Illusion of Escape

Crystal Clear, Book 1

De: Lana Kole

Narrado por: Noelle Bridges

A nightmare is a fear your heart relates....

Solitude, serenity, and sanity are vital to Moriah Copeland's life. Focused on helping kids the system forgets, she is unaware of the powers she harbors deep in her soul. But at night, her vivid dreams waver between a scene of her worst nightmare, and a true confidant. Imagine her surprise when she realizes her dreams might be more than they seem, she suddenly has crazy magic powers, and three strange men crash a too good to be true second date for help finding their long-lost friend.

Loyalty means you don't quit....

Closer than brothers, Kaiser, Walker, Remington, and Levi are not one without the others. Since Walker's disappearance three years prior, they haven't been the same. Driven to find their lost comrade, they are not above breaking any laws, be they magekynd or human. When a fluke encounter alerts them to Mori's potential, they can't ignore their instincts.

Can they earn Mori's trust after kidnapping her or will she walk away from the crazy world she's been thrust into and the men who need her help?

Contains mature themes.

©2018 Lana Kole (P)2019 Tantor

Loved this Book!!!

So very well written!!! I couldn’t stop listening. The narrator and story were great!!! Can’t wait to listen to the next book in the series.

Suspenseful

Great book! It's the first in the series and does a great job building the characters and the world they live in. However, it does end in a cliffy.

Great storyline!

I really enjoyed this book and reading about Mori. I’ll be honest, at first I was unsure about it as it kind of starts in a weird way where I wasn’t really sure what was happening. But then it snap into place and I feel head over heels for this. Awesome concept, definitely unique and can’t wait for the next book! Also... LOVED the audiobook!!

Honestly, there was SO much wrong with this

The book opened with the FMC admitting she was sexually assaulted by a client at work the night before. It becomes a horrible shitshow because the dude is a politician, and the FMC doesn't want to go forward with an accusation - she knows it will be a mess of victim blaming, and bullying, because he's a pretty popular dude, and she just doesn't want to deal ... much less cause a problem for the non-profit she works for.

Boss agrees to follow her wishes, and then immediately goes behind her back giving the whole story to the media, who publish an article with her name. It blows up like literally every fucking woman on the planet knows it would, douche politician blames her, there is uproar, and boss apologizes but he's going to have to let her go.

And FMC is fine with it. Disappointed, but not mad, basically apologizes to them for the mess, tells her HR friend (who should be worried about getting fucking sued, some HR lady) not to cry, it is fine.

Thus revealing the kind of utter spineless dipshit she is going to be in this series. She has no agency, no spine, no fucking thought in her head.

That night - literally! - she goes out with her HR lady bestie, who springs a blind date on her. Her, the woman who was just sexually assaulted and is getting slammed in the media.

FMC again rolls with it. Hey, whatevs, right? And he's hot, so cool.

They have a great night, and she likes him (this is Remi). They hang out all the next day, make plans to go out that night. And that night ... HE FUCKING KIDNAPS HER WITH HIS BUDDIES. One is snarling and standing over her, telling her to fucking behave or he'll use this rope on her (Kai, the biggest bag of shit dude standing in for the RH trope of total asshole who finally comes around). She passes out in all the chaos and upset. Wakes up in the morning in some random bed, and Remi is there. She's kind of mad, but he's hot and she wants to get an explanation. Kai storms into the room and slams her to the wall to snarl about I don't even know, generic tough guy bullshit about doing what he says or whatever stupid shit. She rolls with all of it, and kind of likes them, even imagining getting in Kai's pants.

This chick who was just fucking sexually assaulted. It's okay because he's hot, I guess. Worst fucking trope in romance.

She has apparently been psychically connecting to their long-lost friend, and they want her help to find him. From there, over the course of like a single day of training, she develops super mage powers and apparently like every known mage ability, in the most appalling bit of Mary Sue run ever. I mean, a DAY?!

That night they tell her their grand plan is to go to this strip club the next day so they can spy on the mages there. And she's going to be their cover, giving them a lap dance so no one notices they are spying. And SHE AGREES! This recently sexually assaulted lady, kidnapped by these fucks a DAY ago, agrees to go to the strip club and dance for them, for this nonsense reason. Like, what? Why can't they just fucking go to the club like a normal fucking person attending? It is such contrived bullshit. And it predictably ends with sex in the fucking strip club.

Meanwhile, Kai keeps being an utter bag of shit. He makes the most horrible, cutting comments. Like, the next day he tells her that them kidnapping her was the best thing that ever happened to her in her pathetic life. My jaw was on the floor.

Look, I hate the romance thing where there is a complete asshole that the FMC for some reason adores, and just accepts all the abuse because she just wants to have sex with him. I hate it even more when she doesn't even stand up for herself, or give him any consequences for his shit. Eventually the dick always decides he wants her, and he crooks his finger and she flops on the floor with her legs spread. It is so fucking disgusting. And this is the WORST of that.

And the kicker (which actually made me laugh so hard I choked on my coffee)? Kai the enormous shitbag is apparently a trained fucking counselor. LOOOOOOOOOOL This motherfucker is the least well-adjusted person on the planet, constantly treating other people like shit as he takes out his pathetic man-child issues on them, and I'm supposed to believe he is a counselor? Hahahahahahaha!!

She has no personality. She's a Mary Sue blow up doll. I hated pretty much all of it.

So why did I finish it? I don't honestly know. Mostly I was curious to know more about the system of magic and the mage community. But it doesn't seem to have structure. Like ... there don't seem to be leaders in the community, and the powers just ... appear and work in whatever way the Mary Sue needs them to. She spontaneously develops them as a situation calls for it. So I think I'm looking for a system where none exists.

And quickly on the Mary Sue thing, look, I like a little Mary Sue to my FMC. I like them to be powerful, fierce, able to handle a situation. But if every situation ends with them spontaneously having a new ability that solves it - like when she's caught at the end of the book, and is suddenly able to explode the magic-nullifying cuffs off her ... with no explanation or elaboration - it is too much.

no depth

Honestly this book was very shallow and poorly written. i feel as though the author put no thought into what types of plots or scenerios within the book. I finished it so it gets 2 stars because it wasn't unbearable it just unremarkable

Couldn't Finish

I am so disappointed. The story held such great promise and the narration is terrific. Then the story took an unbelievable turn. I don't think I will be disclosing any spoilers. The MC is a single woman who grew up in the foster system. She now works for a charitable organization that helps at risk youth. Her best friend, a married woman with kids, works with her. While discussing a work matter involving a potential donor who is an influential man running for office, the MC is pushed to reveal that she was sexually groped by this man. The incident occurred as she was waiting for a cab after having dinner with him (a dinner she attended for the sole purpose of getting him to donate to the organization). MC is reluctant to tell her boss about the incident for fear that going against this powerful man would harm, plus the tendency for society to blame the victim. But when she considers that this man could come in contact with children and the risk that posed, she decides she must tell her boss but asks him not to go to the media. And of course he does just that. Really?! And of course the accused tells the media that she was a drunk who came onto him and he had to fight her off. Now her boss is sorry but even though he believes her she has to be suspended because of negative news coverage that she's a drunk working with kids. MC is upset but reins in her emotions in order to comfort her friend who is crying. They make plans to meet up that evening for a girls night. After packing up her stuff she exits the building and is met by a barrage of news photographers and reporters. No one from her job helped escort her out through that?! Then when she meets her best friend for their girls night her best friend has her husband show up bringing a blind date for the MC! This is just too farfetched!!! The MC has just had her picture and story of sexual assault spread all over the news, accused of lying and being a drunk then fired and her best friend thinks showing up to girls night with a blind date is just the cure to her troubles?!?! Too ridiculous!!!