REVIEW: TOXIC

TOXIC (DENAZEN #2) BY

JUS ACCARDO

Published: October 16th 2012 
Publisher: Entangled Teen
**Ecopy Provided by publusher in exchange of an honest review*


When a Six saved Kale's life the night of Sumrun, she warned there would be consequences. A trade-off. Something taken for the life they gained. But Dez never imagined she'd lose the one thing she'd give anything to keep... And as if it's not enough Dez finds her immunity to Kale fading, the Six brought in to help Kale learn to control his killer touch starts drooling on him the moment they meet. Worse than that? Jade can touch Kale. But bimbo Barbie is the least of Dez's problems.

After Dez and Kale got away at Sumrun, her father lost not only his most powerful weapon but an important piece of the Supremacy project. Forced by Denazen to remedy the situation, he poisons Dez and offers her a choice--surrender to Denazen for the cure...or die. Determined to find a solution that doesn't involve being bagged and tagged--or losing someone she loves--Dez keeps the poison a secret. But when a rash of Denazen attacks hit a little too close to home, Dez is convinced there's a traitor among them. Jade.

Sacrifices, broken promises, and secrets. Dez will have to lay it all on the line if there's any hope of proving Jade's guilt before they all end up Residents of Denazen. Or worse, dead...

Make some room people 'cause Dez and Kale are back!

I can't tell you guys how much I've waited to read this! And the only way I can describe this book is"train wreck". You just know you're not gonna like where Jus is going with this but you can't help yourself, you need to keep reading anyway.

“Karma, continuing the Screw Dez kick it seemed to be on lately...”

Toxic is a good second instalment in the series, in a way it works as the slow chapter in the middle of the book, and I totally get some of the low rating reviews, but at the same time a lot happens.

This book is more about the characters than the story.

Dez

She goes through some major changes. We see a much more vulnerable and less confident side of her that I totally love. Losing her immunity to Kale’s touch and having Jade throwing herself at him with no problem makes Dez (and me) crazy. I mean, come on! His girlfriend is RIGHT THERE! But still, the choices she makes, while not the smartest were with her best intentions at heart and I get it. Also while some reactions may look childish or immature, others were simplistic and reasonable, so in all her develop was great considering she was dying slowly and with no one to hold her.

“What was I doing? What I did best. Crazy shit.”

Kale

I can’t tell you how much I like him and want to knock some sense into him at the same time. Reading Untouch before probably makes you understand his reactions and way of thinking much more than just watching him through Dez eyes, but still his inexperience about the outside world make him all kinds of deadly adorableness.

“Because if you try to do it again, I'll touch you. Then the only thing you'll be touching is the wind as you're scattered across the world.”

Kale wants nothing else from Jade than learning to control his powers and while he knows she wants him, he doesn’t wanna hurt her. I loved how determined he was in learning control and how sure he was through it all that Dez is the only girl he’ll ever love.

The relationship between them in this book is heartbreaking. They are so close and yet so far apart it physically hurts.
And what also hurts a lot is watching him suffering because he knows Dez is hiding something and won’t tell him...  

Jade

Jade... is the one character you just love to hate. More than that you just kinda hate her because she’s messing with (your) Dez’s guy. She wants you to hate her and it works. But that's it, she the redhead bimbo who's hot for Kale... Yeah let's dislike her together.

“Hands on hips, Jade snickered. "I'm invincible. Go ahead and give it your best shot."

"I wonder how invincible you'd be if I shoved an M-80 up your ass?

Alex

“Wow. And there it is. Your inner asshole just bled through.”

I have a massive crush on Alex since book one, I mean bad boy with piercings? Yeah totally my type, even though he has some jerky tendencies. In Toxic he goes up in my list. He’s still the Alex we know and love but he goes and proves what a great character and guy he is.

Able and Aubrey

And last but never least, the wonder twins.

They really make some interesting characters, I won’t say anything not to spoil but the ending? yeah didn’t see that one coming!

“The first one flashed me a tight-lipped smile and tipped an imaginary hat. “I’m Aubrey, and this is my brother—”

“Able. Yeah, that’s me,” the second finished. Up close, I could hear the slight difference in their voices. Able had an odd, almost accent. He didn’t quite pronounce his Ss right. They almost sounded like Zs.”

My favourite Scene

Alex and Kale’s fight!

I know, I know from all the book? Yes, from all the book that was my fav part. It’s just with everything that goes on in this book and the feelings between them it was about time they finally got to let out some steam, you know? The waiting was so worth it!

The extra scene

AHH We get Kale’s POV in one of the most NONONO scenes and it was awesome like him. I loved that.

The Ending

Yup Train Wreck right there... I’m really glad I didn’t read Toxic until now that Tremble is coming out so soon, I don’t think I can wait for so long!

General thoughts

Toxic starts amazingly and in the middle of the action, just as Touch. But as I said earlier the book for me is more about the character development than the plot itself. There’s not a lot to add to the blurb, so you pretty much get an idea about it. And, for me at least, the real spy was clear. Dez isn’t the strong and invincible heroin from book one because she’s going through some major Karma get back as she’d call it, she can’t see things clearly.
The plot obviously has some very important facts, that to the story as it all it makes a big difference, but for the book itself, it lacks the overall excitement and fast paced feel thatTouch had.

While you wait for Tremble to come out, you should totally read Faceless, Brandt’s story. He’s awesome as his cousin Dez and trust he’s definitively Book Boyfriend Material

       

About Jus Accardo

JUS ACCARDO spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. Determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps as a chef, she applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America. At the last minute, she realized her path lay with fiction, not food, and passed on the spot to pursue writing. Jus is the bestselling author the popular Denazen series from Entangled publishing and is currently working on the first book in a new adult series due out summer 2013. A native New Yorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and sometimes guard bear, Oswald.