Title:  Forsaken
Author: Lisa Renee Jones
Publisher/Year: Gallery Books 8/8/15
Length:  234 pages
Series:  The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #3

Overview

n this third book in the sexy, suspenseful “The Secret Life of Amy Bensen” series from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones, we meet Amy’s brother Chad—and the woman who either loves him or wants him dead.

Six years ago, Chad’s hunt for a dangerous treasure turned deadly when his family home was set on fire, his parents killed. Faking his and his sister Amy’s death to protect her from further retaliation, he set her up in a new life with a friend’s help, letting her believe he’d died.

But now the men who hired Chad to find the treasure have found him, imprisoning and torturing him to learn where it’s hidden. A dark-haired beauty named Gia helps him escape, promising him access to his worst enemy. And as he tries to unravel the deep secrets of the past, he starts falling for her…only to discover she’s not what she seems.

Unable to trust anyone, Chad focuses on only two things: protecting his sister Amy and getting revenge. Is love even possible in the midst of heartache?

My Thoughts

it’s been a while since i’ve been immersed in this series, and i’m thrilled that we got a third installment, and the lead into a 4th and potentially final installment soon.  When we left off in book 2, Amy sort of found out that her brother Chad was actually alive – after thinking that he died in the fire six years before.

Well, of course things HAVE to get complicated – since this is Chad’s story, and we know that as a treasure hunter and the treasure being the reason for the deaths and having to go into hiding – things are going to get dicey.  The underlying issue here is trust – who can you trust, and what makes you feel like you can or can’t trust those people.  We find that there was mislaid trust in a few places,and quite a bit of fear and skepticism in others – but overall, we see that there’s a great dynamic for the characters that we meet and the ones that we ‘fall in love with’

At the onset, Chad meets Gia – who’s his captor of sorts, but who quickly complicates things when she creates a diversion and helps him escape.  As the overview tells us, we can’t quite figure out which side she’s playing and as the story unfurls, we see that there’s so much more there – throughout the whole thing, even to the last page, i’m not sure who’s side she’s really on.  She does a great job at convincing us that she’s on Chad’s side, that she’s against Sheridan, but i don’t know – something just doesn’t feel right.

Jared comes back into the picture – we had met him when he provided information and coverage for Amy, and now he’s helping Chad out again.  He’s the one guy that Chad’s felt that he could trust, and i guess that’s the question right?  When and if he’s captured – how far will that trust go.  Will he be turned?  has he been turned already?  that’s something that we find out.  We can only hope that his loyalty to his close friend and the fact that Chad will always protect him and compensate him will mean something.  \

There’s a lot going on in this story.  the budding romance between Chad and Gia which i;m not sure if it’s right or not.  There’s definitely chemistry, but not the sort of heat and passion that i’m used to from Ms Jones.  I feel like it’s more about the story with them than the passion, but that’s just my opinion.  We also see Amy and Liam pop back into this installment and those 2 are a couple that i love and adore.  I’ve always wanted to believe that Liam is a good guy, and while Chad’s trying to poke holes in him, i feel like we get to see the man shine through.  and the love and adoration between him and Amy – well that’s still something that we can feel and is truly tangible.

Then there’s the story about the cylinder that’s being hunted – who’s hands will it be in at the end of all this and will they ever be safe?  I hope that we get to see something good happen for these folks – although my guess is that we’re not going to get an easy go at it.  We’ve been waiting for Meg to pop back up again and she hasn’t so my guess is that’s going to happen in book 4.  we’re going to see Amy and Liam’s relationship field some hardship i’m sure – and i guess we’ll see if Gia and Chad are on the same team after all.  All in all, a great set up to the next book.  Happy Tuesday all and enjoy!