It’s said that your life flashes before your eyes when you die.
It must only happen to those whose lives were worthy.
Clearly, mine was not.
The only thing that happened to me was a repeat of what I thought was my death.
The blast of the gun as it went off.
The loss of my breath as two hundred pounds of dead weight dropped on top of me.
And then darkness.
This replayed over and over.
…
This replayed over and over.
When the guy squatted down next to me and asked if I was hurt, the only thing I could see, feel,
hear, were those few seconds.
Even now, as I sat in the back of a blacked out van—it was the only thing that ran through my mind.
Gunshot, breath, darkness.
more
I don’t know how many times my heart stuttered, stopped and then restarted reading this book. It’s an exciting page turner that I devoured in mere hours. I didn’t want to put it down.
God I forgot how quick you fall in love with Nate in the book. Like he is supposed to be the bad guy but you find out that’s it’s completely not true. Throughout this book you find out more about who Bailey is and how she came to be this timid creature who just enjoys existing. But you really find out about who Nate is. @jaymcleanauthor gave her best character development on Nate in the book that I have ever read. .
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While reading you have the same questions as Nate, Tiny, and Bailey. Is Bailey’s and Nate’s love really Stockholm syndrome? Can you even call it that when he is only trying to keep her safe? Can their love last or is she going to start to hate him for having to hide in a basement everyday? Then I asked the same questions that Nate finally voiced near the end: Why didn’t he help her change identifies and move her somewhere far away if he was just trying to save her?
.
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At the end of this book you end up really messed up in your own head, because I never wanted both men to end up with the girl (and I am not talking about a RH) I just found it really hard to choose. Even reading this a second time through and know how these two stories go, while reading Combative I really want Madison with Kyler, but reading Redemptive I really want Bailey with Nate. Jay hinted that Destructive is Nate’s book and said it’s not going to be what we think. All I know is that I am so freaking excited to finally get to read the third book. But totally scared of how I will feel when I am done.
This series is some of this authors best work, a different story that leaves you breathless, straddling a line between what good and bad are…what love looks like and who deserves it more? At the end of book one Combative I was left shocked, wide eyed, heart racing and thinking I knew exactly what I needed from book two when it came out. In my readers mind I had drawn up the perfect scenario to bridge book one to book three.
I. Got. It. All. Wrong.
The beauty of Jay’s books is you think you know what you need from her stories. She delivers something totally different and you end the second book not remembering why you wanted what you did in the first place. Make sense? Probably not..unless you have read this and then BAM it does. She’s a creative mastermind that tweaks, toys, floats in emotions you didn’t know you could feel within the pages of a story. So immersed in what’s happening you forget where reality ends and fiction begins. It’s a gift really, a talent to mess with your mind, but in way that makes you left wanting to thank her, and beg for book three
This is LOVE people. READ THIS SERIES!
I wish it was possible to give a book more than 5 stars because Redemptive absolutely deserves it.
This book is not a standalone; you need to read Combative first. After the cliffhanger ending of Combative, I really thought some of those questions would be answered. Sadly, most were not but the feeling that there is something is completely off about Madison is absolutely explained.
Redemptive is a look at Bailey/Madison’s life before she meets Ky. At first, I thought, when are we going to learn about what happened to Ky???? By Chapter 3, it was like, wait Ky who? Redemptive has completely changed my outlook on the characters introduced in Combative but I am glad to find out Bailey’s story after Madison’s. Something about the flashback just makes total sense. If you knew the backstory first then I feel like Combative just wouldn’t have been as powerful.
This book ends on a cliffhanger and has serious potential to give you a huge book hangover! Combative and Redemptive were my first books by this author but she writes stories that stay with you long after you read the last page which makes me want to read everything she has published. I’ll be impatiently waiting for Book 3 in this series!!!!
* I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review*
I went into this book expecting to pick up where I left off. However, I was instantly WTFing as we take it back a bit. Relationships are explored and questions are answered…only to feel turned around and have many more questions arise.
The relationship explored this round made was exciting and satisfying. It will make you question where your loyalties lie.
Redemptive is a slow ride up and a thrilling, emotional, and mind boggling descent.
“I feel your pain. I live your fear.”
Someone told me that to not give away any spoilers for this book, I should write how I feel after finishing. How do I feel? I feel like Ron Burgundy when he’s standing in a phone booth. I’m in a glass case of emotion. How am I supposed to feel? I’m not sure that I have ever been SO conflicted and in love with a story at the same time. I can’t tell you much of anything about this book, plot wise. I can tell you that it’s one hell of a journey and you don’t want to miss a single second of this story.
Madison/Bailey, I think it’s safe to talk about her. Damn, the character development on this girl is insane. I dare you, no… I triple dog dare you not to fall in love with HER. This is coming from me, who called her a few choice names at the end of Combative. Just, wow. The connection between this leading lady and you (the reader) is simply unparalleled by any other book. Her isolation, desperation, innocence, and overall story is freaking brilliant. I could feel myself losing my sanity as she slipped further and further away from who she was, which happens to be one of my absolute favorite things to experience while reading. When she cried, my stomach sank. When she laughed, she lit up MY room. Yeah, it’s safe to say that I have a girl crush. The strength that this one woman possesses is freaking beautiful. I love her. I adore her. I feel stabby towards anyone who might want to harm her or give her anything other than the amazing happily ever after that she deserves.
“But I also found myself drowning, sinking, unable to breathe from the weight of my so-called peace, and I questioned everything I felt and tried to match it with how she felt and I couldn’t. I couldn’t find the truth between the web of lies we’d created.”
Jay McLean, I know how much you love Batman. Anyone who has read Boy Toy Chronicles or bothered to research you at all knows that you are a batgirl all day, every day. But to me, you’re Spiderwoman. Sorry, I’m not sorry. If you didn’t want to be associated with Spidey, you shouldn’t spin such breathtaking, intricate and complex emotional webs for your readers to get lost in. I feel like throwing on some 90’s No Doubt to express my feelings about this story! Yeah, hello… sorry I am NOT (emotionally) home right now because I am still trapped in Jay’s spiderwebs.
“It’s like small flames burning a whole in my memory, one flicker at a time and I don’t actually realize I’m missing something, or longing for it until something sets it off.”
Holy wow. I’ll be honest with you, Combative was a little rocky for me but after reading Redemptive suddenly everything fits together like some masterful puzzle. I have never seen two books tie together so seamlessly and yet SO differently. As with all other McLean books, it’s hauntingly genius and perfectly done. I have no doubts that this will end up being one of my favorite trilogies of all time. ALL TIME, people. Now, when can I get my hands on book 3?!
“If I could explain in words my rise and fall, my success and demise, it would be two thousand five hundred and sixty-eight.”
Well she has done it again, being that this series is a trilogy here’s me thinking we will pick up where we left off from Combative but oh no Jay McLean doesn’t make it that simple. No what she does is leaves us with more questions and wtf moments and i love it.
This book was so not what i was expecting in a good way, it was good to get Maddison/Baileys back story and really get to know her and find out what’s happened and why she is the way she is.
I love how Jay McLean has everything going in full circle and how there are connections i didn’t see coming, i know I’m being vague but this book has to be read with not knowing too much i feel anyway, i went in blind didn’t even read the synopsis or blurb and it was probably the best thing i did.
This is going to be a short review because i don’t want to give anything away but it so worth the read and i will wait forever for the third book i don’t care if it takes Jay McLean 10 years to write this book because i would rather wait then her rush and i get a fantastic third book.
Loved it loved it massive 5 Stars now my problem is what to read next i fear i will be in a book funk