Review: Blurred by Tara Fuller

Release Date: 2 July 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher

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Goodreads description:

Cash is haunted by things. Hungry, hollow things. They only leave him alone when Anaya, Heaven’s beautiful reaper, is around. Cash has always been good with girls, but Anaya isn’t like the others. She’s dead. And with his deteriorating health, Cash might soon be as well.

Anaya never breaks the rules, but the night of the fire she recognized part of Cash’s soul—and doomed him to something worse than death. Cash’s soul now resides in an expired body, making him a shadow walker—a rare, coveted being that can walk between worlds. A being creatures of the underworld would do anything to get their hands on.

The lines between life and death are blurring, and Anaya and Cash find themselves falling helplessly over the edge. Trapped in a world where the living don’t belong, can Cash make it out alive?

My Thoughts...

In the second novel in the "Kissed by Death" series, Ms. Fuller has once again dished up a sizeable helping of forbidden love and the struggle to come out on top. When Anaya saved Cash's life, she didn't fully understand the repercussions of her actions--she was, after all, just doing what her boss told her to do. However, as Cash slowly deteriorates, can she stand by and watch while he is chased by the dark side?

What I Liked:
The characters, as I would expect from Ms. Fuller, were incredibly well developed. Cash is a bit of a mystery from Inbetween and he's incredibly intriguing to finally get to know better. As the darkness consumes him, you see him really struggle with his own feelings and actions. Anaya is very interesting to watch because you get the feeling that she has never really gone against the requirements of her job and for some reason she is compelled to do so to help Cash. I really enjoyed their relationship (possibly *gasp* even more than I liked Emma and Finn!). The slow burn development of their friendship/romance is perfectly attuned to their situation and laced with sadness and grief that isn't a "normal" part of a romance story. It fit with their situation.

All of the characters that we loved from Inbetween make repeat appearances in Blurred--Emma, Finn, Easton. Seeing Cash enter this world that Emma is already a part of in a way really created a depth to the story that I loved. I suppose that was the nice thing about this being the second book in the series--I felt like I already knew some of the rules of the world going in and it allowed the story to build on that.

What Was Disappointing:
Some things in this book happen a bit too easily to get us to the happy ending.  Did it detract from my enjoyment of the story? No, not at all, but there were moments that things seemed to simply fall into place a bit unrealistically.  (But hey, that's fiction, right?)

Overall...
Blurred is a fun, happy-ending sort of read. Fans of the first book will fall just as much, if not more, in love with this novel, but you don't necessarily need to read the first book to enjoy this one.  I can only hope that Easton's book is on the horizon!