Author: Eva Marquez
Publisher: Terra Mia Press
Published Date: March 1, 2013
Buy on Amazon: Kindle & Paperback
Author Website: http://www.eva-marquez.com/
Synopsis:
Isabel thought her life was on track – she was doing well in college,
moving quickly toward her future, and deciding who she wanted to be.
Best of all, she’d reunited with Tom, the swim coach she had a secret
affair with in high school. But it doesn’t take long for her history –
and his – to start catching up with them.
When Isabel goes back to her college life, after spending a blissful summer reuniting with Tom, things take a dangerous turn. Isabel gets swept up in a relationship with a dark, mysterious professor, with whom she begins a covert love affair that could ruin everything she has rebuilt with Tom. Worse, she starts to hear rumors from friends back home - rumors about a teacher having affairs with students. And Tom seems to be at the center of the controversy. Will Isabel’s instincts about what Tom’s been up to during their time apart drive her farther away, or will she forgo her new romance to run to Tom’s defense?
When Isabel goes back to her college life, after spending a blissful summer reuniting with Tom, things take a dangerous turn. Isabel gets swept up in a relationship with a dark, mysterious professor, with whom she begins a covert love affair that could ruin everything she has rebuilt with Tom. Worse, she starts to hear rumors from friends back home - rumors about a teacher having affairs with students. And Tom seems to be at the center of the controversy. Will Isabel’s instincts about what Tom’s been up to during their time apart drive her farther away, or will she forgo her new romance to run to Tom’s defense?
My Thoughts:
Tainted Love, by Eva Marquez, is the second book in the Sweetest Taboo series. Sweetest Taboo, the first novel, is about high school student Isabel and the three year affair she has with her married teacher and swim coach, Tom. My review of Sweetest Taboo can be found here: http://endlessdaysofbooks.blogspot.com/2013/07/sweetest-taboo-by-eva-marquez.html
Sweetest Taboo was a very controversial and thought provoking novel. At times I hated Tom for taking advantage of Isabel, and at other times I felt that Tom truly loved her. My emotions were up and down so often that it felt like I was on a roller coaster. When Sweetest Taboo ended, Isabel had just come home from her first year of college where she had nothing to do with Tom. However, after she runs into him it seems like they may reunite and ends on a cliffhanger.
Tainted Love picks right up where the first novel left off. Isabel quickly finds herself back in Tom's arms and secretly goes away with him for a getaway before she leaves for her second year of college. Things with Tom are just as magical as they were before, she realizes how much she loves and has missed him. No one else listens to her like he does, or gives such great advice. Tom quickly asks her to live with him in a new house he plans to buy and while she is thrilled that they can finally have a real, 'normal' adult relationship, she also feels pressured by him wanting to move so quickly while she is trying to build a life in college.
In Tainted Love, Isabel is now 20 years old and Tom in his late 30's. During her summer rendezvous with Tom (and when she goes back to college), Isabel can't help but be suspicious of him and his relationships with other female students. Was she the only student he had a relationship with in all of his teaching career, or was she one of many? What was Tom up to while she was away for her first year of college? These doubts starts to gnaw at her as she goes back to college and she finds herself worrying about what he is doing while she is away.
Marquez's Tainted Love is told from different points of view, most notably that of Isabel and Tom. In Sweetest Taboo, readers never quite knew what Tom was thinking. In Tainted Love it was refreshing to read his true feelings, desires, fears, and goals and definitely gave me a new perspective on him and his relationship with Isabel. I was most surprised by the marriage he had been in and how his two children came to be. My opinion of how he cheats on his wife and forsakes his family was definitely altered by reading his truth.
I definitely recommend Tainted Love as I truly enjoyed it! However, please read Sweetest Taboo first so that you have an understanding of the history of Isabel and Tom's relationship. Eva Marquez's Tainted Love ends on a surprising and somewhat dreary note. I'm very curious to see how the final book, Time After Time, plays out. Will Isabel finally see the whole truth about her and Tom and what will happen when the truth is revealed?
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| Eva Marquez |
