Splinter

Reliquary Series, Book 2

By: Sarah Fine

Narrated by: Carly Robins

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Mattie Carver has relinquished the world of magic, with all its dark temptations. In six weeks, she'll marry Ben Ward and claim the safe, small-town life she craves. But Mattie's talents as a reliquary - someone able to smuggle magic within her body - make her a valuable commodity, even to those she trusts the most. Forced out of retirement by a painful betrayal, she must seek the help of the man she's tried desperately to stay away from: Ben's estranged brother, Asa.

Asa, a sensor and magic dealer, may have saved Ben months ago, but he's complicated Mattie's life beyond imagining. Trailed by lethal mobsters through Chicago's seamy magical underbelly and an eerie traveling carnival, Mattie struggles to endure the priceless magic she's holding and her feelings for Asa. Once, she thought she'd chosen her path. Now the only option may be to succumb to the destiny that's choosing her, and hope she's strong enough to survive.

©2016 Sarah Fine (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Finally!!!

Absolutely loved the ending. I like how even before the book ended, we knew she’d made her decision. She stopped being the victim. She stopped whining and started putting some work in. Kudos. I was seriously worried but this ended well.

Splinter Audible Review

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters and the excitement of their interaction between them. I hated what Ben, Mattie’s fiancé, did to her and hated how she kept holding onto the dreams and hopes that everything was going to be ok with them. I loved the interaction between Mattie & Avis, how they both kept resisting the way that they were continuously being drawn closer and closer together. I really loved how Gracie took to Mattie almost immediately and loved her unconditionally and seemed to sense that Mattie & Avis belonged together.

Sarah Fine is one of my favorite authors & I’ll read or listen to anything she puts out. Also, Carly Robbins did an excellent job with the narration she really put herself into her performance. Bravo!

loved the whole book, and the characters.

the narrator was awesome. Sarah Fine is a great author, want to read all her books.

Good Series; Excellent Narration

Book 2 is also excellent, though I at times wanted to shake the MC for her thought, actions, and behaviors. She just handles things in a way that is quite different from me, though that should be expected, as she is not me.

This book suffers under the illusion of a love triangle, though it's clear one point of the triangle doesn't belong in the equation.

Mixed feelings continue

This book is pretty similar to the first. I still love Asa's character, and still want to punch Mattie for her stupidity when it comes to her fiance. This dragged on way to long, and I almost wanted to quit in protest. It was pretty ridiculous. The things Ben does in this book are beyond unacceptable, but Mattie stays with him like an abused puppy.

That said, there were some good adventures, and Asa makes the other frustrations worth while. He is always there to fix everything and take care of her. Mattie even has some heroic moments and saves him in places too. Some other new and interesting characters are also introduced.

Mattie finally redeems herself, but it takes up until the final minutes of the book to do so.

I loved it, but for..

Is Mattie strong or weak? In general she is depicted as strong... complex, ignorant of the real world and scared, but also confident, strong and brave. And, always smart. But yet with her fiancé she’s ridiculously stupid and weak. It didn’t fit her character. Maybe if he had not done SO many traitorous deeds I would have understood her desire to hang on; but he did, over and over. I understood she was hanging into an entire self portrait of her future, but he’s not the only boring white collar GQ in town. And his character was all over the place. Was he a compassionate pet lover or a canine foe? Is he addicted to magic, or doesn’t care about it? Is he intuitive and caring, or totally oblivious and selfish? Is he super smart and manipulative, or just dumb and pushy? We’re all complex, but you cant be all THOSE things at one time. He jumped around so much that he wasn’t believable.

Love Asa and Gracie. Love “Eve.” Love how the Asa - Mattie trust and vulnerability plays out. Love their hot tension... although the story basis would have allowed for more steamy scenes, and I missed the intense intimacy of the first book. I also thought some of the danger scenes went on way too long... I get “out of the frying pan into the fire...” but must we then try the bbq, boiling kettle and foreman grill?

Thank you for having characters that aren’t 17!!!

To be fair, I was captivated and stayed up into the wee hours on a work night just to know what would happen.., and I’m moving on to book three... right now! Fingers crossed for more steam!

Exciting

Kept me on edge. I had no idea what was going to happen next. Makes me wonder what book 3 is about.

Just 1 thing wrong...

Where was Mattie's anger? Seriously! Asa was right to question that and I was too. I don't want to spoil anything but I wish she had let go and gone OFF on a certain someone at least ONCE! Other than that, I thought it was a great second book. Full of danger, adventure and a little heat (maybe needs more of that in book 3). Also, I like that there are surprises in this book and I can't always figure out the outcome. Can't wait for book 3.

AWESOME

I adore this story line and LOVE the Author.... I would most definitely recommend this series to anyone who likes gritty mythological characters that are seeded in the true legends of these creatures. . not the fluffy sparkle fairytale's of the present

Love it

Story is brilliant and the narrator too! Love the characters and the performance makes it come
to life