2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I tore through Torn!, December 21, 2008
This review is from: TORN (Kindle Edition)
You know how you're always drawn to things you shouldn't be? Torn by Christina Brunkhorst takes that theme and thrusts it (literally) into the Limelight by taking the ultimate "What If?" scenario and dropping it smackdab among the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. ...okay, so technically not Hollywood, but Hollywood via the set of its biggest as-yet-to-be-released blockbuster movie being filmed in Montana.
The What If? What if you found your soul mate in the most unexpected of places... and they were already married?
That's exactly what happens when hottie hollywood legend Tyler Benson meets Chelsea Morgan on the set. After a slight tantrum by the film's leading lady leaves the role vacant, Chelsea finds herself moved up the ranks from extra (funny commentary on Montana and its populace in that scene) to star. But Tyler and Chelsea soon find that the faux role of "husband and wife" feels all too real. That wouldn't be a problem if they weren't already married to *other* people.
Things are even further complicated by the realization that Chelsea's life with said husband and their children is actually... nice. It's a nice home. A happy home. But for Chelsea there's something missing. You can feel the shadow of it hanging over the story but not quite put your finger on it. It really is a masterful twist when the truth is revealed, but I won't give it away as I think it's one of the story's laugh out loud OMG! that's geniusly evil! moments every reader must experience for themselves.
Tyler, however, isn't so lucky. He's married to quite the Hollywood shrew, pretty much home-less, childless, and totally miserable. The more time he spends with Chelsea - and by extension her family - the more he sees what his life is missing... the deeper he falls for her... the more suspicious Chelsea's husband becomes.
By the end of the book things are super complicated and I, as a reader, was torn about which characters I liked, didn't like, was rooting for and wasn't... but that's the way life is. It's messy, it's complicated and until you know all the secrets and all the truths, you're not sure how to feel about things. But what I love was that Brunkhorst wrote a story where nobody is totally bad here and nobody is totally "good" either. It makes for an intriguing read and -- while I didn't think this story would be my "thing" as the idea of adultery and affairs, etc., is not an easy subject to broach, Brunkhorst tackles it well (not to mention with some steamy love scenes). But the main reason I gave this story its 4 star rating is because despite all of this (or maybe because of it), the story pulls you in. It makes you read on and it makes you want to finish because you *have* to know how it ends. There aren't many stories I can say that about. Torn is definitely one of them.
Torn takes you from remote Montana to Hollywood. From snowy hills to the bright red carpet. It's a clash not only of cultures (as Hollywood invades Montana) but of racism, ethics, morals and beliefs, and it challenges the readers to think about soul mates, love, marriage and where faith and fate fit in.
Torn is going to be one of those books where readers will each walk away with something different -- definitely different opinions on the characters, whose to blame for what, who deserved what they got and who got off lucky -- and I love books like that because it's the kind of story that gets people talking and will definitely lead to some great conversations with friends over lunch! Readers will be torn about Torn, and I can't wait to read what other readers think in their reviews.
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