Friday, December 9, 2016

ARC Review: Taken by Cynthia Eden

Series:     LOST #5
Pub. Date:Nov. 29, 2016
Publisher:Avon
Length:400 pages
Source:Edelweiss

The LOST series is one of the best romantic suspense series that I have ever read... seriously, every book has been stellar. Cynthia Eden does both romance and suspense extremely well and she has become an auto-buy author for me. While you may be able to read these as standalones, I would not recommend it. You want the background on each LOST team member, so I advise reading from the beginning.

The heroine and damsel in distress of this installment is Bailey Jones, who is the survivor of a serial killer known as the Death Angel. Only six months have passed since her escape, and she has understandably closed herself off from almost everyone and everything. However her drive to find another survivor sees her seeking assistance from LOST. Bailey was a sympathetic and engaging heroine. My heart went out to her with everything she went through, but I also admired the strength and determination that we saw in this story. She really wanted to take her life back and she wasn't going to let anything or anyone stand in her way, especially all the people that wanted to coddle her and treat her as a victim.

The LOST agent taking lead on this assignment is Asher Young, who I was super curious about in the last book or two. Asher and his twin sister, Ana, are both working for LOST, and they have a tortured past of their own. Asher is a former Navy SEAL, a trained killer with a wounded soul. He is undeniably attracted to Bailey from the first meeting, but he is afraid to engage in romantic entanglements for reasons that are best discovered by the reader. I loved Asher... he has a strong protective instinct and is seriously bad ass. I hated that what he went through was having such a lasting effect on his love life, but I was stoked that he was willing to give things a shot with Bailey.

Once LOST starts working the case into finding the missing survivor, the action heats up very quickly and Bailey is again in a killer's crosshairs. The suspense and thriller aspects of this story were front and center for me... I was focused on them more than I was the romance. Not that the romance wasn't good - it was - but I was just really trying to figure out "who dunnit"! As I was reading, I was making notes in my reading journal re: who I thought the culprit was... and of course I was wrong wrong wrong (kinda). I don't think I have ever completely guessed the correct killers in this series... Cynthia Eden's twisty goodness keeps me turning the page as fast as my eyes can move. I love the fast pace of the story because my adrenaline gets going and I can knock out the entire 400 pages in just a few hours. I am hoping to meet this author at a signing soon because I want a keepsake copy of this series!

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from the publisher, Avon.


About the Author

Award-winning author CYNTHIA EDEN writes dark tales of paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She is a New York Times, USA Today, Digital Book World, and IndieReader best-seller. Cynthia is also a two-time finalist for the RITA® award (she was a finalist both in the romantic suspense category and in the paranormal romance category). Since she began writing full-time in 2005, Cynthia has written over thirty novels and novellas. Cynthia lives along the Alabama Gulf Coast. She loves romance novels, horror movies, and chocolate. Her favorite hobbies include hiking in the mountains (searching for waterfalls) and spelunking.


Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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