Pink Polka Dot Books: Endless (Shadowlands #3) by Kate Brian

We pick up where Hereafter left off with Tristan and Naida missing. Rory is confused as ever. Why would they flee if they weren't guilty? How could Tristan have betrayed her so badly? Will she ever get her father out of the Shadowlands? The island is crazier than ever... no one is being ushered in fear they will go to the wrong place, but this is throwing the balance of Juniper Island into whack. The weather is in a constant stormy/foggy state and people are sick and hurt and acting weird. The Lifers need to find Tristan and Nadia and restore order before the balance tips too far and everyone is sent to Oblivion.

This was not my favorite series ender. Sigh... no, not at all. This series is so disconjointed, it felt like I read 2 separate series instead of one. The first book I LOVED!!! It was thrilling, exciting, and super-suprising. The second book was okay, but the insta-love with Rory and Tristan got to me. And this one was kind of boring and very R.L. Stine-ish.

We have Rory, Joaquin, and the rest of the island frantically searching for the 2 rogue Lifers. The mayor has halted all usherings in fear that more good people will go to the Shadowlands and bad people will wind up in the Light. Until the tainted coin situation can be taken care of, nothing can happen. Unfortunately, this is disturbing the balance of the island, and also causing major overcrowding. Rory, of course, feels hurt and betrayed by Tristan because she thought they were "soulmates".

The rest of the book is generally them running around after red herrings and trying to figure out how to get the island back to its' peaceful state. One thing I did like was the atmosphere the author created here. I liked how creepy the island became with the weather and the psycho bad people running around. I just wasn't enthralled with the same focus for the entire book. There is also a love triangle in this book that didn't work for me. With the insta-love carrying over from the second book, I of course found myself on the wrong side of the triangle (I'm not a big love-at-fist-sight kind of gal, sorry).

The ending wraps everything up. No big questions left unanswered... and yet, I just didn't like the ending. I'm all about a HEA, but not when they're TOO perfect and things are glossed over. Plus I figured out who the bad person was WAY early, so that killed the suspense leading up to this rosey, happy ending. Also there were some complicated things going on that sort of just worked out without really being explained how or why. There was too much build up for the book to end with one easy swoop the way it did. I know this review sounds kind of down... but that's how I felt after finishing this. The series started out so strong, and I just expected that to carry through. I would still recommend trying these books though. The first book is excellent and you might like the love story a lot better than I did. Plus the concept of the series is pretty unique.

OVERALL: Not the strongest series ender. Insta-love + Love Triangle = Not a good thing. It was nice to find out what the heck was going on, but I didn't buy the HEA or the love story. I would still rec the series because the first 2 books were good, and this 3rd book isn't bad.... it just wasn't as strong.

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