Taunt Me will not disappoint!
I was fortunate enough to be given an ARC of Taunt Me in exchange for an honest review. Note: this review many contain spoilers/spoilery tidbits.
Taunt Me simply blew me away. Every scene was imbued with raw emotion and intense meaning. Every sentence perfectly encapsulated W and Chere's increasingly complex thoughts and feelings about themselves, about each other, and about their dynamic. Every word of this book added something to the plot, to the character development, and to the reader's own desire to follow W and Chere's story to the end.
Taunt Me picks up two and a half years after the end of Torment Me. Chere has left the world of escorting behind for good and completely isolated herself from people in every way, keeping her head down and keeping to herself as she works hard to graduate from design school and start a new life for herself. But no matter how hard she tries, she can't forget the mysterious W or the passion he wrought on her mind, body, and soul. During the day she is isolated, studious, and single-mindedly focused on starting her career; but at night, she haunts the BDSM clubs of Manhattan, lurking in the shadows, fervently and desperately hoping that she will someday run into W. Her sadness and despair over his leaving has turned mostly to anger: anger that he abandoned her, anger that she still feels something for him, anger that she knows no one else will ever be able to give her the pleasure he gave her. In her attempts to find closure, Chere finds herself wondering if the best way to move on from W is to submit to someone else...
Little does she know that a certain someone has been watching over her for the past two and a half years; watching her every move, watching her come into her own, and watching carefully to see just how far she will go to find the closure she seeks. At the first sign that Chere might be about to move on from him and his watchful, predatory protection, W springs to action. He comes back into Chere's life in the same possessive, obsessive, tortured, and roughly caring way with which he left it, and his return sends them both reeling. The W we see in Taunt Me is a far more complex and caring character than the W we met in Torment Me. Finally, we learn his name: Price T. Eriksen. Half of the book is told from Price's perspective, and seeing Chere through his eyes is a fresh and exciting experience. Entirely new facets of Price's past, personality, and his feelings for Chere are revealed, as these two hopelessly, beautifully imperfect characters collide with an intensity that will grab you from the get-go and keep you held tight in its clutches until the very end. Delightfully unexpected plot twists reveal just how much determination, obsession, passion, strength, and vulnerability lie between Price and Chere--just how much *love lies* between Price and Chere.
Taunt Me is every bit as rough, raw, and real as Torment Me. Needless to say, it took me on an incredible roller coaster of emotions. I was at times furious at Price, disappointed in Chere, scared of Price, proud of Chere, helplessly turned on by Price, jealous of Chere, devastated for Price...you get the idea. The one thing I would have liked to see more of was a deeper exploration into Price's past and why he is the way he is, but I have a feeling that will be fleshed out more fully in Trust Me, the third and final installment in the series. I have no doubt it will be worth the wait!
What makes Annabel Joseph so incredible is that she is able to make you fall in love with characters that you have no business falling in love with. Price and Chere are broken, flawed, and lost, and with every page you find yourself increasingly conflicted about whether they are exactly right for each other or completely wrong for each other. But by the time you get to the end (only of this installment; there's another one coming, so don't fret just yet!), you realize that their flaws and imperfections are what made you fall in love with these characters in the first place, because they are what makes them human. Yes, Price and Chere are seriously messed up. Yes, you may never completely understand why Price toys with Chere the way he does or why Chere is willing to give up so much of herself to fulfill Price's darkest demands. But there is something intoxicating about the way these two characters, with all their issues, come together so perfectly to fill the missing pieces in each other's lives and in each other's hearts. Somehow, they just fit.
There is so much more I could say about this book: there's laughter, there are tears, there's brain-melting, mind numbing, scorching passion, there's an adorable and affectionate gay best friend, cameo appearances from Henry, a bit of international travel...I could go on. But if you made it this far, I don't need to, because you must be as invested in these characters and their deliciously dark and depraved love story as I am. In which case, what are you waiting for?! Hit that 'Buy' button right now--you won't regret it.