Craves The Angst: REVIEW - SCARE CROW (Crow's Row #2) by Julie Hockley:

TITLE: Scare Crow
SERIES: Crow's Row
SERIES PLACEMENT: #2
AUTHOR: Julie Hockley
AGE GROUP: New Adult
GENRE: Romance
RELEASE DATE: March 25, 2014
PUBLISHED BY: iUniverse
FORMAT: eBook and Paperback
PAGES: Approx. 337

MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 4.5 Stars!
CLIFFHANGER: Yes!

BOOK BLURB:
Nineteen-year-old Emily Sheppard is losing her sanity. Ever since her mob king boyfriend, Cameron Hillard, abandoned her for her own good, Emmy has been attempting to move on with her charmed college student life as if nothing happened. Now rejected from the underworld and left grieving over Cameron’s alleged death, Emmy realizes she belongs nowhere. Worse yet, she is now keeping a dangerous secret.

After just a short time with Emily, Cameron has lost control over his world. As he miserably attempts to return to what is left of his life and unravel the mess he has made of the underworld, Emily’s hate turns to desperation. She needs to kill the kingpins responsible for Cameron’s death before they come looking for her. As Cameron secretly observes Emily, he has no idea of the danger he has placed her in—or that it may already be too late for him to save her.

Scare Crow is a tale of revenge, terror, and love as Emmy and Cameron embark on separate journeys to face enemies, correct past mistakes, and find their way to their destinies.

4.5 Emotional, Avenging Stars!

What A Ride! This Book May Not Have Been What I Expected, But It Was Amazing!

The Review:

We’ve been waiting a long time for Scare Crow but it was totally worth it. I fell in love with bad boy Cameron and good girl Emmy in book one. Their story was unconventional and in some ways heartbreaking and the end of the book gave me chills so I can honestly say I was eager for book two. And though the story didn’t go the way I thought it would, I wasn’t disappointed. It was never slow, going from Cameron’s POV as he deals in the drug trade, to Emily’s POV as she struggles with the events from book one, we are taken on an emotional, revenge plotting story.

Story...

Though this book was an fantastic read and I enjoyed it, nothing went down the way I imagined it would. We are taken pretty deep into the drug trade as Cameron sets out on a one man, dangerous mission of revenge. Emily is stricken with grief and an unexpected gift that is both overwhelming and traumatic as she’s not sure where to go or what to do.

This book picks up close to where Crow’s Row ended. Emily is living in her closet of a room with her roommates who have now come back from summer break. They can tell something happened to her as she’s bruised up and stays hidden in her room with her newly acquired dog, Meatball. They don’t know what's happened and she’s not talking.

She’s silently suffering the loss of Cameron who she truly believes is dead and her heart is broken. She’s going through the motions of life, trying to go to school, trying to be normal, trying to eat, but normal is no longer in her vocabulary and she feels as though she’s detached from her life. She’s lost everything.

Then there’s Cameron who silently watches Emily from a room across the street until his companions tell him he needs to focus on business and stay away from Emily before she sees him and learns the truth. This is where the story takes a turn I wasn’t expecting. It drifts from the love story of Emily and Cameron and on to Emily living her day to day life and Cameron trying to run his business. Told from alternating POV’s, they both still very much think of the other, to the point of obsession, but they don’t have any contact except in their dreams.

There was another part I was hoping it wouldn’t go “there” and was kind of disappointed it did. But my disappointment only lasted a short while. Once I realized this was the direction we were going, I jumped on the Scare Crow train and enjoyed the read. There was plenty of action to keep the story going and even though the mains weren’t together, they both had a lot going on in their lives, all of which kept me glued to the pages.

Quote Spotlight...

Waking up with a broken heart, if feels like being stabbed a million times by a jackhammer. I would wake up when all I wanted to do is sleep and never wake up again.

I thought the author did a great job with their intangible interactions. Even though we don't get any one on one time with Cameron and Emily until the very end, we see them explore their love through dreams and wishful thinking. Its romantic but also heartbreaking because these two NEED each other.

Cameron is on a suicide mission to get revenge for his brother and the life he believes he lost with Emily due to his career choices and the man responsible for the upheaval in their drug trading business. He goes on a solo killing spree, taking out the men responsible for that fateful night at his compound when everything changed.

Emily also has revenge on the brain and when Griff shows up unexpectedly at her doorstep, she finds she might have a partner in crime to help alleviate those feelings and help her with her mission. But she’s also got secrets she can’t trust anyone with, including one huge one that will put everyone she knows in jeopardy.

Characters...

Emmy was so sad and I loved her bravery and though I wanted her to come back with a vengeance and take down the people who hurt her so badly, I also think it wouldn’t have been true to her character. She’s this sweet, hauntingly sad girl that has a beautiful, bright soul, which is what Cameron fell in love with. Doing the things she needed to do to avenge those deaths all on her own would have made her someone unrecognizable to us, the readers. She would have to have taken a dark path to get there and then she wouldn’t be the bright light Cameron loved and needed.

Emily was lost. She tried to pick up the pieces of her old life but she just didn’t fit anymore. She went to school, she stayed in that dinky apartment with her roommates but that wasn’t who she was anymore and I felt like that part was forced on her. But she was also in a situation where she couldn’t leave.

Quote Spotlight...

There would never be another. For her or for me.After having had a taste, I knew what I was missing, and I couldn’t continue life if she weren’t next to me. I had been sending myself to an early grave because I couldn’t be Cameron without her.

Cameron was in so much pain, but it was a pain of his own making. He left Emily to protect her but it backfired completely, for both of them. Events unfolded and left both of them vulnerable. With not much hope of ever having his Emmy back, Cameron does some very risky things and sets in motion a plan that will ultimately end in tragedy. He’s trying to protect everyone but himself. I felt so bad for him but towards the end, he really pissed me off when it seemed he gave up ALL hope.

We also get to see a side story with Spider and Carly which was heartbreaking. Those two need a happy ending just as badly as Cameron and Emily do!

And poor Griffin. His unrequited love was so sad to watch play out! Griffin is a great guy but he’s in a situation I think is going to cause him more pain than anything.

We also get a deeper look into Emily’s home life with her parents who I have dubbed “Satan’s Groupies”. Those people need a reality check and quick!

FINALLY, at the end, there’s the reconnection we’ve all been waiting for, but by that point, it might just be too late....

Quote Spotlight...

Love,” he corrected. “Never loved, never supposedly. Love in the past, the present, and the always.”

And thats when book three comes in to play!!! YAY!!!

The Wrap Up:

Most of the story may not have gone the way I thought it would when I heard we were finally getting a book two, but I loved it anyhow. It was well written and I think it stayed true to the characters. But the angsts!! And the feels!! This book had them both, in bucket loads, which I loved. I also absolutely loved the ending! And it of course leaves off on a cliffy so I can’t wait for book three. I ~~want~~ NEED to know what comes next for all these characters.