Author Ava Gray is an amazing story teller.
When reading Skin Dive you are immediately transported into a world with pulse pounding action, witty banter, emotional upheavals, thoughtful characterization and passionate romance. With both the hero and the heroine on the run, the mood of the book is constantly changing, and with it, your emotions. There are moments of joy, sorrow, humor, anxiety and understanding; and with each moment you’re catapulted into the center of Taye and Gillie’s life, hoping that they succeed in out running an evil that has not only ruined their lives but countless others. The heady combination of both an exciting suspense and a compelling romance leaves you breathless.
Gillie has spent the last twelve years underground as a prisoner of the Foundation; a secret and ruthless organization that kidnaps and uses people with extraordinary/paranormal skills for profit and experimentation. With her astonishing power to heal the wounded and diseased, she’s spent half of her life locked away from the world, her only true contact a crazed doctor.
Taye is a man with no memories of his past and a future that holds only misery, his constant companion the pain caused by the experiments the Foundation puts him through. With his exceptional gift of manifesting electricity he’s a walking live current. When he manipulates his captors into allowing him to spend time with Gillie he not only begins to plan their escape but he finds himself face to face with the one true thing he would move heaven and earth to protect, Gillie.
Escaping the Foundation is the easy part. Living a life that is free will require that they work together to avoid recapture.
What’s particularly impressive is the way Ms. Gray combines all the elements of the action and romance through the lives of her protagonists and the secondary characters. Both the prose and the dialogue reveal the desperation of the situation as well as the hopes and fears of both Gillie and Taye. The immediacy of their situation is angst producing, no doubt, but it also gives them the perfect situation to rely on each other and through that dependency, to get to know one another. Despite her captivity and years alone, Gillie remains a woman who still wonders about the world and longs to be part of it. She has a rich personality and a wicked sense of humor. Her thirst for knowledge is limitless and her courage is remarkable.
Not knowing where he comes from, Taye has no idea what kind of man he’s been. He fears his past and has little hope for his future. The one thing he is certain of is his need to protect Gillie at all costs, and to give her a chance at the life she deserves.
Ms. Gray holds no punches. There is a long separation between Gillie and Taye that makes you doubt. There are characters that you have an affinity for who die. There are times when you think Taye won’t make it. There are even times when you think the Foundation will win. She keeps you guessing through exciting action sequences, dramatic interludes, enigmatic villains, exceptional and fascinating characters and keen dialogue. Through slow, or in some cases quick, but always thoughtful reveals that are at turns surprising, mournful, gratifying and always in concert with the timbre of the action, Skin Dive is a book that grabs hold of your imagination.
Although Skin Dive is the fourth book in Ms. Gray’s Skin series, this one stands alone. You’re pulled into the lives of Taye, Gillie, the Foundation and the other secondary characters immediately. You slowly learn each characters place in the scheme of things and you quickly identify with each. It’s a roller coaster ride of high octane adventure, unrequited love, lost chances, new hope and heartfelt and impassioned romance.
