Taking Back Forever (Kindrily, #2)

by Karen Amanda Hooper

[Raven]

Read this and other reviews at my blog.

Maryah has done the impossible She is remembering things from her former lives after she chose to erase after her last one. While she would like nothing else than to indulge every moment in her love her Nathan and her new family, time is a luxury she does not have. Harmony’s soulmate, Gregory, is missing, and Maryah is the only one who can find him. She has to rush to strengthen her abilities so she can find him. But Harmony isn’t pleased with the idea of waiting, so she takes things into her own hands. What she finds, isn’t what she had expected.

This book was just as perfect as the first one and a brilliant continuation. I found much of it to be beautifully written. I especially liked this one passage talking about the loss of innocence and how perfect intercourse can be between two people when they really take the time of things. It’s not much of a spoiler, but behind a tag just in case you don’t want to read it.
“I’m amazed and disheartened at how quickly adolescents lose their innocence nowadays. Everyone is in such a rush to give themselves over to someone physically without truly knowing the person to whom they are entrusting with their body and emotions. Unfortunately, it’s the only way you understand right now because it’s all you have experienced.” [...]
“People used to be much more romantic and patient. The world moved at a slower pace and so did relationships. Sex is a sacred act which sadly, over the past few decades, has been demeaned and demoralized until it means almost nothing to most people. Very few still appreciate the emotional and spiritual connection that can and should take place when two bodies and souls are joined together.”
[...] “When your heart and soul are in it, making love is not just special, Maryah— it’s magical. I would never deprive you of experiencing how incredible it can be. You need to know me first, and I need to know you— this you, not the memory of whom you used to be.”

The characters were the same wonderful people that you met in the first novel. The character interactions are fantastic and wonderfully written. I did find that the long wait between the novels made me forget a few of the characters, even more so when their roles in the story were really minor. I have a general handle on who is who, but seriously, there are a lot of characters in this story to keep track of. That alone is what caused me to take off half a star.

The story continues to be wonderful. It has times where it is confusing, but most of that is because it is being drawn out so you learn things slowly. It wouldn’t be fair for you to know everything and Maryah not. It would make her impossible to deal with while you sat there wondering at her obliviousness. The climax happens far earlier than you would think it would, which leads to some confusion on the reader’s part. You need to just come to grips with the fact that it is being written with it’s own rules, and not the rules that govern other books in it’s genre. After the climax, the story is calm, but not boring. You see the consequences of the climax and see where things will be going. The book ends on a calm and loving scene between Maryah and Nathan. Or at least, it sort of ends calmly. At least until you reach the letter from Karen.

Karen does something completely unusual for an author and gives her readers a choice. You can either stop reading where you did, or continue on for a few more scenes that will end on a cliffhanger. She says not to worry, because you can always catch up in book three, which I expect will open with these few scenes. The scenes are perfect and a better suited ending to the novel. I didn’t find the cliffhanger to be as heart-stopping as one would expect from a cliff-hanger, though that might be because I was warned beforehand that the cliffhanger was coming. It does set up a significant amount of drama for the next installment and I can’t wait for it’s release.

This series continues to be addicting and is a wonderfully unique read. I highly recommend it to anyone fond of the supernatural, large loving families, romance, and danger.