[Review] Elude by Rachel Van Dyken

Title: Elude

Book 6 in the Eagle Elite Series

Author: Rachel Van Dyken

Released:  July 9, 2015 

My Rating: 5 Stars

This book is the sixth book in the internationally bestselling Eagle Elite Series. It's an interconnected stand alone novel with no cliffhanger.



Twenty-Four hours before we were to be married--I offered to shoot her.


Ten hours before our wedding--I made a mockery of her dying wish.


Five hours before we were going to say our vows--I promised I'd never love her.


One hour before I said I do--I vowed I'd never shed a tear over her death.


But the minute we were pronounced man and wife--I knew.



I'd only use my gun to protect her.
I'd give my life for hers.


I'd cry.


And I would, most definitely, lose myself, to a dying girl---a girl who by all accounts should have never been mine in the first place.



I always believed the mafia would be my end game--poisoning my heart, while it claimed my soul. 

I could have never imagined. It would be my redemption.

Or the beginning of something beautiful.



The beginning of her.



The end of us.

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My Thoughts

The one thing I felt throughout this book was passion. So much passion and love. Rachel Van Dyken crushed me with this book. She crushed me so hard. This is one of the best books I have read this year and right now it is by far my favorite in this series. I had such strong emotions during this book that the tears would just slip my eyes. Elude is extremely unique and unexpected. I don't even know how do describe my feelings because even as I write this review, the emotions are flooding me all over again. I read this book a long time ago, close to the release date, but for the life of me I couldn't write this review. I was so overwhelmed with this book. It tore me apart but it showed me one thing. I fell in love with Sergio. I NEED more Sergio. I NEED more Andi. I just can't. I can't. 

"And I knew if I loved her, if I ever let myself feel; it would destroy me."

Let's get this clear. I hated Sergio. In all the other books I hated him so much. I never liked him or found him appealing. I even hated him more than Phoenix and that says a lot because Phoenix was cruel. Sergio was very rude and mean in the beginning and I wanted to punch him where it hurts. HE didn't want to love anyone because he was a wimp but later on he let go. BUT Sergio he just captured my heart with his love, passion, and caring ways. His emotion and his thoughts consumed me. I felt everything he felt. I felt the love, the heartache, the fear, the sadness, and the joy of happy moments shared. He is everything. I loved the Italian and Russian jokes between Sergio and Andi. They were hilarious. 

"We were quiet, passionate; both of us realizing we were experiencing one of those rare moments in life where words were useless and actions meant everything."

Andi. Oh geez, this girl is so strong. Her courage and strength knocked to my knees. She had so much goodness in her when she should have been mad at the world. But no, not her. She is everything good and beautiful. The development of their relationship was one of my favorite things to experience in the book. Their story is beautiful.

"Andi's megawatt smile nearly toppled me over. I didn't have a chance to fight it off or to put up any walls so it wouldn't spear me directly through the heart. Instead, I was defenseless as the smile wreaked havoc on my heart rate as well as the rest of my body–"

I really recommend this series. Get on it right now and do not stop until you have read the very last word in ELUDE. It will be an emotional rollercoaster with gun shots, injuries, threats, love, hate, and many more gunshots. Somewhere in between all the craziness you will fall in love with this family.

Books in the Eagle Elite Series

For Tracey Rooks, life with her grandparents on a Wyoming farm has always been simple. But after her grandmother's death, Tracey is all her grandfather has. So when Eagle Elite University announces its annual scholarship lottery, Tracey jumps at the opportunity to secure their future and enters. She isn't expecting much-but then she wins. And life as she knows it will never be same . . .

The students at Eagle Elite are unlike any she's ever met . . . and they refuse to make things easy for her. There's Nixon, gorgeous, irresistible, and leader of a group that everyone fears: The Elect. Their rules are simple. 1. Do not touch The Elect. 2. Do not look at The Elect. 3. Do not speak to The Elect. No matter how hard she tries to stay away, The Elect are always around her and it isn't long until she finds out the reason why they keep their friends close and their enemies even closer. She just didn't realize she was the enemy -- until it was too late. 

AMAZON

Would you die for the one you love?
Nixon Abandonato made his choice. And now he has to pay the price. Tracey is the love of his life, but being with him has made her a target of his family's enemies. The only way to keep Trace alive is convince the world she means nothing to him. 

Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family's sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend... But Trace isn't ready to give up on a future with Nix--and if he won't fight for them, she will. 

In the end, a sacrifice must be made. A life for a life. For what better way to cover a multitude of sins than with the blood of a sinner . . .

AMAZON

“As burns this saint, so burns my soul. I enter alive, and I will have to get out dead.”

Chase Winter let the love of his life slip through his fingers and into the hands of his best friend and mafia boss of the Abandanato family. Now that he's been given a second chance to right a wrong--he refuses to let his own selfishness stand in the way. The only problem? He's not fully in possession of his heart, so when Mil De Lange, the girl who's innocence he stole, and heir to the worst of the worst mafia families in the US, asks him for a favor. He actually says yes, not realizing that that one yes has the power to destroy them all. 

Mil's been in love with Chase as long as she can remember, but as the years went by, the love turned to hate, and now that he's agreed to help her, she's wondering if she made a fatal error. Because Chase isn't a teenager anymore. He's a hot blooded male, bent on owning every part of her body and soul, and willing to kill anyone in his path who dares stand in the way. 
It's time for secrets to finally be revealed...but make no mistake, it's going to take a lot of bloodshed for those truths to be discovered.

You've never read a New Adult Mafia story like this before...loyalties will be tested, lovers reunited, and friendships obliterated. Welcome to the Family. Blood in--No out. 

AMAZON

Cursed, numb, rejected, scorned, wicked, sinister, dark, twisted...my name is Tex Campisi and this is my legacy. I killed my father in cold blood and lost my soul right along with him. 
I crave war more than peace, and I'm about to take my place in history as the youngest Capo dei Capi in the Cosa Nostra...that is until someone stops me, saves me from myself. 

But the only person able to do that...is my best friends sister, Mo Abandanato, and she just ripped my heart out and asked me to hold it in my hands while she put bullets through it. 

Im cursed so I did it. 
I'm numb so I held it. 
I'm wicked so I liked it.
I used the pain Mo caused as a catalyst to turn into my biggest nightmare--the five families greatest enemy. It's my turn to take a stand, knowing full well I'm going to lose my mind to the madness that is the American Mafia. I've always been told Blood is thicker than life. I wish I would have listened. Because regardless of who you love? You will betray. You will kill.
Blood Always Wins. 
The only way out is death...yours.

Welcome to the Dark Side of the Family.

AMAZON

I am a Killer. A Rapist. A Monster.
I know only pain and survival. 
That is until the Cappo's sister walked into my life. 
And changed everything.

She's a light who makes my darkness darker, her smile makes my heart turn to ice, and I can't escape the fear her seductive looks instill--knowing it's only a matter of time before I fail--again, and take her for myself.
This is the story of my redemption. 
But it's not pretty...I died, and now I'm alive, but not living, breathing but not surviving. I am Phoenix De Lange, son to a murdered mob boss, estranged brother, horrible friend, monster in the making, newest leader to one of the most powerful families in the Cosa Nostra.
And I will have my vengeance.
Or die trying.
I am Phoenix De Lange. 
Death is all I know. 
Until she offers me a piece of life--I can't resist taking.

AMAZON