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.

Review: Broken by A.E. Rought

Title: Broken

Series: Broken #1

Author: A.E. Rought

Genre: YA, paranormal romance, retelling

Publication date: January 8th 2013

Published by: Strange Chemistry

Source: the publishers via Netgalley (thanks!)

Add it to your Goodreads shelf

Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis:

Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.

The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

My rating: ★★★★★
Man, this book was just the sweetest thing ever! A little creepy, too. This book, you could say, is a modern retelling Frankenstein with some romance thrown in. I have not read the original, but I LOVED this book!