Book Review – DECIEVED by Madisyn Carlin

Yup, yup, yup! I’m a talkin’ about DECEIVED again 😁. Difference is, now I’ve actually read the book and I’m here to share my thoughts, my feelings and any other craziness that may come with it!

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DECEIVED

In a land built upon lies and deception, uncovering the truth can be deadly.

Therese Westa is sick of death, but taking lives is what provides for her younger sisters. When a client approaches her with an unusual request, Therese takes the job offer, which includes the condition of “no questions asked”. As Therese uncovers the reason for the request, she is faced with a choice: kill an innocent man or save her sisters.

Therese’s hesitation to carry out the assassination thrusts her into the aftermath of a dangerous chain of events. Caught between security and truth, Therese must choose where her loyalties lie, for the answer will determine who survives.

Madisyn Carlin is a Christian, homeschool graduate, blogger, voracious bookdragon, and author. When not spending time with her family or trekking through the mountains, she weaves tales of redemption, faith, and action. Find her here: https://madismusingsblog.wordpress.com/

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My Thoughts

I think it’s really interesting how the back cover blurb only talks about Therese. So please don’t be too shocked when the first chapter starts off with someone else’s POV. This book is really about four individuals – and every chapter has a new POV. We jump between all four in a neat and orderly fashion – Holder, Therese, Rogan, Ivelle, repeat! And each POV is labeled at the beginning of the chapter, so I found it quite easy to jump back and forth between the foursome.

Mmmk, with that little bit out of the way lets really dive in. I loved all the main characters- Holder was such a dear – his care for the princess was really sweet. Therese was so desperate – she doesn’t want to, but she loves her sisters too much to leave them starving – so she does. Rogan tries to be tough, but he has such a hard life. And I think my favorite character is Ivelle – a fiery young soul with a rough past and a desire to learn the truth.

Ivelle’s “family” – oh I loved them. They were misguided, but they were awesome. The villains were awful, the heroes and heroines were epic.

This book was full of action! It kept me sucked right in and I couldn’t put it down! I really hate saying this, because I loved this book so much, but it didn’t quite meet my expectations. I was so hyped up for it, and don’t get me wrong it was EPIC, but maybe just not quite as epic as what was I was prepared for. Some of the action/injury/almost-killed-you scenes didn’t seem quite as serious/grave as I thought they should. How many times did Therese almost kill (spoiler 😁)? Many and by the end it just felt like it wasn’t as big of a deal as it should have been. Not sure why she wasn’t just told to kill him outright – she just kept sneaking in to plant criminal evidence in his bags. I would have rather had one big moment where she tries to kill him and just can’t.

The writing was beautiful and epic and grand and the themes and morals in the book were clear and well handled. It begs you to ask the question – What length will you go to for the truth?

The allegory is beautiful – I just – cannot wait for the next to books to learn more. This book introduced mysteries, solved some, and created more. And ugh – can I scream? The ending was just not okay. Totally not fair, Madi. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE UNTIL BOOK 2? Just, no! 😭 But you so have me sucked in – I’m committed to this series, so well done! 👏

There’s mentions of romantic relationships between side characters, and hints that there will be romance between MC’s in coming books. (Seeing as how romantic relationships are a part of life, unless it’s a main character romance, I usually don’t characterize side-character or already-married-character romance as making a book a romance. All that to say, this book isn’t being added to my romance-shelf. 😉)

There’s a lot of violence, assassinations, beatings, threats etc. Everyone has a different level of intense and violent where they draw the line. For me the book wasn’t too graphic or intense. I loved it. I hold non-Christians in a fantasy world to a much lower standards than I hold Christians in the real world. 🙂 I just can’t wait to these four truly discover the truth. And I need book two. Now? ASAP!

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Keep planting and watering, the harvest will come!

-autumn

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