Unapologetic Reader, Psychotic Writer

[a:Karina Halle|4785031|Karina Halle|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1333997846p2/4785031.jpg] has climbed towards the top of the list of my favorite authors. You know why? Because she can create these desolate, broken characters with hardly hope for them and still make us root for their happy ending. Camden and Ellie must be the most doomed pair ever - their relationship should be a sinking ship before they even boarded it. But I was waiting for them to go on, get together fall in love and was hoping for a happily-ever-after for them no matter how dire the odds were.Camden must be the most perfect hero ever (especially with this nerd glasses... Sexy Damn!) and the most broken one too. He has been through a lot and throughout the entire book I just wanted to give him a giant bear hug (among other, much more interesting things) because I cannot think of any other character who deserves to be loved more. Except maybe Ellie.Ellie is the perfect example of a sad broken girl hiding behind her insecurities with a hard exterior up front. She's not a saint by any means. She's a reforming criminal. She's selfish. She's cruel. She's extremely self-centered. But Halle has portrayed her in such a way that it is impossible to hate Ellie even when she is planning to con THE guy who is truly, madly, deeply into her. And trust me when I say I had tried. The strongest point of Halle's writing I find always to be her characterization - whether they be crazy Dex and Perry or desperate Dawn and Sage or now the broken Camden and Ellie. Her characters win us over not despite their flaws but because of them. Not many writers can pull this sort of romance off without making the connection seem forced or cheesy. But I did feel Halle could've done a bit more to flesh out the changing dynamics of Camden and Ellie's relationship especially how after Ellie and Camden were on the run Camden started to warm up on her again. I especially liked the part where the past events were shown in third person PoV - it let us know Ellie and Camden's story with a sense of separation from the present day Ellie and Camden - and feel the differences and growth(decrease?) in them. The plot (and all the bad guys *winks*) I felt was kind of cliche and it would've been worse if not for her beautifully drafted characters to take our full attention. But I taketh whatever Karina giveth - and I want to be taking the sequel now!! Or maybe Yesterday!4.5 StarsJust one thing though: IF THERE WILL BE A LOVE TRIANGLE IN THE NEXT BOOK - THERE WILL BE BLOOD though I am intrigued about the sun-like Javier too :/