Thursday 7 August 2014

R.L. Griffin ~ Review ~ Heart in Wire (By A Thread 4)


Book Description:
 
 This book has spoilers in it if you haven't read the By A Thread series yet, you may not want to read the synopsis. This is a companion book to that series and I highly suggest reading it first.

Have you ever been involved in an epic love story where you wound up alone? Have you devoted yourself so completely to someone that you lost yourself in their abyss?

Patrick Greer spent the past five years revolving around El. He fought like hell to not feel the emotions for her that were hidden deep in his gut, until he couldn't anymore. He was so sure of them, of her, of what they were to each other, until he wasn't.

Patrick couldn't even imagine the things he'd done for her, with her and to her. El broke him.

He was a liar, a friend, a lover, a fixer, a runner and a killer.

Now he had to figure out who he was without her.

*There are adult situations, tons of cussing and you may enjoy this book with an adult beverage.
 
 
Graphic by Sherry Anne Pryor
 
Our Review
 
**ARC received for honest review**
 
Reviewed by Donna ~ 5 Stars

“The wire that squeezed his heart was painful on a normal day, but he’d punctured it and now he was bleeding the fuck out.”

Firstly I would highly recommend that you read the By A Thread series before reading this book if you have not done so already (By A Thread, Tension and Seamless). Heart In Wire is Patrick’s version of events during those three books. This is in no way whatsoever a re-telling of the series, it is so much more. This book is extremely insightful; this book will make you reassess everything you thought you knew. Opinions will change, alliances will change everything will change. We get Patrick’s back story and his story after El, there was still so much to learn about Patrick Greer.

So there was I thinking that the amazing By A Thread series was complete, yet I always thought that there were a few characters that still had a story to be told, one of them being Patrick. So you can imagine my excitement when RL Griffin announced that in fact Patrick’s voice wanted to be heard, her head was swimming with his story and his comments and she needed to put pen to paper. In all honesty I have felt a plethora of emotions towards Patrick, I liked him, felt sorry for him, admired him, pitied him, I hated him and my heart broke for him. The friendship that he and El shared was beautiful, but we know how that ended up, yes he did screw it up, royally, but he had his reasons and it was those reasons that I wanted answered. I wanted to know why he chose the path that he did, I wanted to know his reasoning’s, how he justified himself, but moreover, I just wanted to know the “real” Patrick. I knew there was more to the man and after we had ended the By A Thread series with killer scenes that decimated my heart for him, I actually felt sorry for him and this actually tore my heart in two because I loved George, but I couldn’t help feel sorry for Patrick. Although El reciprocated his love to a certain extent and I do believe you can love two people, he was not the path El chose and by reading I could tell that this destroyed him and it destroyed me too.

Patrick, what can I say, El was “his person” I always knew, deep down that he loved her, he went above and beyond what any friend would have done given the circumstances, no matter what, Patrick was always there for her. I think that when reading the BaT series, you are so wrapped up in El’s story and living what she went through and endured you don’t actually see her selfish side and this is highlighted throughout this book. I saw El with different eyes in this book and I didn’t like it, I didn’t want to see her that way, but with what she going on in her life you kind of understood, she had to look out for numero uno. It is only after reading Patrick’s side of the same story that you understand the mixed signals and his confusion, this was by no means one way traffic and El was forever reeling him in and then letting him go. All I could think about throughout this book was the pain that Patrick was going through watching the woman that he was in love with completely and unconditionally, falls in love with somebody else and move on. My heart bled and my eyes wept.

Billy in his moments of genius summed this up perfectly, but this is so true and for me was the killer line…

“You’re holding her hand because you want to; she’s holding yours because she needs to.”

Finally, Patrick thinks he has the opening that he has always wanted, what he dreamt of getting and yet again he was used and tossed aside, whilst the circumstances were not the best and you could say that Patrick took advantage, it meant so much to him, it was the culmination of years of all-encompassing love for El and he finally thought he had “his person,” but alas no. His pain and his torment flooded the pages, I cried…a lot!

P is for pain; Patrick goes through it all in this book, especially mentally. Pain at keeping secrets, pain with his conscience, pain through Stella’s rejection, pain with the aftermath and pain in grief.

A is for alliances, his friendship with Billy is priceless, he is just who Patrick needs and we further see their dynamic throughout this book. I must say, I love Billy. New alliances, especially with Jesse, these two together were a kind of a “dream team” they fed off each other, their friendship was needed on both sides and it was treasured, they are kind of kindred spirits. They all had one thing in common, their love for El and their need to protect her, no matter the cost or the consequences.

T is for Truth, the truth always hurts and none more so than in this book, there are lots of truths that are exposed, the whys explain a lot and you could see that Patrick was stuck between a rock and a hard place and the longer they stayed a lie the harder it was to tell the truth. Truth of feelings and emotions, Patrick spilled them, El rejected them, painful to read, painful to understand, my heart and head were tormented.

R is for Retribution and none more so for Jamie, but and it is a big BUT, I actually felt for Jamie in this book before he went crazy. His phone calls to Patrick were heart breaking, again you see another side and you can’t help but feel sorry for him, but the undercover work changeth the man and the only way Jamie would be stopped was death.

I is for Intimacy, Patrick tries to overcome his rejection but cannot seem to take that next step no matter how hard he tries. It takes a while for him to put himself out there again and while you are happy that he does, you can’t help but feel he is settling for second best. You want him to have a happy ever after, he certainly deserves it, but has El permanently scarred his heart? At least he may have found his wire cutters.

“She’s the wire and you are the bolt cutters I needed.”

C is for a Clean Slate, he needs to move on and does so more out of necessity, he could not survive being around El so he goes for a complete black out, El becomes Voldemort, she who shall not be named. This I could understand, but there was so much he needed to know and again when they are reunited it is painful, extremely painful.

K is for Karma, there is a lot of it dished out in this book. I was happy with the ending, I knew in my heart of hearts El was meant to be with George but I couldn’t help but have wild thoughts as to how I could get my way. As tortured as I was this book made me switch allegiances from George to Patrick, something I never thought was possible.

In summary RL Griffin nailed this one, never has her writing been so emotive, I lived and breathed Patrick’s pain in this book and this is my favourite book of hers so far. I love a book that makes me “feel” and this certainly did that in spades. The growth in RL Griffin’s writing is clear as day and I am so glad that while trawling Goodreads, I came across By A Thread. This is one series where the characters have become my friends, they are like a family and I am incredibly lucky to have been on this roller coaster of a journey with them. I still feel there are more stories to be told, especially Jesse and Billy and I know Millie will have a tale to tell. I am not ready to see them go so will be hounding RL Griffin to continue. That is the beauty of this series, all the characters have burrowed themselves into my heart and not many authors have achieved that.

One thing I will leave you with is we still have humour; this scene had me cracking up!

"So, as you can see, this side of the room is newly decorated. I call it ‘police tape chic.’ And do admire the blood splatter and brains on the wall—not everyone has such modern art in their home! Though I think I may need to do some redecorating." 
 
Buy Links:
 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a R.L. Griffin Prize pack here: http://www.theromancecover.com/2014/08/rl-griffin-day-reviews-exclusive-posts.html

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