Run To You: Second Glance + Third Charm

RUN TO YOU
Part Two: Second Glance
Clara Kensie
Paranormal Young Adult
Ebook, serial novel
HarlequinTEEN
Available Now
Source: e-ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Part Two in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger…

Tessa Carson has unlocked her heart and her secrets to Tristan Walker—but Tristan has secrets of his own, and his might just mean the end of Tessa’s family. Unaware, Tessa embraces falling in love and being herself for the first time since she was attacked when she was only eight years old. But secrets can’t be run from forever, and sometimes love is too good to be true…

MY THOUGHTS
Part two of Run to You builds beautifully on the first, finally revealing in full exactly what happened to Tessa and her family to send them running for their lives, and while the reason why their family was targeted seems like a bit of an extreme reaction to an investigative journalist’s articles, we can’t help but be grateful some of the confusion resulting from book one is cleared up. What’s so fascinating about reading this story in sections is the way various pieces of information are tied together, forcing our brains to work just a little bit harder to recall expertly placed clues; ones that seemed small or insignificant in our initial pass only to have a later event trigger their importance and relevance to the story as we know it thus far. In the same vein, given part two is still but a piece of the whole even when combined with part one, we are left to gleefully wonder what events the concluding third might offer that will make things we may have unknowingly glossed over in Second Glance slide perfectly into place.

Though largely an improvement upon First Sight, Second Glance is still predominantly plot-driven, so those readers who revel in character subtleties and complexities will likely be a touch disappointed on that front. Tessa, her family, and Tristan remain fairly superficial for us, our time with them always seeming to move quickly; their story a river full of rapids rather than a smoothly flowing stream. The romance between Tessa and Tristan continues to remain shallower than we might like, declarations of love cast about with an ease that has us questioning the sincerity of their sentiments, but despite those niggles, there’s a highly addictive quality to this second installment that has us flipping the pages with impressive speed.

The concluding chapters of Second Glance absolutely fly by, our hearts pounding out an erratic rhythm as we try and make sense of the deliciously unexpected. We’re left with one of those revelations that, should it prove to be true in part three, will make us completely reevaluate everything we’ve read, the desire to return to the beginning and sift through each chapter with a fine-tooth comb on the hunt for previously-missed foreshadowing suddenly one we’re not sure we can refuse.

Rating: 4/5

RUN TO YOU
Part Three: Third Charm
Clara Kensie
Paranormal Young Adult
Ebook, serial novel
HarlequinTEEN
Available Now
Source: e-ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Part Three in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger…

Betrayed, heartbroken, and determined to save her family, Tessa Carson refuses to give in to Tristan Walker’s pleas for forgiveness. But her own awakening psychic gift won’t let her rest until she uncovers the truth about her family and her past. And Tristan is the only one who can help her sift through the secrets to find the truth hidden in all the lies…

MY THOUGHTS
The third installment of the Run to You serial brings with it a very different type of confusion than we experienced in part one; this the type borne of two seemingly opposing truths that require a great deal of questioning and soul-searching in order to sniff out which is actually an impressively constructed lie. We find ourselves in much the same state as Tessa after the shocking parting line of Second Glance, trying to sort through what we thought we knew about everyone and everything in her life up until that point, though where she despairs of all she’s learned, we can’t help but be perversely gleeful over the fact that Ms. Kensie threw us a curveball that promptly flew right by us and struck us out.

Tessa has been someone we’ve enjoyed spending time with throughout, her story drawing us in deeper and deeper with each installment until we’re eschewing all real-world responsibilities in favor of reading, but she remains someone we can’t help but wish was a bit stronger. Part of her apparent meekness stems from her entire family handling her with kid gloves given she’s the only one of them without a paranormal ability, and it's clear she's learned to view herself through the skewed filter of their eyes rather than her own. She has moments of fire in this last installment though, flashes of strong will and determination that let us know so much more lurks beneath the girl whose entire life has been ruled by fear.

There are still a few small drawbacks to the relationship between Tessa and Tristan that prevent us from fully embracing their love, but things between them are at their most interesting in this third installment, and Third Charm proves to be the strongest of the three parts in terms of their romantic development. We’re left with many of our questions answered and the main conflict with regard to who’s been terrorizing Tessa’s family wrapped up nicely, but there’s one main aspect of Tessa’s life left wide open for us to explore when Ms. Kensie’s next three part serial releases. Overall, Tessa and Tristan’s story is definitely one I look forward to continuing, especially now that Tessa has shown she’s got more than a little fight in her.

Rating: 4/5

Find Run To You:

Amazon • B&N • iBooks • Harlequin • Kobo • Indigo • Sony

Find Clara:

Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Facebook • Tumblr • Instagram