Review: Bring Me to Ruin by Tess Rider

14 April of 2016 by Jean

Reviewer's Rating: 5

5.0Overall score

A trip through time that is unbelievably awesome!

Bring Me to Ruin By Tess Rider

SyFy / Fantasy Time Travel DystopianRomance

Released April 12, 2016

The Life Romantic Press

Series: The Haunted Hollow, Book 1

Synopsis

The Haunted Hollow ~ Book One

“You and he are fated to love. Nothing in this universe can stand between that kind of attraction. It crosses time, space and everything else in between… Love is a force of nature.”

The last thing Thea Maloney expects the day after her first love, Gerard Wyatt, is executed for a crime he didn’t commit, is a chance to travel to the 22nd Century to a place called the Haunted Hollow. There time has splintered into hundreds of timelines and a savage ghost war has ravaged the planet. One man stands between what remains of the human race and extinction, a man known only as The General. A man who also happens to be another version of Gerard.

Thea’s mission in this haunted place is to solve the riddle of the broken timelines and show the General the power of love before he makes a choice that will doom them all. But how do you convince a man who already thinks you’re the enemy and who’s known only horror his entire life that you’re his soulmate?

Raised in the trenches of the Great Ghost War, the General lives and breathes only one thing. Death. His enclave of ghost hunters and refugees is all that’s left of the human race and he will do anything to reverse humanity’s fate, even if it means rewriting history in a bold gambit to turn back time.

What he doesn’t count on is the arrival of Thea Maloney, a woman who makes him feel things he’s never experienced before. He knows he should keep his distance from her, but it gets more difficult with each increasingly sensual encounter. Was she sent to seduce and spy on him, or worse, sabotage the enclave from the inside? Or could she be the one person who can save them all?

Review

Reviewed by Jean

A trip through time that is unbelievably awesome!

I don’t think I’ve read a book in quite some time this involved and intense with plot twists and different elements… elements that totally rocked. Besides the time travel / time dimension aspects, you have the core involvement of the paranormal and fantasy with the zombie-like ghost army, fae, witches, gods, and magic. That alone would sell me on the story, then Ms. Rider introduced the 22nd century with its cybernetically enhanced survivors of the shattered timelines. The residents of the Haunted Hollow time bubble are a mishmash from different timelines. And they all have one thing in common… they were saved from the ghost army by the General. But war hasn’t been kind to the General and as things become direr he seems to lose what little humanity he was born with.

Abandoned in the mines beneath the Hollows at the age of four, Gerard aka the General hasn’t had an easy life. His life has revolved around fighting the ghost war and saving as many people from his timeline ventures as he can. He pretty much runs the Hollows with the help of a council of original Hollows descendants. But don’t tell anyone, the General is suffering from some major mommy issues. He keeps the men in his army and the men on the council totally in the know… not so the women. His secrets machinations abound and he suspects everyone. When Thea Maloney lands in the Hollow she becomes the center of every one of his suspicions. She’s also the center of every one of his desires.

Thea Maloney absolutely loved the Gerard in her timeline. He was her best bud since childhood and watching him be falsely accused, sentenced then executed for a crime he didn’t commit left her with an overwhelming grief and sense of guilt. Being a mystery writer, Thea is devastated that her detecting abilities failed her when it came to proving Gerard innocent. But before she’s allowed to wallow in her guilt and misery she’s sent to the future to save the shattered dimensions and humankind from annihilation. And what a mission she’s been given… teach the Gerard of the 22nd century to love and heal the rifts in time. Can anyone say “tall order?” How in the world do you teach an apparently unfeeling, domineering, tyrant to love? But the more she gets to know the General the more she comes to realize that the exterior package in no way represents the whole of the man.

Bring Me to Ruin is a powerhouse of action, danger, exceptionally deep characters in a blend of subgenres that will totally ensnare you. The romance that builds between Thea and the General is emotional and hot. I have to admit with the chemistry between these two I couldn’t help wondering how the heck Thea and her timeline Gerard ever remained best friends only. This is one read I truly couldn’t put down. I lost just a bit of sleep with my emotions fully engaged and a deep-seated need to know what would happen next. You’re really gonna like Bring Me to Ruin if you like stories that twist and turn, keep you on the edge and constantly guessing. And if you like books that defy narrow definitions then you’ll definitely love this one.