My Review: INFINI

Infini by Krista Ritchie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of my most highly anticipated books this year and it's now available for pre-order! The book releases on 31 Jan 2017.  This is the second standalone book in the Aerial Ethereal series which is set in the same universe as the Addicted Series.  So, expect to see mentions of our beloved core 6 from the Addicted world as well as some of the same products and merchandise from that world!

★ PRE-ORDER INFINI ★
Amazon ➜ http://a.co/dXelKUe
iBooks ➜ http://apple.co/2jC5orP

I feel like I've been waiting for this book forever and I was even more anxious after re-reading Amour Amour, the first standalone book in the Aerial Ethereal series. I came in without any real expectations except for the known fact that this is a best friends-turned-lovers trope. I wish I could write about every moment and every emotion I felt throughout the story but I would spoil everything and I want you to go into this like I did, with little to no expectations or pre-conceived notions. I want you to experience all the highs and lows of this story. If you’ve read Amour Amour, I’ll tell you that the tone in this book is very different. Whereas in Amour Amour, we get to see and experience the beauty and excitement of the circus through a newcomer’s eyes; in Infini, we get a whole different perspective from someone who grew up in the industry and we get a different sense of what happens behind the closed curtains, away from the audience’s eyes. In that respect, Thora (the main character in Amour Amour) has a very different personality from Luka. They come from different backgrounds and have different life experiences so don’t go into Infini expecting it to be anything like what you’ve read, felt, and experienced in Amour Amour. Whereas Amour Amour was more upbeat and fun, you’ll notice that Infini is more…emotional with lots of angst. I don’t want to elaborate any more than that; you’ll see what I mean when you start reading the book.

This book touches on some very real and very serious issues and I’m glad that the authors recognize this and wrote a trigger warning at the very beginning of the book, so it’s no secret. You know what you’re getting yourself into from the start but even so, each moment will hit you like a ton of bricks when you get to each point in the story when these issues are revealed. It took my emotions through one hell of a rollercoaster ride and Luka and Baylee’s love is just so deep and significant that the feeling is so overwhelming at times.

I love Luka’s character. I want to protect him at all costs. He’s got secrets that he keeps from his family and the people he loves, and his way of dealing with his issues makes him the least liked Kotova. But the thing that caught me off guard is that no matter what he does, he takes full responsibility for all his actions. He doesn’t back down or cower, or make any excuses. He doesn’t take his personal issues with him when he’s working. He keeps an easy-going attitude and it just makes you want to protect him even more.

I love meeting Baylee. Off the bat you get who she is and she’s such a wonderful, fun, character. She’s shy and doesn’t like any attention on her, good or bad. And no matter what life throws at her, she tries to keep a positive attitude. I think her love for soca music really fits her personality and I very much enjoyed discovering this type of music. It’s very upbeat and energetic that you can’t help but dance to it. There’s no way you can listen to soca music and not bob your head to the beat.

Infini has all of the essential elements that I absolutely love about Krista & Becca’s books. As I’ve already mentioned above, it touches on very real and very serious issues and they don’t just throw it in there for the sake of drama or to give the character the “troubled past” that is often expected. They actually put their all into it and it shows that they’ve researched the crap out of these issues to make them realistic and very much a part of the story. Also, as you may have noticed from above, I love the main characters and they are very relatable. The other elements that truly make this one of my most favorite reads this year are:

Family dynamics. I’ve been looking forward to reading more about the Kotova family and what better way to get an in-depth look at them than through a Kotova’s eyes. There’s such a strong family bond and I love getting to know more about Timo and Katya and Dimitri. Dimitri really stood out to me in this book and there’s just something about him that makes me want to know more. Apart from Dimitri’s very crude, abrasive, and unapologetically rude attitude, I feel that there’s also a loveable side to him that we don’t get to see. He’s Nikolai’s (Nik is the male lead in Amour Amour) best friend for a reason and I’d like to think that Nikolai is a very good judge in character.

Strong friendship. With most of the books I’ve read, the focus is always on the main characters, which makes sense, but sometimes the secondary characters are forgotten or don’t play as huge a part in the story. Not with Krista and Becca’s books. If they’re the main character’s best friend, then you better expect that you see them a lot in the story and to play an integral part in the main character’s life. After reading Amour Amour, I wanted to know more about Katya and Camila. I’m so glad to see them return in this story and I now I want both of them to have their own book. I want to know more about Katya since she’s the only girl in the Kotova clan. She seems fierce and I can understand why after growing up around her brothers and male cousins. And Camila is just too flippin funny and cute and outgoing and I like that she’s all about love. She also seems to have a keen sense of things around her that no one else notices. I would love it very much if Camila got her own book. There's some strong female bonding moments that I absolutely LOVE and as always,  I love the sense of humor and banter that the authors add to their stories.

It was fun to get to know more about characters introduced in Amour Amour and I also love the addition of new characters. Krista & Becca never fail to give us an unforgettable cast of characters. They’re all very well developed and not one-dimensional. I honestly don’t know how they create a new world of characters and give us more than we ever asked for, yet still leave us wanting more in the end! Seriously. I feel like there’s so much left to be told about the secondary characters. I hope Infini isn’t the last book in the Aerial Ethereal series. This is the second standalone book and you don’t need to read Amour Amour before you read this one. Infini stands well on it’s own and you won’t feel lost if you haven’t read the first book. However, if you want to go back and read about Thora and Nikolai, get a different perspective of the circus world, or just want to read more about the Aerial Ethereal series, then I highly recommend reading Amour Amour.

Krista, Becca, thankyouthankyouthankyou for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! You've done it again!! You are still superstars and superheroes in my eyes.

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➜ My Review on Amour Amour


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