Title: Too Far
Author: Sylvia Day
Publisher/Year:  Sylvia Day 10.24.23
Length:  294 pages
Series: Blacklist #2

Overview

You can’t believe all of them, but can you trust any of them? Lily Black was presumed dead for years. Now, she’s back in the unquestioning arms of her loving husband, Kane. Where she’s been remains a mystery, but her past sins haunt her and bring deadly danger into the lives of the family. Meanwhile Aliyah, Kane’s mother, has worked hard for her position of power. She has never believed Lily is who she says she is, and will stop at nothing to expose her. Amy, Kane’s sister-in-law, has always been a pawn in the dangerous games this family plays. But she knows she deserves more, and will do anything to claim the biggest prize. Three women fight to outrun their pasts. But could they have more in common than they think? With the trademark emotional intensity and scorching sensuality of multimillion bestseller Sylvia Day, the dangerous and sultry Blacklist duology comes to its riveting conclusion.

My Thoughts

We started down this insane roller coaster in the first installment, not exacty sure what to make of the story, the characters and the dynamic. We know that there is a lot of history between the couples, the families and the businesses, and we’re not sure who’s really on what side.

We met Kane, the leading man of sorts – the one that built his business to survive, built his relationship for love and had it all shattered when his wife disappeared and was presumed dead. When she reappeared in the first book of this duet, we didn’t know what to make of it. Was it really her, why did she leave and what can’t she remember. What unfolded throughout that installment was a maze of questions – she either didn’t have answers for them or she didn’t want to answer them and that made us unsure if she was trustworthy. Kane believed her to the best of what we knew, but even he had to be smarter than it all.

Add to that – there was the interesting dynamic of his family – they are all imperfect in their own way and definitely unsure of who to trust – to each other and amongst each other.

One was painted as an alcoholic – but we learn that there’s much more to the story

One was paineted as a cheater and again, complex narrative

One was painted as the brother / son who was aloof

and one was painted as the controlling mother

What we learn throughout this second installment is that what we read and see is not at all the case and what we find out to be true really blows our mind. There are breakdowns, lies, and alliances that we never predicted and it sums up things exactly as this story was owed.

There’s also another story line to this book if that wasn’t all enough. We never knew the real story of Lily’s life and we get that in glimpses throughout this book. We see how she was raised, the woman that her mother was and as a result the woman that she was raised to be. We wonder where her mother is as we know that she can’t possibly be dead, and we find out in a round about and quite unexpected way where she is and how closely intertwined into things she is. There was a worry at one point that Lily was really her mother brought back, but then we find out that it’s so much messier and more twisted.

So, if you want a book that will keep you reading and on the edge of your seat, thrown around a bit and unsure what you’re going to learn next, this one is for you. IT’s a shame that so much was resolved, but wonderful that we got to see how it all played out. Enjoy!