Title: Escaping Reality
Author: Lisa Renee Jones
Publisher/Year: Lisa R Jones 7/12/13
Length: 214 Pages
Series: The Secret Life of Amy Benson #1
Overview
Book 1 of THE SECRET LIFE OF AMY BENSEN Series
ESCAPING REALITY
***Infinite possibilities….
Infinite passion…..
Infinite danger….
His touch spirals through me, warm and sweet, wicked and hot. I shouldn’t trust him. I shouldn’t tell him my secrets. But how do I not when he is the reason I breathe? He is what I need.
At the young age of eighteen, tragedy and a dark secret force Lara to flee all she has known and loved to start a new life. Now years later, with a new identity as Amy, she’s finally dared to believe she is forgotten-even if she cannot forget. But just when she lets her guard down, the ghosts of her past are quick to punish her, forcing her back on the run.
On a plane, struggling to face the devastation of losing everything again and starting over, Amy meets Liam Stone, a darkly entrancing recluse billionaire, who is also a brilliant, and famous, prodigy architect. A man who knows what he wants and goes after it. And what he wants is Amy. Refusing to take “no” as an answer, he sweeps her into a passionate affair, pushing her to her erotic limits. He wants to possess her. He makes her want to be possessed. Liam demands everything from her, accepting nothing less. But what if she is too devastated by tragedy to know when he wants more than she should give? And what if there is more to Liam than meets the eyes?
My Thoughts
Interestingly enough, i didn’t put 2 and 2 together when i started reading this book that the author was the same as one of my favs lately, the author of the Inside Out Trilogy. In any event, i quickly picked up on that fault because of the writing style and the way that the story unfolded for us. What i really like about Ms. Jones’ style is that we are quickly brought into a story that’s full of anxiety and fear and it’s woven throughout the entire story so that you’re not left feeling a bit short changed. This story is no exception because the opening chapter has our leading lading running for her life from something that keeps coming up in her past.
We first meet ‘Amy’ when she’s working an event at the museum, a job that we soon learn she feels she shouldn’t have taken because it’s too public in nature for what she’s supposed to be doing with herself. She goes to the restroom and finds an envelope taped to the mirror telling her that she’s not safe and has to run. so that’s what she does…apparently for the 2nd or 3rd time in her life.
This is where the story of Amy and Liam takes shape since she sees him from across the way in the airport as she’s trying to run…catching a flight that her ‘handler’ has told her that she needs to be on. Of course nothing is ever smooth – she’s trapped in Liam’s gaze, finds out that her flight is overbooked and that she might not make it on it, he boards the plane, and then some how a first class seat is found for her, right next to him.
Where they go from here – well we of course assumed that he was quite successful and dominating since that’s what Ms. Jones does best, and of course we weren’t disappointed. He’s a billionaire, recluse (haha) and a very successful prodigy architect. He can ‘sense’ that Amy is running from something and makes it his goal to protect her and make her feel safe, all at the same time fulfilling both of their chemical needs. They are of course wildly attracted to one another.
What i love about this story as well is that it’s categorized as erotica, which it certainly is, since there’s quite a bit of steamy passion shared between these 2. And there’s a 3rd person thrown into the mix in the form of Jared, her next door neighbor.
The question that continuously comes up here in the first installment which we know will pull us through the rest is who can she trust, what’s real and what’s just not safe. Since the death of her family in a fire (which is just about all we know), Amy was saved by someone that she calls her ‘handler’ who has this unique tattoo on the inside of her wrist, and who continues to protect her. he seems to know when she’s no longer safe and moves her to another city to keep her out of harms way. What Amy begins to question though is how he knows where she is, how he gets messages to her and really who is he? For a moment, she thinks that Liam is her handler because of references that he makes, but then he says things to put her off that train of thought. She also feels like Jared is ‘familiar’ somehow but doesn’t know how.
Through the length of this story, Amy begins to question things more and more. The notes that she’s received since she arrived in Denver are not signed with the symbol that she’s been told to trust. The money that she was promised to be deposited into her account until she’s settled doesn’t come. Her job is more curious than real, and too many things there don’t match up. She can’t get in touch with her boss or the person who is supposed to know her boss.
so….this leads us down a very curious path, and that’s what makes this an amazing book. I really can’t wait until the next installment comes out, and what’s painful to me is that i can’t seem to find the release date anywhere!
At least i have the great underlying story here that’s topped off with the right amount of heat and then the right level of complexity. All making for the next great series. Enjoy!