Book Review – Take Me With You by Nina G. Jones

Take Me With You
This is one of THE BEST DARK READS I have ever read. And, you know what? It might actually be my favorite one of ’em all. WOW!!!!!! WOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to Sally and Lori for recommend this. I buddy-read it with Kandace and we FLIPPED over it. YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT WE LIKE!!! :D!!!!

Sally: Maryse!!!! Wake up!! It’s super early in New York but I can’t hold back LOL I have to share! Okay so I don’t know this author, in fact I have NEVER read this author before. But this book is AWESOME and I don’t know if you have read it yet?!? You know I LOVE me some dark reads and practically NOTHING gets to me BUT …It is one of the most disturbing, gut wrenching, non stop ADRENALINE rushes I have been on in a LONG time! Not for the faint of heart. But if I have any dark read sista’s out there don’t pass this one up. Go in blind!! Don’t read ANY reviews. Easy 5 Star read! And you won’t be able to put it down till your done!

Lori: Completely agree!! It’s so messed up but sooooo good!! it was such a rush I couldn’t put it down. Maryse I think it’s right up your alley!

Maryse: OH YAY MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Okay I’m one-clicking it, and adding it to today’s Reader Recs list.  !!!! I’m WAY too excited now!!!! Gah!!! I love to wake up to messages like this!!!!

Lori: lolol I made Sally read it but then she beat me (yes that’s how busy i am lol) and she had to hold my hand!! and listen to my rants

Maryse: LOL!!! I’ve just started “Take Me With You” and I AM LOVING IT already. The writing is incredible, and he’s CREEEEEEPY!!!!!!!

Amy: MARYSE!!!!!! I just saw your note up there about Take Me With You, and then I read *this* in the blurb… “Trigger warning: If you need one, this is not the book for you” Holy moly!! That has Marmy written all over it!!! Take Me With You is SO my next read (sounds like he Marmy list will be getting a new addition  )

Fabi: I downloaded Take Me With You when it posted on Friday’s list. Now…to get my courage up to read it.

Lisa: I’m all over Take Me With You too….

Jean: I see a Take Me With You buddy read forming……

The writing was INCREDIBLE. Thought provoking, and poignant, and raw and gritty and ugly, and scary, and yet it all flowed so smoothly (well… as smoothly as a “stalked and kidnapped” read can go). But you know what I mean. There were no stones left unturned, no strange plot holes, it wasn’t rushed. The characters, the situation, the devastation, the hope… it was all SO REAL. The progression of events, and thought processes just worked perfectly, for me, no matter how crazy it all seemed.

I haven’t seen or spoken to a person in who knows how long. The loneliness eats at you. And it makes you hypersensitive to the presence of another person. His touch, though violating, is human. And just like the night he took me, my brain and body can’t reconcile both sides of the equation.

Psychology is dastardly thing, sometimes. I just went with it, because to me? This seemed like it was EXACTLY true, no matter how crazy it got.

And there was reasoning behind all of it. I’m not saying any of the actions were acceptable (UGH! NO WAY), but there was torment, and antagonism and resentment and to fuel the fire, from BOTH sides.

While I usually prefer only one POV in my reads (that of the heroine – so that I can “feel” like her, scared, confused, insecure by not knowing what HE is thinking, emotional, in love… wherever the story may lead), I absolutely devoured every single one of his parts. The anti-hero. Not just an anti-hero, but an absolute monster. And yet… there was SO much more to this story than “dark” scenes and psychological horror. I’d say “psych-thriller” but no. Let’s be real. The author does not hold ANY punches when it comes to certain scenes. In fact she warns:

Trigger warning: If you need one, this is not the book for you.

And I wholeheartedly agree. This one is hard to take. Even the softer, calmer, more “connecting” moments, are completely unglued when you think about it in the grand scheme of things. JUST. CRAZY.

BUT SO good to read.

Yet as hard as it was to read, as awful as it was (like the worst nightmare you can imagine <— YES… I was having panic attacks yet again… hyperventilating and pacing and having to put this one down, FREAKING OUT because I WAS HER and completely imagining myself in her situation and just completely unnerved)… it didn’t feel “gratuitous”. It was simply was so well explored, and detailed. The progression (from past to present) was exactly as I would expect it to be, to culminate to this.

Hunger and boredom is a maddening combination. It makes you pray for anyone’s presence to make you feel human again. At least when he’s here, my body courses with adrenaline. It makes me feel alive when I don’t have the energy from nutrition. It’s the waiting that has become torture—not knowing my fate, suffering and growing weaker.

Sometimes there are footsteps and my heart skips with a jolt of excitement and dread. But then the house will go quiet again. My mind and body is constantly confused by this man who terrifies me but is also the person on whom I must depend for survival.

So what’s it about? I’m keeping this one short and sweet… going in blind (or at least… blindish), is best for maximum impact, so don’t even bother reading further, if you’re ready to read THIS one!! Know that I LOVED IT and give it 5-stars and highly recommend it for those that LOVE “Dark Reads” (whether they be dark love stories, or psych-thrillers or maybe… both). 😉

For those that need to know more:

Sam (known on the news as the “Night Prowler”) has been breaking into homes, and raping victims. Extremely intelligent, methodical and precise, he stalks them patiently, never fails when he’s ready to invade, and he’s never caught.

3:15 is the quietest time of night. Far beyond most people’s ability to stay up late, and too early for even the earliest riser. It’s when you are secure in your sleep, in the safety of your warm covers, when you think you are most alone. That’s when I come, when every last guard is down.

This aids him in his… “power needs”. Oh he makes no qualms about it. He gets off on the power.

I’m not here to kill. The threats are just another means for control.

Gets off on completely disrupting the lives of people that are so sure in their lives… so set (you’ll see why as you read on) and taking the most important thing from them. Their safety. Their security. Their pride. Changing their lives forever. Being King of their castle (at least for the while he’s in someone else’s home).

Everything of theirs is mine. This is my life as long as I am here. I glow in the act of eating outside, their neighbors oblivious to the goings on just feet away.

It’s so quiet at this time, you would think no one even lives in this neighborhood. This is my hour. The darkness belongs to me. They shunned me. They forgot me. But I never went away. I am here. I am their living nightmare.

And he’s found his new victim. He has been stalking a soon-to-be nurse, named “Vesper” for some time now (in fact… she’s noticed him, herself – unbeknownst to him),

…this deja vu tells me maybe it’s not the first time I have seen those eyes. I don’t look away. Instead, I meet his gaze, trying to focus on those eyes. My stomach rolls with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Eyes like that can only be part of something beautiful.

but there’s something about Vesper that becomes his obsession. While at one time, his obsession was his next “home invasion hit” to relieve him of his needs, this time, he feels a certain connection that can’t be contained by his upcoming victim.

Each hit used to be perfect, existing as its own entity. Each experience new, unique with its own flavor. Now I find myself comparing each home to what it would be like if Vesper was there instead. She’s stealing my thrill. I’ll make her pay for that.

And he decides to do the unthinkable. Completely disrupts his own life when he TAKES her.

She’d never want me. I’ll have to take her. I’ll show her she’s no better than me. Just like all the others. They groveled at my feet. They begged. I was their god. They all think they’re smarter than me, but they’re not. They’re just ants in a farm I can squash whenever I feel like reaching in.

And keeps her as his own.

And her real nightmare just begins…

Earlier today, I was agreeing to spend my life with the sweetest man I know. Now I’m bound in a room with someone who has been watching me. A man I naively fantasized about. But now he’s real. He’s here like somehow I subconsciously beckoned him. He’s inside of me. Nothing will be the same.

It’s a MUST READ. GAH!!!! I fear saying how much I love something this dark, but come on. You know me. I’m a thriller/horror freak, and if you throw in the possibility of a… er…. ummmmmm… “love” story… 😉 YOU HAVE ME HOOKED!

Kandace: Have you gotten to the part about his family? 🙁

Maryse: I’m at 30-something percent… I love reading his POV so much…

Kandace: I’m 42% Part 2 is great

Maryse: I’ve already highlighted so much it’s ridiculous. This is one of the best written dark books Ive ever read. Probably the best (at least so far)

Kandace: It reminds me of a deeper “Comfort Food”

Maryse: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EXACTLY what I was thinking… This has that feel… so raw and honest, and dark and yet…

Kandace: Much more intimate But the same oomph

Maryse: I’m feeling so FREAKING claustrophobic this book is hard on me… being her… locked in that shed. I’m DYING. I can’t FREAKING BREATH. I would have lost my sh!t so hard in there… I am freaking

Kandace: Nothing but a blanket. His chair… The bucket

Maryse: it’s hard to read… she has the skylight… so she stares at the one strip of sunlight coming in… and I can’t breathe just thinking of that… sitting there not knowing if he’s ever coming back… staring at that strip of light… waiting… UGH it’s too hard!!!!

This quote:

“Oh come on!” I shout, hot tears falling down my cheeks. I’m so angry I’m letting myself cry over such mundane items. I’ve been reduced to an infant, relying on someone for my most basic needs and unable to communicate through anything but tears.

Kandace: It’s our worst fear… And never knowing what Sam you’ll get. And the more you learn about him. Ugh! The more you want him to *spoiler*. His own *spoiler*.

Maryse: HOLY POOP HIS *spoiler* WAS SUCH A *spoiler*!!!!!!!! *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!!!!!!!!* okay i’m going back in… I just had to rant

Kandace: I just finished. I loved it. From beginning to end. Even the uncomfortable parts. I had to put it down a few times. But HAD to pick it back up because I NEED to know EVERYTHING. He’s Dexter to me

I’m telling you, my friends, if you can handle this type of read, I ABSOLUTELY recommend it ASAP. She unabashedly and realistically explored every grisly, and even every touching detail. Every realization (no matter how socially unacceptable, no matter how psychologically unacceptable… no matter how sanely unacceptable) becomes real.

I also ache at the fact that at this moment I could feel a smidgen of anything but total and utter rage.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST, if not THE BEST dark read/psychological thrillers that I’ve ever read.

In fact, this author’s writing and storytelling has rocked my word so hard, that I can’t wait to backtrack in her repertoire and read more. If she writes like this with all of her books, she’s going to be one of my absolute favorite authors in the world!

5 stars <— No second-guessing that rating!!!! This one was practically unputdownable (even though I just HAD to for my own sanity).

➔➔➔  Looking for more of my must-read recommendations? Browse my 5 star and 4.5 star and 4 star reviews. 😀

➔➔➔  Love this genre? Browse more Dark Reads & Stockholm Syndrome features and reviews on my blog. 😀