfriend Daniel which left me like, “What?!” It was brilliant! I also loved Alex’s best friend--he was so much fun! I actually really loved all the characters, despite the cheesiness.

Hailey: “Oh, now don’t get pissy with me, Alex. You won’t like me when I’m angry...”

“Ha!” I snort and pour as much condescension in my voice as possible. “Don’t quote Bruce Banner. Her turns into the Hulk. You’re just a bitch.”

And the whole Frankenstein bit was so great! It was quite action-packed, which I very much enjoyed. But there were some frustrating situations and the romance was too much even for my sweet tooth. Honestly, this was not a necessary sequel, but I admit that I enjoyed it overall :)

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)