Epilogue by C.J. Roberts

I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances

My Review

5 Stars

Let me start by saying that you MUST read the first two books in this series before reading this one.

If you haven't read them you can get them from Amazon from the links here:

Captive in the Dark

Seduced in the Dark

Ok now on to the review!

WOW!

At the end of Seduced in the Dark, we got a kiss and a happily ever after. In Epilogue, we get a lot more. I think it was needed. The story and characters are much too complex for a simple HEA.

Epilogue is told from Caleb's point of view and picks up during the time he finds Livvie after leaving her at the US/Mexico border.

I really loved the way this was written as if Caleb was speaking directly to the reader!

"I am the man who kidnapped Livvie. I am the man who held her in a dark room for weeks. I'm the one who tied her to a bedpost and beat her. I'm the one who nearly sold her into sexual slavery. But, most importantly, I am the man she loves.

She loves me. It's quite sick, isn't it?"

Indeed it is.

It was interesting to see just HOW a relationship might be built on this unique and twisted foundation of fear, pain, and horrible circumstances.

We all bought it at the end of Seduced because, well, we wanted to. But seeing the process of healing in more detail made it much more "real" to me.

Could Caleb truly love Livvie and become someone else for her? How? He is NOT a nice person. He IS a monster. Created under circumstances he couldn't control, but a monster nonetheless.

Could Livvie truly ever trust Caleb? Again, how?? He kidnapped her, physically and emotionally abused her, molested and raped her...you all remember these things and you can bet that Livvie remembers them.

I guess in a way this book helps not only justify and explain Livvie and Caleb's relationship but our own feelings about the whole thing as well. (Not that any of us NEED justification but you see what I'm getting at I hope.)

Caleb DOES love Livvie and Livvie DOES trust Caleb and Epilogue shows us the how and the why.

What happened to both of them was something that no person could say was alright but it shows the immense strength of these characters that they will try to move forward from it all.

Theirs is not and never will be a typical happily-ever-after, and it shouldn't be.

This entire series is a must read and is one that will stay with you forever. It is deeply disturbing and makes you question yourself and the way you see things. But it is also a must-read. If you have it in you to make it through the dark parts, READ THIS SERIES!

Buy on Amazon

It wasn't until Livvie walked away and I was truly alone in the world that I began to feel what love could be. It didn't come to me as it came to others, I had to find love as I found everything else that defined me: through my suffering.-Caleb

“I know it’s odd between us. How could it not be? We don’t know each other in this world, but I've seen you at your worst, and what I know is that you’d do anything to protect me. That’s enough for now. The rest will come.”-Livvie

“I had come to understand our relationship would be riddled with moments where the past sucked all the joy out of the present. My only hope was that with enough time, Livvie and I would build memories capable of trumping our beginning.”