Review: Disengaged by Jamie Magee

Title: Disengaged
By: Jamie Magee
My Copy: Ebook from publisher
The BookWhisperer's Rating: 

Finding herself stranded in a new city, eighteen-year-old Ember Bloom thought she’d reached her all time low. She was wrong. A mindless walk to a dead-end job landed her in the path of her gambling fathers’ enemies. Her only defense was a stranger, Slayton Winslow, a known enforcer and fighter—rumored to be Odin’s prince, underground royalty. On sight, Slayton stole her breath and rushed her heart. Slayton’s enigmatic attraction to her, how stoically he shielded her only churned Ember’s attraction to the bad boy who had given her safe haven in a real life hell. The draw to him, how he could reach her without saying a word, gave her a reason to fight, to awaken. She knew every second could be their last in the city seeded with treacherous deceit and life threatening power plays.

After finishing “Disengaged” I decided to wait a few days before I started writing the review so that I could collect my thoughts and feelings regarding the characters and plotline.  In some ways the waiting helped.  In other ways it didn’t.  I found that while I liked the book, the gritty story, the raw characters, pain-filled plot, I also found that I disliked all of it in certain aspects.

I found the character Ember too trusting and it got her in a lot of trouble, none that she learned from.  After her grandmother’s death, Ember goes to live with her father and it is a turbulent household for her, which is nothing she is used to.  Rules are set and Ember doesn’t follow a few which leads her into Slayton’s line of sight.  Now I found Slayton’s character very curious.  His mysterious and rough life style attracted Ember immediately and because of who Slayton was and because of who Ember was, their relationship became forbidden in many ways. 

I would have to say that while the story line was good and it had some really dark and twisted plots to it, which kept things interesting, I never really connected with the characters.  Ember and Slayton were just Ember and Slayton and I wasn’t invested in them as I have found myself to be with other characters.  I think that this is why I had to wait a few days to write this review because I wanted to really think about what made me like this book but not love it.