Mark My Words2: (Quick) Book Review: Combative by Jay McLean

We all play victims to our pasts; to the choices we make and the lives we create.

They define who we are.

And sometimes if we're lucky enough, the past stays where it belongs: in the past.

I'm not one of the lucky ones.

I never have been.

Because now the past is knocking on my door, offering deals I have no choice but to take… deals that will help bring justice—not just for me, but for my brothers.

The problem?

The deal is a ticking time bomb.

One I didn't know existed.

So, if you have been reading my blog for a little while, then you know how obsessed I am with Jay McLean's books. I love them so much and have reread her More Series countless times, way more than any other book series or standalone. I just love her writing and the way she can make you fall in absolute and irrevocable love with her characters. So, that being said, when she told all of the members of her MoreMunity on Facebook that she had decided to not publish her novel, Combative, we were crushed. Devastated. Just plain sad. But through it all we came to understand her reason. She wasn't happy with the way it had turned out. And why would you want to publish something, share something with tons of people, if you weren't 100% sure it was the best it could be? The answer, you don't. Jay then began to release a chapter or two at a time on the website Wattpad. Then, boom! I get a notification on facebook from the MoreMunity group saying that Jay McLean had posted something. Me, being curious I click on it. Then my whole world lights up with fireworks because she had just shred the link to be able to buy the entire first book in the Combative Series on Amazon. I bought it no questions asked and immediately stopped reading the book I had been reading at the time to begin devouring this one. And all I've got to say its, I'm not quite sure what she thought was so wrong with this book, because it was freaking fantastic.

It's a little different than her other books. There's more mystery in Combative than there was in the More Series, Where the Road Takes Me, and Boy Toy Chronicles Vol. 1. It had situations, such as organized fighting (like Fight Club style) in it. This is something that Jay hasn't explored before and I feel she did an amazing job at. I only had one problem with this book, but it wasn't enough of an issue for me to dock any stars off. My problem was that I felt like Madison and Ky's relationship started really quick. It was kind of insta-lovey and I would have liked to see it a bit more strung out. However, as I thought about it more while reading, it seemed like their relationship wouldn't have been able to start out any other way. As you got to know the characters more you realized that they were the type of people that couldn't just skirt around a relationship. They're the all or nothing kind of people. This is the first book in a series and it ends on a huge cliffhanger. I'm super excited to see what book two will bring and I definitely need answers to my many, many questions.