Book Review: Exile by Rebecca Lim

Exile is the second book in Rebecca Lim's Mercy series. It tells the story of Mercy, a girl with no memory of who she is or why she finds herself waking up in the bodies of complete strangers. The central plot is Mercy's search for her real identity and what happened to her. However, within each book in the series there is another story: as she takes the body of someone else, she has to live their life and, although she's not required to, she kind of helps them along the way. 

BOOK SPECS:

Number of pages: 292

Format: Paperback

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense

Tropes: Amnesia, Body Snatching, Angels, Love Triangle

SHORT REVIEW:

I have just one thing to say: what an ending! My nails are bitten down to the quick! This series is becoming one of my favourites!

HEART RATE:

SMUT SCORE:

Buy 'Exile' on Amazon

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FULL REVIEW:

Plot & Writing

Mercy, the first book, left me a little confused and I was only able to really understand the central plot after reading a review from someone else explaining some details. However, Lim's easy prose, wit and gift for producing nail-biting cliffhanger endings got me hooked.

Exile is a lot better than the first book, as the plot starts to unravel and you start to understand Mercy's background. Once I understood that the main overarching plot is inside a secondary plot, it became clear to me that my confusion with the first book was exactly what it needed to be. As a reader, you are in a journey with Mercy. As she doesn't know what is happening... Neither do you. And as she starts putting the puzzle pieces together, you start seeing the full picture. A brilliant piece of writing. 

Characters

Characterwise, I can't fault this novel. As a female lead, Mercy is full of grit and Ryan, her love interest, also comes across strong. Luc is still the unknown quantity, but that's on purpose as the mystery continues to unravel on the following books.

Smut & Romance Score

Exile is a clean YA Fiction, so there is no smut, but there is definitely romance. Luc is Mercy's long lost love. Ryan is the boy she meets in the first book and the one who steals her heart. During Exile, Mercy is faced with the reality that her love for Luc is not what it once was and things are not what she thought they were. My heart broke for Ryan at the end of this novel, quite literally. I can't wait to read Muse and Fury, the third and fourth books in the series, to see what will happen.

OUT OF CURIOSITY: 

Rebecca Lim is an illustrator and writer based in Australia. She has a long list of other published children and YA books. Get this: she was a lawyer for years until she gave it up to write full time.

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