Review: Taking Tessa by Aria Cole


Note: This ARC was provided by TRSoR Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

Insta-love novellas aren't necessarily hit or miss with me. I know that insta-love is going to be waiting for me and that isn't really an issue as far as I'm concerned. However, when it comes to insta-love, I want some sort of premise to go with it, where the idea of love actually forming is, at the very least, plausible. I need that connection between the main characters to exist. The more palpable, the better, because then I won't sit around wondering how the hell these two people can actually qualify what they're feeling as love when there wasn't even that spark in the beginning. In the case of Taking Tessa, insta-love led to my insta-meh.

Since the death of her mother, Tessa Talbot has had to live with the increasingly erratic behavior of her stepfather, who refuses to let her step anywhere outside the house. Now nineteen, she dreams of being able to live a life free of his controlling ways, and the answer to her prayers may come in the form of a police officer who knows a thing or two about Tessa's stepfather. Eleven years her senior, Cage West wants nothing more than to protect the girl who has yet to live the kind of life girls her age should be living. But even if Tessa goes with Cage, will she ever truly be free from her stepfather's unstable clutches?

Tessa is supposed to be this innocent girl who's barely an adult and has lived an extremely sheltered life but she doesn't act like it once she's with Cage. But hey, maybe she's just excited to try new experiences and have lots of sex with a guy that's fueling her. I get it. However, it was difficult for me to reconcile her actions with this sheltered girl. And then there's Cage, who, for a supposedly intelligent cop bent on getting justice and going after Tessa's stepfather, does NOTHING. Hello?! Are you kidding me?! As for the love aspect, I wasn't convinced. In heat? Yep. In love? Nope. I so wasn't taken by Taking Tessa. Two stars. ♥

Date Read: 28 September 2016

Learn more about Aria Cole.

Purchase Taking Tessa on Amazon.

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