Escaping Reality: The Secret Life of Amy Bensen by Lisa Renee Jones

This book has been on my "to-read" list for quite some time now and I've finally had the chance to dig into it. I knew very little of Lisa Renee Jones prior to reading this book, but knew that this novel came highly recommended by a lot of the book blogs I follow. I'll start out by just saying, WOW!

Synopsis

Recommended for 17+ due to mature themes and sexual content

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?

Review
This story. Wow. I was drawn in right away. I will warn you that by the end of the book you'll still be saying "Ok, I still want to know what's going on with Amy" and generally this ticks me off if I'm still really clueless about a character. But Lisa Renee Jones has some super special talent where even though you don't know the full back-story on the character, you're still drawn in to care deeply for that character. I'm still uncertain about who to trust and not trust in the story, but that has kept it exciting for me. Liam and Amy do get into this little "insta-love" situation that some people find annoying. I find it intriguing...especially when executed properly. Escaping Reality was executed properly....let me tell you. I was captivated right from the start and it held my interest throughout.

I don't have much time to read here recently (which really irritates me as well) but I found myself opening my Kindle app any extra second I had to try and get a little reading done on this novel. There were multiple nights that I stayed awake way later than I should have, just to see what was going to happen. I haven't had this with a novel for a while now. I would have to say this hasn't happened to me since "Losing Hope" by Colleen Hoover....and that's saying something.

Lisa Renee Jones has a few other series out which I haven't had the opportunity to tackle yet, but they have definitely moved up significantly in my "to-read" list after catching this one. Plus, don't forget that there will be sequel to Escaping Reality coming out soon.

Purchase Links:
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Reality-contemporary-Romance-ebook/dp/B00CSIXEF0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1380153967&sr=1-1&keywords=lisa+renee+jones
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Reality-Secret-Bensen-Volume/dp/0985817089/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1380153967&sr=1-1

*And just so you know, the Kindle version is 99 cents, and definitely worth it 100 times over!

Up Next:
"Torn" by K.A. Robinson 

Real by Katy Evans

So, it's been forever since I finished reading this book and I just haven't had a chance to write the review for it. I'm halfway through my next book and decided I needed to take the moment to write up this review.

I'll start by saying that this book came highly recommended to me and it intrigued me that the male lead in this book, Remy, beat out my beloved Travis Maddox (Beautiful Disaster/Walking Disaster) in a contest of favorite bad boy male leads in books. Travis Maddox is my #1 bad boy, so knowing that majority of the female population likes Remy more really had me interested in checking out this book.

Synopsis
An indie phenomenon and New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller, the first in a heartwrenching New Adult series about a beautiful young sports rehab specialist who can't fight her attraction to a dangerously sexy underground fighter.

A fallen boxer.
A woman with a broken dream.
A competition…

He even makes me forget my name. One night was all it took, and I forgot everything and anything except the sexy fighter in the ring who sets my mind ablaze and my body on fire with wanting…

Remington Tate is the strongest, most confusing man I’ve ever met in my life.

He’s the star of the dangerous underground fighting circuit, and I’m drawn to him as I’ve never been drawn to anything in my life. I forget who I am, what I want, with just one look from him. When he’s near, I need to remind myself that I am strong–but he is stronger. And now it’s my job to keep his body working like a perfect machine, his taut muscles primed and ready to break the bones of his next opponents...

But the one he’s most threatening to, now, is me.

I want him. I want him without fear. Without reservations.

If only I knew for sure what it is that he wants from me?

Review
I must say that I was disappointed in this book. This may have been the fact that I had extremely high hopes and I was trying to compare the characters to Travis & Abby the whole time, but I just felt like something was missing...until probably the last 50 pages. That last 50 pages finally pulled me into the story. I hate to say that I was bored with the story most of the time, but I kept reading because I just wanted to see what everyone else was seeing in Remy. Yes, there were parts that had me swooning over Remy, but most of the time I was just down-right confused, as I know Brooke was in most of the book.

The book had way too much back story and the love story aspect developed way too slowly for me to really be pulled into the overall story and really feel a connection to the characters. Then at about the 50 page mark of the book, I got really upset with Brooke (I won't give away what happens, but when you get there, you'll understand). I almost felt like I didn't want to continue reading. But I pushed through and finished. With the ending, I'm still not happy with Brooke, but I like Remy a bit more.

How the story ended really drew me in and now I have to read the second book in the series, "Mine" that is being released in November.

I would have just liked to see this book develop into the relationship between Remy and Brooke and little sooner. It was also slightly bothersome to me that it would seem like the story gave all of the details about what was going on in the time frame, and then you'd get to a part which would flash back and you'd realize that you didn't actually get the whole story as it was happening. I'm sure I'm not describing this aspect of the book well, but you'll understand it when you get to it.

Overall, I think it was a good book and worth the read, just going into it not having as high of expectations as I did and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I absolutely loved Beautiful Disaster/Walking Disaster and I loved how that story and the characters were developed, so having the characters of that book compared to "Real" made me really hope I would be blown away, and I wasn't.

I would have to give "Real" about a 3 1/2 stars. I hate to do it, but it's just what I have to do considering feeling greatly let down. I'll still read the rest of the series and I'm hoping that I feel more connection the characters in the books yet to come.

Purchase Links:
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Real-ebook/dp/B00CRAMM02/ref=pd_sim_kstore_4
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Real-The-REAL-Katy-Evans/dp/1476755590/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Up Next: Escaping Reality by Lisa Renee Jones

*And yes, I realize that I said I'd have a review of "City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare soon, but I've just been having a really hard time reading paperback books lately....but Kindle has just been too convenient. But I promise to still give a review on that one soon as well!