Monday, August 18, 2014

Review: Outlaw by Amanda Lance

Outlaw (Wanted, #1.5)
Outlaw by Amanda Lance
(Wanted #1.5)
March 17, 2014
312 pages
Genre: New Adult Romance
(Contains: Violence, but fairly clean romance)
Source: Personal purchase

Synopsis:

I shouldn’t have done that job.

I shouldn’t have stolen that girl.

And I sure as hell shouldn’t have fallen for her.

Charlie Hays knows two things: how to steal, and the red—the rage that keeps him going. In Wanted when a last minute heist goes bad, he kidnaps the only witness, Addie Battes. But just when everyone begins to think he has gone and made the biggest mistake of his criminal career Charlie wonders if he hasn't made the best one.

Every love story has two sides…


My Review:

Outlaw is the retelling of Wanted from Charlie's point of view, as Wanted was from Addie's. I really enjoyed Wanted (and Conviction), buying into the strange romance between a thief and a kidnap victim. With Outlaw, I enjoyed getting Charlie's perspective and insights into his thinking.

Here are a few of my thoughts about reading Outlaw:

1. Outlaw could probably be read as a standalone, but I liked Wanted better, so I would choose that one first over this one. Outlaw has almost all of the same scenes as Wanted, just from Charlie's POV. But I thought it was better to be in the victim's head for the first read.

2. I read Outlaw months after finishing Wanted and Conviction, so it was like a re-read from a different perspective. But I would not necessarily recommend reading this right after Wanted, as I think it would be too repetitive. A side-by-side reading might be better (which I did for a few scenes and enjoyed seeing both sides together).

3. Reading Outlaw did reinforce the feelings between Charlie and Addie. They are an unconventional couple, but despite the strangeness (and terror) of their meeting, I still really liked them and found myself rooting for them all over again. We get Charlie's more mature thoughts, his side of their speedy romance, and a complete sense of his immediate and fierce protectiveness of Addie. I still would have liked a bit more about/from Charlie, but enjoyed it just the same. They are still a pretty sweet couple.

Outlaw is really for fans of this series, who want a little more Charlie. It is not an essential read. And I wouldn't recommend it for someone who hasn't read Wanted yet, as I think they should read that one first. But this is a great read for people like me who just wanted a little more and wanted to get lost in Charlie and Addie's world again, in a different, but the same, kind of way.

3 STARS
 
Wanted Series - Book Links:
Wanted (Wanted, #1)
WANTED #1

 
Conviction (Wanted, #2)
CONVICTION #2
 
Outlaw (Wanted, #1.5)
OUTLAW #1.5

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