Crow's Row: Julie Hockle

Woah....Just finished a bit of a reading marathon.  Or, at least it feels that way emotionally.  Julie Hockley's Crow's Row Series has me kind of reeling.  I feel like I've been through all of the drama myself and now that I'm not reading this book, I don't know what to do with myself.  I'll just give the blurb to the first book because the second blurb gets into spoiler territory.

Blurb:

For college student Emily Sheppard, the thought of spending a summer alone in New York is much more preferable than spending it in France with her parents. Just completing her freshman year at Callister University, Emily faces a quiet summer in the city slums, supporting herself by working at the campus library. During one of her jogs through the nearby cemetery while visiting her brother Bill's grave, Emily witnesses a brutal killing-and then she blacks out. When Emily regains consciousness, she realizes she's been kidnapped by a young crime boss and his gang. She is hurled into a secret underworld, wondering why she is still alive and for how long.

Held captive in rural Vermont, she tries to make sense of her situation and what it means. While uncovering secrets about her brother and his untimely death, Emily falls in love with her very rich and very dangerous captor, twenty-six year- old Cameron. She understands it's a forbidden love and one that won't allow her to return to her previous life. But love may not be enough to save Emily when no one even knows she is missing.

Review: 4 Stars

I didn't know much about this series when I started reading, aside from the blurb and there being some excitement about the second book coming out.  This books turns out to be a pretty stellar read that keeps you on the edge of your seat.  I'm only moderately interested in story lines about the underworld. But, I really couldn't put these books down.  

The romance side of this book is not straightforward by any means.  I am still not sure whether there is an element of Stockholm Syndrome going on here.   Cameron is an interesting anti-hero, though pretty frustrating at the same time.

Now the challenge is waiting for the third and final instalment in the series.  It took about 3 years to get the second book.  I'll probably have to re-read these books when the third book comes out.  

So - that pretty much tells you nothing about the books.  Suffice to say, they're worth the read and better to go in blind that know the storyline.