Forever Obsession: Pure Illusion

ASIN: B00E8OX9E8

Pages: 429

Appearance:

Summary:

~~Sex~~. Lies. Pain. Mystery.
Flooded by a wave of thick misery because of her brother’s sudden death, Isabel Waters turns to drastic measures to end her ever-present suffering. She is unprepared when Hunter Knight, her long-term tormentor and former best friend, intervenes and saves her. Hunter has been absent from her life for a while now. The reason is unknown to Isabel.
But surly he has an ulterior motive of his own?
Isabel is focused on one task: complete and utter self-destruction. But that changes when she receives an anonymous message from Tyler’s, laptop. Isabel soon learns that there is a murderer concealed within the small southern town of Cherry Creek, North Carolina.
Old flames and old tormentors re-strike as Isabel begins to disentangle the vast web of mystery. Can a less than amateur detective with a disturbing history and distracted mind put the missing pieces together and identify the individual or individuals responsible? Or is the web of deceit spun too intricately to ever be unraveled?
WARNING: contains vulgar language, lascivious behavior, and ~~crude sex~~. This novel is intended for mature audiences 18+

Hey everybody! Welcome back to the blog! Today, I have a review of Pure Illusions by Michelle Watson. Um...I'm just going to say outright, please make sure you're over 18 for this because it can get pretty darn disturbing. With that said, let's get into the review!

Okay, I should have listened to the warning, but I was so intrigued by the summary. I have a weak spot for emotional stories and I thought hey it can't be that bad right? Well, I was wrong...really really wrong. There's a lot of language to the point where you just cringe every time the f bomb is dropped. The language I guess is there to enhance the story, but it really went over the top. The crude scenes also have you shuddering and wincing every single time. I don't think I went through one paragraph of that story without making a weird face. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but the author was just so visual with her words it was slightly disturbing.

Isabel Water is extremely emotional and unstable. Her dad committed suicide, her mother committed suicide, and her brother jumped off Suicide Bridge (but he was pushed). She is 100% done with life. Throughout the book she doesn't alternate much between a depressed suicidal girl and extremely hormonal one. I honestly did not understand her for most of the book. I wanted to feel bad for her, but I just couldn't. She is a very complex character and is so emotionally weak that to connect with her feels emotionally draining.

Hunter Knight is well, really crude, vulgar, and confusing. He's super bipolar and can be Mr. Gentleman one minute and abusive monster the next. From the summary I thought he was going to be save Isabel from her dark and bottomless pit of despair but I think he only ended up pushing her deeper. He's got some series baggage and should really consider getting some help for his anger management. Needless to say, he thoroughly creeped me out.

Max (forgot his last name) can probably be one of the characters that I actually like. He was horrible to Isabel in high school but as an adult he has 10x more humanity in him than Hunter. When Isabel is being hormonal, he pushes her away so she doesn't hurt herself and do something she regrets. When she gets in trouble, he's there to help. I was so annoyed when Isabel ran back to Hunter every single freaking time because Max actually showed her compassion and kindness without the crazy mood swings.

So in conclusion, this book carries some deep emotional baggage and I wouldn't recommend it to people under the age of 25, not even 18. It's not a badly written book it's just so heavy and stressful to read that by the end, I was so sick and done. There are some memorable quotes that really stick with you, but other than that...not much. Lesson learned, don't pick up books with a mature warning...

People never truly know you until you die, that's when your soul is really free of limitation and heavy confines that living cause.

Remember within this world of reverie, trust your two eyes and heartbeat.

If you look close enough, you can see it cracking. If you listen intently, you can hear it breaking. If you touch it, you'll get cut. There are so many pieces, too many sharp pieces.

Blinded first by the beauty that killed her. Invisible.

You're wings. They're broken. You need to fix them so you can fly again. (Derrick)

Pain is a greedy and vengeful thing. It doesn't care who it burns. The inferno you have within you will char people; some might not be able to endure the blaze.

Princesses always need a knight to look after her, even if she's stronger than he will ever be.

The best part of special is that you don't have to fit in. Just be you. I'm sure everyone will come flocking then.