Title: The Boy Who Has No Redemption
Author: Victoria Quinn
Publisher/Year: Victoria Quinn 1/19/21
Length: 186 Pages
Series: Soulless #8
Overview
Why did I ever think Emerson and I were a good idea?
She’s my assistant, so I have to see her every day. We get along, for the most part, but there’s subtle hostility between us both.
Being on my own is better. It makes far more sense.
Until something terrible happens, something I didn’t see coming, and it’s those moments of tragedy that change you forever.
I’ve changed…and I can never go back.
My Thoughts
This eighth book was sad. I’m not going to sugar coat it. When we ended the last installment we saw every hope and dream dashed. No one was happy, everyone lost a huge part of themself, and frankly, there was still more of a free fall coming that no one anticipated.
Emerson tried to put on a brave face for Lizzie – knowing that she wasn’t able to break down because he daughter needed her. that’s the interesting thing about teens though, or pre-teens – they know everything and see everything and are able to adapt so much better than we give them credit for. This was Lizzies book to shine because she showed us that there’s resilience, there’s hope and there’s forgiveness. She sees the truth in people, and she knows when she should ask for help, and yet she’s loyal to a fault and that’s so necessary in this story. Emerson tries to move on with her life, knowing that she needs to keep this job for the money that it brings, allowing her to support her family. She tries to find another job and has no success, so even though her heart is broken and she’s got anger, she’s stuck.
On the flip side, we have Derek, the man with no soul, who carries so much anger and hatred around that he probably even hates himself. He knows that he’s hurt Emerson, but he frankly doesn’t. care. He’s cold and calculated and he chooses to wallow in his own misery because that’s how he’s operated for the past 10 years.
Derek knows that he’s lost everything, and his dark hole is where he’s happy to put himself. His rocket exploded, he can’t control himself with his ‘friends’ from his past. The only person who wanted him for him hates him….so there’s really no reason to live.
Throughout this story we watch the emersion of a whole new dynamic. We see Derek’s family play a larger role in the greater story of happiness. We watch family illness take precedent and reset priorities. The foundation of Derek’s world is rocked again and again, with Emerson gone, his mother diagnosed with Cancer, his father falling apart – and he has no one to support him as he needs.
There’s the theme of personal / self realization. Growing into who you are capable of being versus what you think you are or what you think others think you should be. Emerson has turned into a person that’s not true to her core. Lizzie has the opportunity to be something great, yet Derek ruined her confidence in what that could truly be. Derek was becoming the man he should hae always been and yet he goes back to his roots.
Love doesn’t come without pain, and it also doesn’t come without compromise. There’s a journey that’s necessary in order to find happiness, but the way that Ms Quinn, our amazing author has written this part of the series, we know that there’s not always a happy ending and there’s not always the resolution that we want. Family started to mean something more, and yet, family is breakable.
The segue here is into Dex’s story – Deacon and Cleo’s first child together. He’s in med school and we know that there has to be a deeper story with him since he seems cheery and carefree, but there must be something underneath it all that makes him tick in a complex way, because well….he’s a Hamilton. So while we’re hoping for a happier ending to Derek and Emerson’s story, we are also getting excited to the intro of Dex. So…i’ve picked up book nine and i’m going to jump into that now. Enjoy!