Laura’s Review: Behind His Eyes – Consequences (Consequences, #1.5) by Aleatha Romig

This is a companion piece to Consequences by Aleatha Romig, this should not be read as a standalone and should be read after you have read Consequences.

Basic Summary

            

                   Behind His Eyes—Consequences is a reading companion and was written to explore the thoughts and motivations of Anthony Rawlings, the man behind the consequences.  It was not intended as a total rewrite of Consequences, but meant to enhance the reader’s understanding.

                BHE-Consequences contains significant from the novel Consequences, as experienced from Anthony’s point of view.  It also contains never before read, behind the scenes information, as well as, a glossary of the characters and a timeline devoted to the events within Consequences.

                Behind his eyes is a dark journey into the mind of the man who believes that he controls everything and controls nothing.  Because there is more to learn about a man who:

                Once upon a time, signed a napkin that he knew was a contract.  As an esteemed businessman, he forgot on very important rule—he forgot to read the fine print.  It wasn't an acquisition to own another person as he’d previously assumed.  It was an agreement to acquire a soul.

                It was a long and painful acquisition—especially from Behind His Eyes!

“In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.”

What I Love About This Book

                

          I was a little apprehensive about this book because I didn't want to hate Tony again.  Obviously if you have read the three prior books you know how evil he was in Consequences and how heroic he was in Convicted.  So it was hard for me to go back to the beginning when I really disliked him and was all together scared of what he would do to Claire.  I walked away from book one with a HUGE book hangover and instantly needing more.  This was no different when I read this story from Tony’s POV.  I wasn't sure what to expect from this, I was apprehensive because I wanted to be the good guy for some reason.  I knew deep down he wasn't at least when it came to Consequences but I still had hope that maybe Catherine was behind all this and he had no choice but to play along. 

                After reading this it brought back so many feelings I had while reading Consequences and the fear I had whenever Tony was around Claire came flooding back to me.  I kind of always wondered how genuine Tony was at certain parts of Consequences and what and when his feelings for Claire started to morph into some kind of love even if it dysfunctional.  You do learn that his obsession started before Claire even met Tony, and it was interesting to see his inner monologue go from how he knew himself to be before Claire to what he is now that he has Claire in his house. 

             

          It was nice to see how Claire kind of made her way into his heart, it was interesting to see how he missed her when he was away and didn't even realize it.  It was cute when he would be working and all he wanted to do was go home and be with her, but he couldn't really identify why he felt this way.  In a lot of ways Tony is like a teenage boy when it comes to love and relationships because he’s never experienced them before so it’s almost like a 17 year boy realizing he might actually care for a girl more than he lets on.  To me while reading this it was his only saving grace.  He wanted to not only control her body and her actions, but also her mind.  In some way he did control the way Claire thought about things but in a lot of ways he didn't and knowing the future for them and the resilience of Claire he never truly achieves that.  You always want to know what the other person is thinking but a person’s thoughts no matter what are their own, and Claire is no different. 

“How could his heart continue to beat when Claire had ripped it out of his chest and shattered it beyond repair?”

Cons

                I had always kind of wondered what he did when he wasn't around Claire when I was reading Consequences.  This story didn't really give me the insight I wanted but I’m not an author and you can’t give every single reader exactly what they want.  I did have questions about other women while he had Claire locked up in his house and how present they were in his life, and I didn't completely get an answer on that either but it was briefly talked about.  Also I would have liked to see more of Tony’s actions pertaining to John Vandersol and Sophia Burke during this time, they aren't really mentioned although you know during this time he was monitoring both of them and ruining John’s life. 

Overall

                

          This is the first time I've read a companion piece to a previous book and I really liked the fact that each chapter in the beginning told you where in Consequences you were at.  So you could keep the timeline right and it made it easier for me to go back to Consequences if I couldn't remember something or even if I just wanted to read the scene from Claire’s POV as well.  This was definitely a nice compliment to Consequences and gave the reader a more rounded story of the events and the relationship between the two of them.

                I always wondered when Tony had Catherine poison his coffee and that whole sequence of events why he chose that day to put his plans into action.  It was a mystery to me why all of sudden this would happen and what part of that day was planned and what part of it wasn't.  So it was great to finally get answers like that and this companion piece definitely answers a lot of questions.  It’s interesting to see Tony’s mindset at the end of this book and just how warped his mind was at this time.  I’m excited to read Behind His Eyes-Truth, because I just need more Anthony Rawlings in my life.  I also want to start liking him again it sucks hating him!

Side Note

                Being a woman has been in an abusive relationship in my past I had a hard time reading The Accident scene the first time, and I knew when I decided to read the scene from Tony’s POV the first time in the group on Goodreads  it would be difficult again.  The kind of terror that she felt was very familiar and compelling, I could relate to her on so many levels in the book because she makes a lot of decisions based on wanting to survive.  I know a lot of people came down on Claire and called her a wimp and called her weak but I think when you’re in a situation where it is about your sanity and your survival your decisions are rational or “normal” and sometimes we have to remind ourselves that.  I think both scenes were written beautifully and I had no real issue reading it again in this book.  To me what saves Tony in the whole accident scenario is that he is coming from a place of betrayal and anger, instead of just plain cruelty and manipulation.  There are many times in the book that he hurts her just to her and that is cruel and he takes manipulation to a whole different level of crazy, but at this moment none of that plays a real role at least for me.  I’m not defending his actions in any way but he was blind with rage he was beating the crap out of Claire to hear her scream and see blood he did because he was angry and there is a big difference between the two, and I think because of that it’s the breaking point for him and it changes their dynamic.  It almost had to happen in a way for him to become the Tony that we all love by the end of Convicted; it is an essential part in this story of the two of them.

Click here to read my review of Behind His Eyes - Truth (Consequences, #5)

Click here to read my review of Convicted (Consequences, #3)!