Only Walker's worship has crossed the line, driving him to invoke ancient magic that binds them together in an inescapable downward spiral. Now reality is shifting, and with each new life Joel is forced to watch Walker steal away another of the blessings he'd always taken for granted.
It's never enough. Cursed blood runs hot, and with every turn of the spiral, Walker breathes the seductive words that Joel can't resist. The words that could drag them both into hell - 'Want me.'
Comment: I've had this book to read for a long time. I saw that it has been waiting in the pile and this month added it to my list of books to read. I haven't read any reviews before this so I went to it expecting something completely new but (hopefully) good.
This book is weird, it features Joel, a college athlete, popular in everything. His roomate is Walker, a thin, shorter and shyer guy who thinks himself in love with Joel. Knowing Joel wouldn't ever be willing to be with him, Walker casts a spell to ensnare Joel and make him want to be with Walker. However, the more power Walker adds to the spell, the more changes we see happen between them. In the following weeks, Walker and Joel switch places and when the book ends, Joel is the quieter and shorter one while Walker is now well proportioned and getting bigger and stronger. But will things remain as they are?
Sadly, for me at least, they did. I simply cannot understand the point of this story. So we have Walker, a guy that apparently has direct ancestry from Cain, the Biblical son who jealously murdered his own brother. So, Walker has a out-of.jail chance to turn into someone redeemed. But Walker, like all men from hi family before, decides to use his sort of time-out to put a spell on Joel, so he could want Walker above everyone and everything. Bad things come from not letting others make their decisions and in this case Joel changed but was helpless to fight the spell.
I never got to understand why the spell worked and why Joel, apart from physical attraction, even when Walker answered this. It felt so random.
The narrative is continuously changing along the guys' physical appearances. The word "life" keep being repeated and I inferred each time Walker abused the power to keep Joel under the spell, a new reality would happen the day after for them. But why was this happening and what did it mean in terms of future, would they always keep changing until Joel became a dwarf or a child? It was very confusing and lacking purpose.
The way things are told can be quite brilliant but I missed out on many things with all the shifts in scenes and even in the outcome of the intimacy between them.
I don't think I'd have to say their relationship isn't perfect or balanced. Joel never consents and it bothered me how Walker simply couldn't see this. How could one expect a HEA at the end of this book? I kept hoping to see Walker realizing how much harm he was causing Joel and how the Joel he was "improving" couldn't have real feelings for Walker, but no, he never did. At some point - I was really confused - it seemed Walker was finally seeing reason and started to feel guilty but it was already too late and as far as I could tell, things never went back to what they were. Is this supposed to mean Joel stayed like that, that he never went back to his initial appearance and aspect? If not, then what's the point? Is Walker supposed to have a pat on the back for being clever and feeling guilty and Joel just forgive him because his mind changed too and he got more sensitive? I just didn't get it.
It seems this book has a more recent edition with a sort of epilogue or extra final chapters and things improved, but sincerely I can't understand how they could ever work based on the development. Walker abused Joel and never truly fought his instincts. I don't agree with the message in this book that one can harm us and if we are good people we just forget it, where's the balance in this? I never trusted the character's feelings because they are clearly out of hand in my opinion.
One could say Joel needed to see things from a different perspective to be fair and not as arrogant but I really think the idea of losing your ability to decide on your own and to be a slave to the ideas of someone else and their desires is never a good choice and is definitely not the idea of a good romance for me. Walker and Joel had a sick relationship after all. I can try to see some interesting ideas here and there but I could not separate myself from all the negative details. It's a no good for me.
Grade: 3/10
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