Book Review: Taken by Storm by Angela Morrison

Review: Taken by Storm
Series: Taken By Storm - Book 1
Author: Angela Morrison
No. Of Pages: 304
Release Date: 4th February 2010

Leesie Hunt has many rules: No kissing. No sex. No dating outside the Mormon faith.

When Michael Walden—a deep-sea diver who lost his parents in a violent hurricane—arrives in town, Leesie sees someone who needs her. They fall for one another, even though his dreams are tied to the depths of the ocean and hers to salvation above.

Will their intense chemistry be too strong to resist?

Leesie and Michael must make the hardest choice of their lives: whether to follow their beliefs or their hearts.

My thoughts:

This book draws you in and doesn’t let go, even though you really want to get out.

Taken by Storm is good in the same way that it is bad. It depends how you look at it. It features Leesie, whose voice we hear through her poems and Michael whose voice we hear through his diving logs.

Leesie is the Mormon ice queen, no-one touches her and no-one wants to go near her, although it is a game for the guys to see who can pinch her the most.

Michael is the troubled orphan, who recently lost his parents and doesn’t really feel like living anymore.

And so inevitably they meet and the story ensues. Leesie and Michaels relationship develops quickly in pages, but slowly over time which is hard to understand at times. But the time that it was given was ample and well-paced.

They had their troubles with Leesie’s faith and Michael’s belief that love equals making love, which Leesie of course, does not agree with. So will it work?

The simple answer is, no. There is constant bickering and tension between the pair. And it’s ironic, for being you’re not so typical YA romance, it is very close to a real life one. They don’t think in happily ever after in Taken by Storm they are more focused on how they’re going to deal with the upcoming dance, and keeping the “width of the lords book between them at all times”.

When Michael got fed up during one of the “down times” and cheated, I instantly thought (a very nasty word) but then in thinking about it now, who wouldn’t? You’ve just broken up with your frigid girlfriend; you have built up tension and an easy chick waiting for you on the sideline.

Leesie is a good person, don’t get me wrong but she could be quite annoying and easily led Michael on in things you really shouldn’t lead guys on with. For being a Mormon ice-queen who won’t stand to be touched by anyone let alone a non Mormon, her values rapidly fall to the side when it came to even the first couple of meetings with Michael, which I didn’t see as realistic. If you’ve had it drummed into your head for your whole life (and I have) it doesn’t just fall away that easily for some guy that you barely know and who is obviously trouble. It spells disaster.

I think it was sad in a way that Taken by Storm didn’t go smoothly; it puts a damper on other inter-religious relationships. With the thoughts being so different when it came to Michael and Leesie it was like they came from two different planets.

Michael had all the normal non-religious thoughts about all the rules being stupid, Leesie had her high moral ground and faith in God.

Taken by Storm is an enthralling read, and even though it is sad in some ways, in others it is extremely happy; it also brings us out of the clouds of YA and shows us that not everything runs as smooth as one fight and then you’re betrothed for eternal life.

Taken by Storm is realistic, and that is its best attribute, it takes a familiar storyline and puts a unique twist in it making it captivating and memorable.

Also in this Series:
Unbroken Connection
Cayman Summer