Faithless

by K B Nelson

[Jack]

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb of this book sounded like it was going to be really promising. Then I got to about the half way mark and it all fell apart. I felt like we only got a glimpse into Faith and Noah's lives. I wished there had been a lot more backstory to flesh everyone out. That would have made this short novel a lot more enjoyable.

We are introduced to Faith a stripper who is always running from her tragic past. Currently living in Florida she decides to move back home to Ohio. We get an immediate flashback of Faith going to live at a new foster home. She's not thrilled as she's been bounced from home to home. She eventually finds solace and peace at her new home on the farm and falls in love with it. I know the foster system, my mom was a foster parent. Why after living on the farm for so many years didn't the family adopt them? Makes no sense.

We learn that a horrible car crash has taken her parents from her, leaving her broken and unable to fully heal and recover from the ordeal.

At the 20% mark we are then introduced to Noah who became a priest because he never wanted anyone to feel pain again. He wants to be there and help others. That's more of a reason to be a priest from in Priest by Sierra Simone. Which was a good idea in theory but we get nothing about his priest life which was sad. I was expecting it there to be a service or something at least to show how he had helped his congregation.

Faith wants to avoid running into her old love Noah, so she goes to the last place he should have been, a bar. But lo and hold there he is drinking, which threw Faith off. From what I remember Noah leaves the bar allowing Faith to go to a hotel with some random stranger so they can shag, which makes Faith feel better because she feels nothing.

Faith is able to get her old job back as a stripper, Noah somehow is there again and gets really upset, barging into Faiths dressing room and tries to tell her to leave, that she shouldn't be doing this. There's a really heated moment where it's clear they want to jump each other but because Faith mentions he's a priest and shouldn't do that he doesn't until he does. But he doesn't try to use god and faith as an excuse to remain celibate. I'm wondering what his faith is, Catholic, Baptist, Protestant? Is having sex not a very important part of it?

I liked that Faith wasn't portrayed as some virgin who couldn't fend for herself. She was a battle worn woman, who could take care of herself, and definitely NOT a virgin. She used sex and being a stripper to make herself numb to the pain she had been feeling since her parents were killed.

We find out that Faith went back home to see her foster brother Luke. Something crazy happened to him too, which affected both Noah and Faith immensely, shattering both of their hearts even more.

Up until the 60% mark I enjoyed the sudden changes from past to present. It made meant me to keep reading. There were so many things I wanted to know. Then I was no longer a fan of the sudden time jumps, and was having a hard time keeping track of them all. There were too many crammed into the rest of the book and they ended on such cliff hangers.

There are some sex scenes, nothing incredibly hot, but not bad either. We get a better look into Faith's time in Florida, how she met a man named Paul and lived with him for two years. Paul was married, but that didn't stop either of them from being together, or from Paul basically buying her an apartment so he could have her whenever he wanted.

There is an odd twisted sub plot involving Luke, Noah and someone Luke was involved with that seemed over the top. I initially liked and understood what when on with this guy, Noah wanted revenge for something he had done to Luke. But when he showed up later on in the story actin super crazy it was a bit much. I felt like there was no need for it.

From about the 75% to 80% of the novel was when things started getting ridiculous and I don't understand why the author wen this route, especially since the whole book had a more New Adult feel and we suddenly get this thriller/suspense/action sequence which was hard to follow. Paul comes back into the picture as some crazy psycho killer who wanted Faith all to herself. There's epic gun battles and Faith died! And then there are odd chapters of her and Luke in some between/purgatory like place? It was very jarring and didn't fit the story at all. It's actually aggravating! Then there is some weird paranormal/fantasy thrown in! What the duce?! And because she has some type of near death experience or died as she put it she now knows what it's like to be human? None of this was made apparent in the book! She never felt out of place, even in the foster care. As long as she had Noah, and later Luke she felt at home and peace.

I liked Noah and Faith as a couple and the dynamic they had with Luke. I could tell they really cared for each other. Again I wished they had gone into more depth about their relationship. But for what is there the author did convince me that the three were in love with each other.

Wish the characters had been more fleshed out. They were ok for a quick read, but there was so much that I felt was lacking between the characters. Especially a more in depth look at both Noah and Faith's time in the system, before they came to live with Luke's family. I wish more had been written about their relationship together.

I like the alternate ending a lot better!!! It makes much more sense this way and is very enjoyable! The way it was just so haphazardly and oddly placed into the novel we now have just doesn't have the same feel as the alternate ending did. This one made me smile and feel something. Wish this one had been left in.

Over all an alright novel, I was a bit underwhelmed by it especially since the blurb sounded so good. If it had been longer and gone into more detail about the characters I could have enjoyed it more.