fantastic second instalment

Taunt Me (Rough Love #2) by Annabel Joseph
4 stars!!

“Love always hurts.”
“No…Love always lies.”

I couldn’t wait to dive into this one after the ending of Torment Me and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. Yes, the dynamic is totally different in this one but none of that intensity is missing. Taunt Me is set two and a half years later after Torment Me and W is still missing…or is he?

Chere is coming to the end of her studies and has been doing extremely well, she certainly has a flair for her chosen art form, one that hasn’t gone unnoticed by one of her tutors. The only thing that is missing from Chere’s life is a man. While she has her gay BBF who is absolutely adorable she is finally beginning to feel the need for male company but her head is saying something else. Her head cannot forget W, she cannot forget him, she still wants him, she still dreams about him…she needs closure.

“He had fucked me up completely within the space of two months. Years later, the wounds stull lingered, festering emotion and unsettled angst.”

W as we know is an Alpha, a sadist and extremely possessive and he looks after those he deems as his and Chere is definitely his. Absence definitely makes the heart grow fonder, even if that absence is self-induced but as I said W is a sadist and he has been tormenting himself. He has been keeping tabs on Chere and as painful as it is, to him it is the right thing, he wants her to find herself, he wants her to fly but the longer they are apart, the harder it is.

“Chere thought the worst thing between us was the leaving. She was wrong. The worst thing was what I had started wanting from her by the end, what I still wanted from her with inappropriate intensity: her tears and misery, her trembling surrender, and my selfish perversity unhinging her soul.”

We find out so much in this book, especially about W and we find out his name. W is broken himself and as far as he is concerned he cannot love or be loved, even though that is the furthest thing from the truth, after all actions speak louder than words. The more I learn about him the more I love him, I should be scared, I should be wary of his creepy stalker tendencies but underneath all this is a man that is in love even if he cannot admit it.

“How many stars in your bowl?
How many shadows in your soul?”

Will these two meet again? Will W show his hand? Will Chere let him back in? I cannot wait for book three, there is something about this couple that has really stuck in my heart and head. Chere is such a lovely character, you want her to find happiness, you want her to be loved and while on the outside it seems W is not the man I actually think that these two are crazily suited to each other. They just need to find a balance.

“…She’s not like the other ones. That was the danger. She wasn’t like the other ones. She didn’t just want my cock or my money. She was after my fucking soul.”

www.theromancecover.com