“We’re all so afraid of what everyone around us thinks that we risk ourselves to desperation. It’s utterly stupid. It’s utterly frightening. But it’s utterly human.”It pains me to say this as I totally loved Vain, but Greed just did not do it for me. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. The book was like a 3 course meal, the starter was good, the main course was a bit bland and the pudding was the best bit.
Greed is the second book in the Seven Deadly Sins series, each book having a story relating to that particular sin. This is Spencer Blackwell’s book. Spencer is dictated to by his father, what he says goes. Spencer has to do some very under hand and awful things to keep on his father’s good side. Whilst I can see he was somewhat motivated by “Greed” I just felt that there could have been a better way of expressing this particular deadly sin. Spencer wasn’t happy with what he was doing, in fact he hated it, but he was doing it to get enough money so that he could set up on his own and escape the wrath and domination of his father. His actions made him physically sick, but to him it was a means to an end. His hand is forced sooner than he planned when something goes down between his family and his sister. In order to protect her, they both have to run.
They end up on a cattle ranch in Montana, taken in by a truly amazing family. I loved all of them! This is where the “Greed” point is also totally deserted. Spencer totally transforms into a different person, everything he does is to keep his sister safe, totally sacrificing everything he has been building for his own escape. Whilst in Montana he meets a girl called Cricket except she is already taken, she has a long term boyfriend called Ethan, but no matter, Spencer is total enthralled and captivated by her. Something however is keeping her tied to Ethan and this does not get revealed until near the end.
“I’m saying that I don’t just want to be friendly with you, Cricket. I want all of you. I want to be able to taste your lips whenever I feel like it, feel your skin, wrap my arms around your waist. I want to be with you utterly, and I won’t take anything else but your entirety.”
I found the time that they spent on the ranch a bit bland, as I said in my introduction it fell a bit flat here. Love triangles are always marmite, you either love them or hate them. I do enjoy a good love triangle but I felt nothing really during this one. Ethan was hardly mentioned and Spencer was just under some magic spell as far as Cricket was concerned. I didn’t really connect with them as a couple and I felt that the chemistry was not really there.
Spencer did learn some invaluable life lessons whilst on the ranch and these were incorporated really well into the story. He actually learned about hard work, helping others, being part of a real family, sacrifice and love.
“He taught me that your world shouldn’t be any bigger than the people around you, that you should serve those around you with fierceness, but we still had an obligation to care for those who needed our caring, even if they were half a world away.”
However, Crickets split from Ethan was literally just skated over, Ethan put up no fight at all, one minute he was there, the next he was gone. It just didn’t make sense, they were childhood sweethearts, surely he would have put up a bit of a battle. I believe that Ethan’s story is up next in Fury, so I can guess who this Fury will be aimed at! Perhaps he will put up a fight after all?
I loved Spencer’s sister Bridget and then fell totally in love with Jonah, I adored this couple. I also loved the family. They were an honest to goodness hard working loving family that all chipped in to help. It was like The Waltons but on a cattle ranch. It was hard work and no-one was afraid of it as long as the work got done, you certainly couldn’t fault their work ethic.
In summary, I liked it, but didn’t love it, after reading Vain my expectations were so high that I think that perhaps I just wanted too much. I have taken my time in formulating this review so that I could reflect on what I was writing. I have thought long and hard. There is a great twist in this book and I could have throttled Amelie at the time, but to me that was the one highlight of the book and was not enough for a higher rating so I stand by my initial 3 star rating.
I know that Amelie can write amazing stories and I am hoping that this comes back in Fury. This book can be read as a stand-alone, but in honesty if you have not read Vain, you must, as that is a truly amazing book and should not be missed.
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