Novels and Necklaces: Book Review: Recreated (Reawakened #2)

About the Book:
Title: Recreated (Reawakened #2)
Author: Colleen Houck
Pub. Date: Aug. 2, 2016
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 416
Rating: 3/5 stars

Synopsis:

From Colleen Houck, New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Curse, comes Recreated, the second book in the epic Egyptian-inspired Reawakened series, in which a seventeen-year-old must literally go to hell to save the love of her life.

Lily Young thought traveling across the globe with a reawakened sun prince was a grand adventure. Now she’s about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.

When Amon and Lily part tragically, he transports himself to the Netherworld—what mortals call hell. Tormented by the loss of his one true love, he’d rather suffer in agony during Lily’s mortal years than fulfill his duty to protect humanity.

Heartbroken, Lily seeks refuge on her grandmother’s farm. Yet she can feel Amon’s pain, and she has been having dreams—dreams of Amon continually suffering.

For before he departed, Amon gave Lily something very special, an item that connects them even though they are worlds apart. Now Lily must use this object to free him, and to free their realms from darkness and utter chaos. She will do whatever it takes.

Review:

It kills me to be giving a Colleen Houck book this low of a rating, but I have to for Recreated. I don't know what happened with the plot, but this is already not going in the greatest of directions. Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot to love about this book, but this was nowhere near what I was expecting from the sequel to Reawakened (a book that I loved a ton). Even though the previous book had some downs for me...mainly that it seemed exactly like the Tiger's Curse series just swapping Indian mythology for Egyptian mythology, it was still an excellent book. But this one, I honestly was left questioning whether or not I just read a Colleen Houck book. I had some major WTH?! moments and had to suppress some major eye rolls while reading. Even though I plan on reading the next in the series because I do want to find out what happens, I'm not super excited for the third book either.

Let me start with saying that I originally had given this book 4 stars on Goodreads. However, I needed to wait to write my review because 1) life got in the way and 2) I needed to truly think about how I wanted to write the review and what I wanted to say. After a bit, I realized that it really only deserved 3 stars because it was not anything like what I expected from an author like Colleen Houck. She has such an amazing way of writing and a style that showcases her true creativity and imagination. But this one went a little overboard in that department, and while this might work in some cases, it did not work for this book. I think my ultimate problem is that everything is a bit too much.

Let me first start with what I liked about the book. The adventure and the trials were fun to read. Lily's character definitely grows a lot, especially during these trials. She's becoming stronger and has less of a "poor me" attitude. Lily realizes that she needs to do what needs to be done to save the man she loves, and nothing will stand in her way. And as always, Colleen Houck does a phenomenal job at depicting the scene for the reader. You easily get swept away in the lush landscapes of Egypt and the other worlds they visit. Every single scene is incredibly vivid and makes you long to be where the characters are (even if it's not in the most desirable of locations). You feel 100% immersed in the world, and this is something that has not changed about Colleen Houck's writing.

Now what I didn't like: first was the romance. Let me make one thing very clear...I adored Amon in the first book. And even though I hated how the 1st book ended because it broke my heart into a million tiny pieces, there was that little twist at the end that made me fall in love even more with Amon. So what's the problem you ask? He's barely in this novel. This whole book is about getting Amon back, saving him, and making sure Lily reunites with her one true love (let me repeat...ONE. TRUE. LOVE.), and he's in the book for a hot second. Sure, Lily dreams about him and so he's featured in that way, but these don't count. I want actual physical interaction with Amon. In all actuality, he was present only at the end of the book and he wasn't exactly with it (you'll understand what I mean if you do decide to read this book). Add onto this the matter of not a love triangle, but a love rectangle...well this was me:

Even though Lily matures a great deal in this novel, she still has quite a way to go in the relationship department (and just as a hint, it doesn't mean going around a kissing/flirting with your one true love's brother...just saying). Plus, because of Amon's actions, Lily's "necklace" brings all the immortal beings to her yard (aka EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON/GOD she comes in contact with is falling at her feet). Because that's not annoying at all...

Now this is the part where I have to put major spoilers in. So skip this next part if you don't want to spoil anything for yourself. Seriously...last chance!! Finally, there was the matter of not 1, not 2, but 3 different personalities residing in Lily's body by the end of the story. This would have been fine, but it got very messy to say the least. There were times where I had no clue who was actually talking, and it just made things in the story awkward. The story would have been perfectly find without this aspect and I'm not entirely sure why Colleen Houck decided to go down this route. Oh and the best part of all? Every person is in love with 1 of the brothers...hence where the love rectangle comes in. There's one obvious destination for this road, and that is everyone ends up in their own body and is free to love the brother of their choosing freely. But the problem is, until this happens, it makes the book kind of creepy considering it's Lily's body that had the brother's tripping all over themselves.

Overall, there is a lot to love and dislike about this book. As I said, this did not live up to my expectations in any way and I'm slightly disappointed that a story that had so much potential, fell to a trap of incorporating too much into the story. It's fine to incorporate little elements here and there, but this one was overwhelming with new developments and crazy times. I think if things would have been simplified a bit (and obviously there would be no love rectangle), this would have been an excellent follow up to Reawakened. Do I recommend this book...I'm honestly not sure. If you liked the first one, give it a shot, because you might like it more than I did. But it also wouldn't be a devastating loss if you didn't pick this one up. And you have no idea how much that hurts for me to say that :(