Hold Trilogy #2
Jayne Blue
Contemporary/New Adult
Published in 2015
H/h - Craddock Flynn/Cassidy
Setting: Present time.
Read in August-September, 2015.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
Hold 2 of Hold Trilogy by Jayne Blue went so off the track that I’m not even sure how I finished it. I liked book 1 quite a lot so I was very excited to finish the trilogy. Each installment came out a month apart and even with those irritating cliffys, I could barely wait to read. Unfortunately, this time wait hasn’t been worth it.
Just to tell you first that I absolutely despise love triangles as more often than not it ruins the story for me. Either a completely good person gets hurt in the end, or does something to try my patience and I keep wondering why on earth this individual is even a part here. I don’t always see the point of a love triangle and try to avoid any book containing it. The first installment, Hold 1, gave a hint of a building like that and I got apprehensive instantly. My apprehension was due to the fact that the third member of this triangle was more infatuated than in love with the heroine. Or so I felt he was. I was hoping for a smart way to tackle this unfortunate buildup but the author completely messed up in this installment. If it was done to create angst and intrigue, it failed quite royally IMO.
In book 1, we meet this orphaned girl Cassidy who was desperately looking for a job when she finds one as an assistant in a gym called Great Wolves (GWG). It’s a gym which trains MMA fighters. She’s quite brilliant and soon Cassidy shines in her job, helping Whitey, the ancient trainer with anything that needed the help of technology like computer, to handle it.
Cassidy also makes friends with the fighters of the gym, who were
tickled to have a young (and only) girl among them. One of them was
certainly too interested in her! Craddock Flynn is the best among the
bunch and has a top notch ranking in MMA world. He hasn’t been beaten
yet. His close rival is Zeke, who comes only second to Craddock’s first.
Craddock is as dark and broody as Zeke is fair. He has this all around
‘good boy’ vibe around him. He’s called The Preacher’s Son for a reason,
as his father is one. He has a big support base too and charms Cassidy
with his smiles and jokes, while Craddock is basically a loner. But no
matter what Zeke does, Craddock has already staked his claim on Cassidy.
She seemed much more inclined to Craddock’s dark sexual appeal, though
she doesn’t let Zeke out of her sight either. After all she thinks he’s a
‘good friend’ and becomes quite intimate with him too.
This was such a bad idea as
Zeke and Craddock had this epic rivalry. They would do almost anything
to beat each-other down, use techniques to hurt each-other too. While
Craddock was private, his only vulnerable spot now was Cassidy. Craddock
is a family man, who absolutely loves his mother and autistic elder
brother Dylan. Now he was in love and there was no turning back for him.
Even though she starts sleeping with Craddock almost as soon as
they met, Cassidy would flirt with Zeke as well. Craddock would get
jealous and mad, which annoyed me a lot. I didn’t like his caveman-ish
behavior in book 1 but he was right to have suspected something about
Zeke as I found in the end. Cassidy on the other hand, it seemed would
always take Zeke’s words over Craddock’s. She claimed she loved Craddock
but felt smothered by his possessiveness, which would create conflicts
more often than not. Zeke would also goad Craddock from afar, which
either Cassidy doesn’t notice all that much or she’s plain dumb. I liked
her but after book 2, think I’d have to agree with the later.
As
the drama regarding ‘who would get Cassidy’ plays on, they also get
ready for a big championship. The winner of this championship would get
an offer of a lifetime which would surely launch his career as a
professional MMA fighter. Then there was the insane amount of money they
always dreamed of earning. Craddock wanted to win because he was
thinking of taking care of his mom and Dylan and he wanted Cassidy’s
support, who seemed supportive too... But then things go horribly wrong,
thanks to Zeke once again.
Very unsurprisingly its Craddock and Zeke face in the final. Cassidy
finds herself in a dilemma about whom to support. Zeke keeps nagging her
to leave Craddock to be with him and if Cassidy ever said ‘no’, there
was no conviction in her statement. She was forever confused, plain and
simple. She had no idea what she wanted from either guy. So in the final
Zeke strikes in the nastiest way possible to goad Craddock as he always
does, to do something drastic to ruin his career and manipulate Cassidy
to his side. It works like the charm! Too many misunderstandings after
that and Craddock and Cassidy split up right after the final. Zeke is
“injured” by Craddock and all Cassidy’s sympathy now lie with Zeke.
Craddock, on the other
hand, is given a wild card on a TV show about MMA fighters. He takes it,
flies away to film. It was tough for him to leave Cassidy but he was
sure she wanted Zeke over him, while Cassidy thought he spend night with
some other girls to shake off his disqualification from the match. It
was an overly silly misunderstanding but there it was!
There book
1 ends, leaving me really anxious about what’s going to happen next. I
was sympathetic towards Cassidy even though it seemed Zeke was
successful in taking her away from Craddock. And I was right. Cassidy
doesn’t even think twice before jumping into bed with Zeke, that too in
about 2 weeks into her ‘break up’ with Craddock. Zeke was obviously the
rebound guy even if he was trying to convince Cassidy that he ‘loved’
her. Did she even feel anything remotely like love for Craddock? I
didn’t think so.
It seemed she and Zeke were together for about
2/3 weeks when Craddock returns to his hometown for a visit, courtesy
his new TV show. They were filming a family oriented episode for each
player, hence the return. Craddock was having a ball in there, even if
the thought of Cassidy hurt him. So far, he’d only blamed himelf for
everything and thought there was no chance for him to get her back.
Would that he knew how easy that would be! What Craddock didn’t know but
guessed that Cassidy was already humping Zeke. He was also unaware that
that in the filming of one of the episodes, he’d been set up by the TV
producer on a secret scene where he was drugged, all because they wanted
more view and ratings. As if Craddock’s life didn’t have enough drama
going at that moment! ;-s
Now back to Cassidy and her clueless
self. The moment Craddock is back, her va-ja-ja begins to croon his name
once again, Zeke can go take a hike. In fact, in about 2 days, she
dumps Zeke and sleeps with Craddock once again because ‘she realized
hadn’t gotten over him yet’. Also because FINALLY Craddock tells her
about Zeke’s nasty stunt on that final, giving her the perfect
excuse to break up with him. OMG! If I was absolutely
disgusted by her sleeping with Zeke so soon, I was annoyed as hell at
this. I mean WTF?!! Can’t these idiots find another girl? She has
repeatedly proven herself to be a person of bad judgment, lacking the
brain where relationships were concerned. To make it worse, she didn’t
seem to be interested in any of them exclusively at all! It was very
obvious that sex was all she wanted with whomever (Zeke or Craddock) was
available to give it to her! She claimed to be the type who wanted
relationship... really??!
But that’s not all that made me so mad.
After they sleep together, Craddock, who was superbly happy to have his
girl back again with him, this time was letting himself be manipulated
by Cassidy. She wanted to keep this hush-hush as if she was embarrassed
to face that she’s *back with* Craddock, whereas he thought with TV show
and all, this would protect their privacy. However, since she also
dumped Zeke, everybody in the gym more or less knew that she’s now
humping Craddock once more. Zeke was angry and I knew he’d be trouble.
He keeps pestering Cassidy with the same sob story of his love and what
he did to ruin that final was to get her, for their relationship as *he*
thought she’s better off with him than Craddock bla bla bla bla bla
(kill me now!). He even manages to soften her up where she’d again chat
and flirt with him, hug him in the plain view of Craddock, who would try
to contain his anger because he’d promised to “trust” her this time.
What he did to Craddock was forgotten. Just.like.that. WOW!
Poor
guy. Craddock was doing everything in his powers to keep Cassidy with
him... until that freakin’ episode where he was set with another girl
airs. This time Cassidy gets a slap right on her face, though her brain
remains asleep. She accuses Craddock of CHEATING on her, stomps away,
then breaks up with him again.
Hypocritical much, hmm Cassidy?
How is it cheating when YOU broke up with him in the first place before
skipping off with Zeke? How can you even dare to accuse Craddock of
cheating when YOU WERE THE ONE f*cking another guy at that time? So in
that “break up”, when you sleep with someone it’s not cheating and if he
does, it’s cheating? Seriously?????? You string two guys along, play
with them never giving them any specific answer. You never could make up
your mind between the two. Now you do and say whatever you wish? I was
so stunned, shocked...... flabbergasted by her holier-than-thou
attitude, trying to accuse Craddock. It was stupendous. He was again
left with guilt because he had no idea what happened until much later in
the story. Even then, he held himself guilty for f*cking things up
again. Bravo on making him feel like sh!t once again! Honestly, I wanted
to beat her up for even opening her mouth about cheating. BITCH!
Seriously
guys, there are other, smarter women out there. Go find one and leave
this loony, dumb bitch to her clueless and self-centered little self!
Then again, I despise Zeke too. So much for “Preacher’s Son”. My foot!
He and Cassidy deserve one another actually. I wish the author would
make these two disappear and pair Craddock with someone who deserves
him. That girl Julie who was also as much a victim of that video set up
as Craddock, I think I like her.
Unfortunately, the way book 2
ended, it seemed Craddock has made up his mind to win Cassidy over...
yet once again. I can’t even begin to imagine why. Seesh!
2 stars
but barely made it. Hope I’ve explained my utter dislike of this
installment, which made me leave this story off for a long time before
picking up just to finish it. Have to specifically mention the numerous
silly typos throughout that shouldn’t have been in a published book,
more so on one that’s priced almost at $4.
I’m not even sure I wanna pick up Hold 3
since I’ve all but lost all my interest. A good story gone to waste.
What a shame! I don’t even know what the author was thinking!
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