Dissever by Tracey Ward

Dissever
Tracey Ward
4.5/5.0

First of all... how Tracey Ward isn't a household name is beyond me, because everything she has written so far has blown my mind.  In fact, I think her books may be slightly more addictive than crack.

That being said, it didn't take a whole lot of encouragement to get me to grab this on Amazon and read it.  However, I will admit that the whole premise of a historical paranormal romance based on Edgar Allen Poe's "Annabell Lee" certainly didn't hurt.

I have ever and always been perfectly and soundly in love with Ro.
Annabel Lee is growing up in the court of a hidden kingdom, one shrouded from the wars that ravish the outside world. Her father is cruel, her mother is kind and her heart now and always belongs to her greatest friend, Roarke. But he's an Outsider, an unwanted on the island, his people's existence the product of a horrible night over a hundred years ago. A night when an age old treaty was broken. When the sky rained fire and the sea raged deadly.
When tragedy strikes and a horrible accident leaves her friend broken and scarred, Anna begins to wonder if the "safety" of this hidden island is worth the price they pay. A price she herself is now expected to pay in full.

Can she save herself and an island that doesn't want saving? To even try, she'll have to fight fate, defy the gods and seek the help of an outsider. Of the love she cannot have. The one she will not live without.

I really fell hard for the characters in this book, even the supporting characters.

Annabell is fierce, and a force to be reckoned with despite her brutal upbringing.  Her father's attempts to make her into a meek, obedient daughter failed miserably.  If anything it made her stronger and more rebellious.... with just a touch of sarcasm.  She was easy to connect with and  I really wanted to be her friend... even if it meant certain death.  So I could absolutely understand why her friends were so desperate to save her.

Then you have Ro, who was just so damn easy to fall in love with.  He's got that witty charm thing down pat, and it doesn't hurt that all I saw every time someone described him was Bash from Reign... right down to those sexy blue eyes...

On a completely unrelated note - Go TeamBASH!

Then of course you have the Prince, Fredrick, who I honestly kind of hated for a minute because I thought he was sleazy and untrustworthy.  However, I did eventually decide he was pretty freaking awesome, and I'm kind of glad my silent urging for him to go jump off a cliff failed miserably.  

Then you have all the supporting characters: Annabell's friends, her mother, Patrick, and Ro's family - that are just truly amazing characters in their own rights that you can't help but love. 

The book begins with Annabell as a child.  Annabell is at the mercy of her father who uses her as his pawn to move himself up in society.  He is not above using cruelty and abuse to keep her in line.  Her entire life is planned and her every mistake severely punished.  Her only solitude is the mysterious maze on the castle grounds.  It's in this maze that she first meets Ro.  The two quickly form a forbidden friendship which over time becomes a forbidden love, and then... then things get crazy.  The rest of the book is pretty much a whirlwind of insanity that may or may not cause emotional whiplash.

 By the time it got to the actual climax, I was already kind of emotionally on edge trying to wrap my head around how in the hell this was all going to work out.

My list of emotional upheavals in this book looks about like that list....

The last few chapters just kinda threw me right on over the edge.  Those final few chapters where the shit hit the fan had me totally stressed out.  That's not a bad thing either.  I love when a book gets me so invested in the characters that I actually feel stressed and panicked about their situations.  Dissever had me totally freaking out and screaming at the book like a crazy person.

I want to spoil the ending so bad because it was soooo not what I was expecting to happen, but I can't do that.... so you'll just have to read it yourself.

This book is definitely going on my "favorites" shelf, and I would absolutely, without a doubt, recommend you read it!