Never Let You Go by Monica Murphy

Title: Never Let You Go (Never Tear Us Apart #2)

Author: Monica Murphy

Publisher: Bantam

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Perfect for readers of Colleen Hoover, Jay Crowonver, and K.A. Tucker, the second novel in this darkly sexy contemporary series from bestselling author Monica Murphy wraps up an emotionally powerful two-part tale of forbidden love.

The truth hurts, they say—and my pain cuts deep. While I was falling for Ethan, he was deceiving me the entire time. He help a huge secret, protected by his lies. When I discovered what he was hiding, the truth shook my world, threatening to ruin us forever. Ruin me. But I soon realized that what we share can’t be destroyed.

The connection between us is too strong. It always has been. I can’t deny him any longer. And I can’t deny my truth: I’m in love with Ethan.

I don’t want to let him go.

While we’re trying our best to make this relationship work, other forces are fighting against us. My family, who wants to keep me safe. The media obsessed with my tragic past. The public that feeds off of it. Even Ethan’s father—the man who nearly destroyed me all those years ago. He’s doing his best to finish the job.

Despite my love for Ethan, the doubts creep in, clouding my mind. Is he worth the pain? Will our love survive, or will we have no choice but to end it—end us—once and for all?

I read Monica Murphy’s Never Tear Us Apart earlier this year and it left me completely desperate to read the sequel. Much like with the first book, Never Let You Go was dark and at times the romance was twisted, but through it all it never stopped feeling real.

Now that she knows the truth about Ethan and his connection to her past, Katie isn’t sure she can trust him anymore. But Ethan is also the only person who will ever come close to understanding what she went through all those years ago during the worse days of her life. And though she wants to hate him, Katie also misses having Ethan in her life. Katie might be willing to forgive Ethan for his deception and make their relationship work, but it sometimes feel like the whole world is working against them. They’ll have to fight to be together, and just when they think they have a shot at their happy ending, their past will come back to haunt them one more time.

After reading Monica Murphy’s Never Tear Us Apart earlier this year and feeling completely raw and conflicted about everything I was feeling about the story and its characters. Oh, and I needed to read Never Let You Go as soon as possible. The only problem with that was that at the time, Never Let You Go wasn’t available. But then a couple of weeks ago it landed on my Kindle and I dropped pretty much everything to devour it. And when I say devour, I mean devour. I struggled to put my Kindle down the entire time I was reading. And that’s because the story was just that good. Where Never Tear Us Apart had me constantly back and forth about how I felt about the romance, with Never Let You Go, I was on-board right from page one. After seeing Ethan/Will and Katie struggle through their feelings for each other and what having a relationship with one another meant, I understood, like they did, that there was no one better suited for them than each other. Much like with the first book, this story was emotional roller-coaster ride that never really let up. But that’s what made the story so fantastic and engaging. 

I loved seeing how different Katie was in Never Let You Go compared to how she was in Never Tear Us Apart. Where in the first book she was just surviving, barely venturing out into the world, in this second book she really came into her own. She wasn’t afraid to say what she thought and do what she wanted, even when it cost her. She was coming to terms with her past and the fact that she didn’t have to let it define her future, despite what everyone around her was telling her. I loved seeing Katie become that strong person I knew she was based on everything she had gone through. As much as Katie grew over the course of these two books, I feel like that’s even more true for Ethan. Never Let You Go felt like it was very much about him coming to terms who he is and not let himself be defined by his father’s actions. That process of accepting himself was reflected, in a way, in the the chapter titles and the way he went from being Ethan to accepting that he was also Will. And I loved the by accepting who they were, horrifying past and all, they were able to come together and build something strong. 

Monica Murphy’s Never Let You Go beautifully concluded the story that began in Never Tear Us Apart. Though it wasn’t always easy to read and broken my heart on more than one occasion, it was the conclusion that Katie and Will deserved.

Never Tear Us Apart by Monica Murphy

Title: Never Tear Us Apart

Author: Monica Murphy 

Publisher: Bantam

Release Date: January 5, 2016

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Perfect for readers of Colleen Hoover, Jay Crownover, and K.A. Tucker, the first novel in this darkly sexy contemporary series from bestselling author Monica Murphy kicks off an emotionally powerful two-part tale of forbidden love.

Crazy how eight years can disappear in an instant. One look at Katie Watts, and I’m a fifteen-year-old again—the one who risked everything to save a terrified girl from her twisted kidnapper. She’s a grown-p now—beautiful, quiet, composed—and telling her story to the world. A story that involves me in more ways than you can imagine. She used to call me her guardian angel. Sure, I risked my life, but she was worth dying for.

I need to make contact with her. Just to ensure that she’s safe.

Somehow we reconnect. we become friends…but I want more. I want to make her mine. And she wants me too. Does she know who I am? Has she figured me out? Not yet. But she will. In the meantime, I need to make sure that whatever hold that animal had on her is gone.

So, yeah, I’m stealing these moments with her. Savoring them. Knowing, dreading, that she’ll soon find out who I really am. And everything will fall apart. All because of that twisted, perverted monster sitting on death row. Her kidnapper. A convicted serial killer. 

My father.

I love my fun and happy romance stories. In fact, they tend to be my favourite. But sometimes, I like it when things are darker, when I have complicated feelings about the romance. And that’s exactly what happened with Monica Murphy’s Never Tear Us Apart.

For the past eight years Katherine Watts has been trying to move on with her life. She believes doing this TV interview about her kidnapping, and her rescue by her kidnapper’s son, eight years earlier is going to be the first step to putting her past behind her. But after the interview, Katherine is still uncomfortable going out in public, she still prefers staying home. And she is still afraid of men. Except when she meets Ethan after he chases away purse thieves. With Ethan, Katherine fills instantly safe. She can’t explain it, but she knows she wants to spend time with him. And Katherine isn’t the only one to feel that connection. Ethan knows exactly who Katherine is. He’s known her for years. And though he knows exactly who she is, Katherine doesn’t recognize him. Ethan knows he needs to tell Katherine the truth, but telling Katherine the truth will only hurt her. And even after all these years, the last thing he wants to do is hurt her.

In the past year, I’ve read a lot of Monica Murphy’s books. If I’m counting and remembering things right, I think I’ve read about six. And when I say in the past year, it’s actually more like the past 8 months or so. So I guess you could say that I like her books. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even need to know what one of her books is about, I just want to read it based on the fact that Monica Murphy wrote it. Which brings me to Never Tear Us Apart. I thought I knew what it was about. But I was wrong. It wasn’t until I picked up the book after having it for a couple weeks that I realized how dark and potentially twisted it was going to be. Once I realized that, Never Tear Us Apart pretty much jumped to the top of my TBR. And the story was as dark and twisted as the description had led me to believe it would be. I mean, this is the story of a girl who was abducted and raped when she was 12 before being saved by her abductor’s son, and now 8 years later, she reconnects with said son but doesn’t recognize him. Except that he knows exactly who she is. Like I said, twisted. And dark. But oh so good. It was a different kind of story and a different kind of romance, but it worked. And I need the sequel because I have to know how this will all come together.

With Never Tear Us Apart, you kind of get four characters for the price of two. What I mean by that is that you get Katie in the past and Katie in the present, and the same goes for Ethan. It was interesting to see the ways they had changed over time, to see the ways they had been affected by the same event. And to see the way that they are still thinking about what happened, about each other even though, at the start of the story, they don’t know what happened to the other in the years since the trial. And then there was the romance. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so conflicted about a romance. And about my feelings about said romance. To say it’s complicated is putting it mildly. I really like the idea of Ethan and Katie together, especially when I’m reading things from Katie’s perspective. It was like she came alive again when she was around Ethan, she was able to be herself and she was comfortable around him. And I wanted that for Katie, more than anything. But then the story would switch over to Ethan’s perspective and then I wasn’t so sure about their relationship anymore. I wanted them to be together but Etna needed to man up and come clean and tell her who he really was. But then I kind of also understood why he wasn’t telling her and he felt horrible for not telling her. And did I mention that I had complicated feelings about this romance and that I was conflicted about my own feelings? 

What does it say about me that I loved how dark and twisted Monica Murphy’s Never Tear Us Apart was? Because I truly did. Despite all my complicated feelings, I loved this story and I desperately need to know what’s going to happen in Never Let You Go.