Hover is book two of The Taking series and brings you back into the world of Ari and Jackson. If you recall, book one left off with thousands of humans being forced to cross over to Loge because of the poisonous neurotoxin that was released. The crossover was supposed to become but it turns out, they aren’t much better off on Loge as Zeus has plans for everyone, including Ari and Jackson. Through conversations with her father and those now in power on Earth, Ari and Jackson have found out that Zeus is planning something horrible and they need Ari to step up to the plate try to kill him…that’s right – she is supposed to kill him. No pressure there…considering as an Ancient he is able to sense what she is feeling and thinking. I’m not going to reveal anything here but she definitely has her work cut out for her. Ari is adapting to the newness of realizing she is part Ancient and what that means. On top of that, she has to do this in a world that seems somewhat foreign. She is also not really sure she can trust Jackson as he is not the boy she knew on Earth. It is definitely true that there is a lot she doesn’t know about Jackson but I thought that as Ari learned more about who he is on Loge, she came to realize he really was more than just “the boy” she knew on Earth. He carried a lot of weight on his shoulders and seeing Ari learn about all the things he had to deal with and manage was important because it gave her a different perspective of who he really is. At the same time, she is also trying to understand what she is dealing with in Zeus. He is definitely an evil guy and really willing to do anything that will benefit him…anything. All in all, I can honestly say Zeus is one of those characters that make you want to climb in the book and beat the crap out of them. The things he did made me ragey and I really hoped that Ari was going to be successful in her mission.Jackson remains as swoony as ever. Yes, he hasn’t always told Ari everything but he had his reasons. Ari wouldn’t be who she is if she just automatically forgave him but I am happy that she eventually gets past her issues. Jackson is doing what he can to help and protect Ari while on Loge. He knows that Zeus has his eyes on her and feels threatened by her and he does what he can to offer her some protection. He clearly loves Ari and is patiently waiting for her to get over her anger. Also, All I have to say is thank you for the shower scene Ms. West….definitely one of my favorites. I know I mentioned the word swoony before…here are some of my favorite lines:He glances up sideways, his hair once again shadowing his eyes. “What can I say? For me, it has always been you…”Still my first thought every day for the rest of my life…will be you.”This book introduced us to some new characters in Emmy, Vill, and Mami who in my opinion were great additions to the story. They all added some great layers to the story as well as helped reveal a bit about Jackson. I missed Gretchen and Law in this one - there were some glimpses of both and based on the ending I have a lot of questions as to what the heck has been happening on Earth as well as with these two. Similar to book one, this book ends with a cliffhanger so if your heart can’t take it, you may want to hold off until book three is complete. If it doesn’t bother you so much, definitely go out and get this one and if you haven’t started this series, get moving on Gravity so that you can jump right into Hover once you finish as this comes out on August 13th. This series is a great mix of action and romance with a little bit of mystery. If you like the science fiction and dystopian genres you will definitely enjoy this series. Thank you to the author and Entangled Publishing for the ARC.This review can be found on my blog Fic Fare.
