A TRAGIC WRECK (Beautiful Mess #2) by T.K. Leigh

A TRAGIC WRECK
(Beautiful Mess #2)

by T.K. Leigh

ARC Review

Published: January 27, 2014

My rating: 3.5 of 4 ⭐️

After getting too emotionally attached to her lover Alexander, Olivia Adler runs, as she is prone to do. Having grown up without her parents left her with an inherent fear of abandonment which she continues to struggle with, solving it by leaving before she can be left. Alone in a cabin on a beach in Florida, she considers she may not have made a wise decision, having never felt quite this desolate before. When a neighbor who has had his eye on her for a few weeks finally approaches her with an invitation to dinner, Olivia wonders whether she should take his offer and join the land of the living again.

Alexander Burnham is devastated after Olivia ran out on him, disappearing without a trace. He tries hard to forget, but can't get the eyes of the girl who has haunted him most of his life out of his head. The girl he thought he lost once, many years ago and never expected to see again. Their pasts were connected in a way that was dangerous to her and she didn't have any idea, but he did and would stop at nothing to protect his Olibia. So when he gets a tip she might be in Florida he doesn't hesitate to try and chase her down. 

Finding her is one thing, convincing her to come home with him is something else and far more complex than Alexander had anticipated. 

****

I have serious whiplash!! 

Very conflicted feellings come with this book. On one hand more than once I actually cried tears while reading, something that rarely happens even in real life. On the other hand there were times, also quite a few, where I couldn't help but roll my eyes in exasperation. 

The story is of a high emotional intensity, that is for damn sure. At times it hits exactly the right depth and sometimes it goes just a bit too far or becomes just a tad too repetitive for my tastes. It also makes me wanna slap people upside the head for their stupidity!!

Alexander is keeping secrets that jeopardize his relationship with Olivia.....why?? In my view, those secrets won't necessarily harm their relationship, in fact, it may help resolve some of Olivia's daily trauma! Aside from that, it may explain to her why he is being so neurotic about her protection, which is a bane in her existence and cause for some conflict. In that sense he is as self-destructive as Olivia is, since undoubtedly the truth will come out at which point he will truly have been lying to her betraying her trust, giving her a GOOD reason to turn her back on him....duh!

Olivia needs some in-patient care.....she is seriously messed up and in the process is destructive and harmful to people close to her. She comes across as bi-polar, having the ability to turn on a dime in terms of her mood and her feelings. Her inner dialogue is a world all its own and her inability to properly communicate requires some long-term intensive treatment. As troublesome as her childhood may have been, her mental state has grown out of proportion and that is in part because people are pussyfooting around her instead of giving it to her straight. 

The chemistry between Alexander and Olivia is intense and the way it is described by T.K. Leigh is palpable. Her description of emotions is also above par and I am sure that is what caused my total emotion immersion in parts of the story. The writing is good and I enjoyed the use of language which seemed quite natural and unforced. 

What I missed was any proper development of the suspence factor of the backstory. Oh we get snippets of action here and there, little peeks and tastes, but there isn't any real cohesive build up anywhere. I'm sure the next book will provide resolution for that, but this is one of my issues with storylines that are broken up into instalments; the natural flow of the story is gone and there is no way to really judge the book properly without all its parts complete.

✨Tumultuous and highly emotional, taunting read!✨

**ARC provided in return for an honest review.**