Into the Hollow (EiT 6) ~ 4 Stars
Into the Hollow kicks off shortly after the events of On Demon Wings. Perry has been to the hospital and passed her Mental health assessment and Dex has been released from jail with the help of the Douchecanoe, Maximus.
Perry now realises that she can no longer stay at home with her parents she must move out or constantly be worrying about what her mum might do. But where can she go? She's got two options really, stay with Maximus or Dex. Feeling like she has no choice she decides to move in with Dex as a roommate, but things are strained between them with all that has happened between them in the past.
Feeling like she needs to move out of Dex's to save her friendship with him, she needs money fast, and needing money means needing a job. With little hope in that department, the perfect opportunity arises when she is asked back to the Experiment in Terror show, but not as presenter, as cameraman!
The duo set off for the Canadian Rockies to follow up on reports of a Sasquatch. Perry believes she is in no danger as the camera person but also because she doesn't believe in Sasquatches. That's not all Perry's got to look out for though, she has to look out for her heart. With Dex now free and single and realising that he wants Perry, he is going to try and win her back. But Perry can't trust Dex again, her heart will never survive, even if her body is making her confused. There is too much anger there, she thinks she no longer loves him. This isn't going to stop Dex though.
"Perry, when I fuck you, you're going to want it. And you're going to be sober. I don't just want your body in all of this. I want everything. You soul too."
But Perry was too quick to dismiss the danger in the woods, there is something out there, some sort of monster and it's tracking them just as much as they are tracking it. If that wasn't enough their weird guide keeps eying up Perry, and they don't know who they can trust - maybe the danger will come from closer to home too.
I absolutely loved the relationship storyline in this book. Perry was so adamant that she was not letting Dex in and Dex was determined to win her back. There were lots of lows for them in this book and I felt it was very angsty. My heart broke for Dex so many times, he was trying so hard and I went highlighting mad with some of the sweet things he said to Perry, but I think you need to experience them yourselves. Perry did come to some realisations though:
Perry: "I don't know why I thought being the camera person would keep me out of danger..I guess I always felt like you were removed from everything. You know, being the host, you have to go first. I, mean, you always had me out there ahead of you. I had to face everything alone. At least that's what it felt like. I just assumed you were never as scared as I was, that you weren't at risk. But... now I know you were. You've been with me every step of the way. Every scary door you made me open, you were right behind me... Now I know. We've always been in this together."
Dex: "Im glad you finally caught up"
The Sasquatch side of the story wasn't my favourite of the EiT they've done, I will admit that at one point I did think that it wasn't as good as the others, but actually everything that was going on between Dex and Perry made up for that, but the story did build and by the end of their experience, I did actually feel that a lot had happened to them and my view changed. I don't think any EiT book will ever be as scary as I found Dead Sky Morning though, so the bar is high!
Dex and Perry both discover they have new "gifts" after their experience in On Demon Wings, I think Perry's is very cool and I looking forward to finding more out about Dex's as its still a slight mystery!
I really enjoyed the ending, but I do worry about where things are going to head now. Things are never easy for Dex and Perry! Im really looking forward to Come Alive.
And With Madness Comes the Light (EiT 6.5) ~ 5 Stars
This is a little short novella told from Dex's POV. It starts right at the end of Lying Season (EiT 4) after Perry has left him and goes through to the End of On Demon Wings (EiT 5). With On Demon Wings told from Perry's POV and Dex not around for most of the book, you don't know what he is getting up to, how he is feeling after the events of the ending of Lying season and so this book shows you that.
This is not an easy time for Dex, he has just lost his best friend, who he realises he is totally in love with.
"I love her. More than anyone should love anything. The kind f love that either fills you up or eats away at you. I love her at my own risk. I love her..... Dangerously."
But in true Dex style, he mucked it up and now he is suffering, Perry is not answering any calls or emails, he knows he's lost her.
"That was the ball-sucking thing about heartache. It didn't follow logic or physics or any sort of rules. It wasn't that you started off in absolute grief and then slowly got better. It was a rollercoaster of emotions, from hate to love and back again. Each day was different. It was a roll of the dice, a turn of the cards."
"Of course being happy for her made me feel more miserable for me. Call me a selfish dickmonkey, but its hard to be happy for someone when you can't share their happiness with them."
Hitting bottom, Dex decides he is going to be a better man and starts his journey to becoming Dex 2.0. But when he hears from Little Fifteen that Perry is in trouble, His world turns upside down again.
"Perry was still the most important thing in the world to me. Knowing she was out there was painful enough. But knowing that she might not ever be out there again.... That was something I couldn't live with."
I loved reading from Dex's POV, I always feel like I understand him better, his choices and decisions. He comes across as a Douche sometimes but actually when you are reading from his POV he is so not like that (well mostly anyway!) You get to see his depth of feelings for Perry in this book but also his devastation at losing her, the hurt he caused and the knowledge of his & Perry's loss. I really enjoyed it, but my only complaint is that it was only an novella and I want a whole book from Dex's POV - Luckily for me the next book in the Series, Come Alive (out 23rd June!) is told entirely from Dex's POV and its a full length book! I cannot wait to read it.
Books in the Experiment in Terror Series:
Darkhouse (#1)
Red Fox (#2)
The Benson (#2.5)
Dead Sky Morning (#3)
Lying Season (#4)
On Demon Wings (#5)
Old Blood (#5.5)
The Dex-Files (#5.7)
Into the Hollow (#6)
And With Madness Comes the Light (#6.5)
Come Alive (#7) ~ Expected release 23rd June
Ashes to Ashes (#8) ~ Coming winter 2013
Our Reviews:
Experiment in Terror Books 1-5 ~ click here
Experiment in Terror Books 5.5 & 5.7 ~ click here
*round of applause* Great review!! I LOVED the way Dex fought for Perry in Into the Hollow. He went all out. I will never look at space blankets the same way. LOL!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Megan, honestly if there was any doubt that I was in love with Dex, that was totally blasted away at the way he fought for her then.
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