Review: Brilliant Cut (Diamond in the Rough #3) by Elisa Marie Hopkins

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Brilliant Cut by Elisa Marie Hopkins

*Digital copy was received from the author in exchange for an honest review*

Genre: Romance - Suspense

Pub. Date: November 15, 2016

Get a copy here!

AMAZON| BOOK DEPOSITORY

It’s always such a bittersweet moment when you got the last book of a series in your hands. Like you’re dying to devour the book and find out how it’d turn out but you don’t want to touch it, moreover read it, because if you do and you reach the end, then the whole journey would be over. I found it really hard to pick up my Kindle and touch that cover of Brilliant Cut ARC on my shelf. It’s that kind of undeniable moment when you know deeply inside your heart that once you click on it, there’s no coming back to the feeling you had before you read it. You know that you can’t not read it but you resist because you want to prolong the journey with your favorite characters, even if it meant being stuck in the moment. I needed a couple of minute to breathe and made myself swear that I wouldn’t just devour it all recklessly ―that I would savor every pages.

Diamond in the Rough series started with an engaging first book, continued with a complicatedly heartbreaking sequel, and ended up with a brilliant conclusion of the whole series. As a debut author, Elisa really went all out with her debut series, and I’m not just saying it to sweeten my review and all. Elisa did her research, explored with the ideas, and gave her all to these books like, well, a mother to her babies. This series is what I would call the perfect definition of suspense romance. I've said this on my review of the second book, Black Diamond, and at some points I might have said it on my review of the first book. The suspense part and the romance part are pretty well-balanced in a way that won’t make you think certain part is standing out than the other.

This last installment of Diamond in the Rough series started out a little bit different than the first two books. The first page instantly brought me back to the memories of reading Robert Langdon’s adventure. The prolog had a vibe of Dan Brown in it and it made some thriller-maniac neurons inside of me come back to life. I loved it so much that Elisa put such great twist into the story, developing a whole new level of issues as she revealed practically every single mystery we’ve been dying to find the truth ever since she dropped them each for the first time.

Told from third person perspective, Brilliant Cut fast-forwarded to a few years after Black Diamond ended. Or if we’re going to talk from Sophie’s angle: after Oliver. Yes, our favorite couple went separate ways last time we saw them. And while it broke my heart to pieces, there were so many reasons why the ‘calamity’ had to take place on the first place. But it’s for good that I don’t talk about it all here.

Sophie Cavall, an ex-model, now-writer, tried to live a normal life after all the chaos happened in her life two years ago. Apparently, two years was enough for everything to change completely. Like how Sophie now had two parts of herself crawling and screaming around the apartment creating after-disaster-effect every day. And how, instead of having Oliver to keep her from being crazy, Sophie had a pediatrician who sometimes balanced out her craziness with his. It’s totally unthinkable before that there would be a day when Oliver would be just a name in her history book, but it was what had happened. But in all honesty, Sophie could very much moved to Alaska and dated a seal but Oliver would always be her personal sun that keeps her heart warm all these years and her skins tingling just by hearing his name. Some say true love is hard to forget. Some say it would be forever unforgettable. Some say it would be etched in eternity in your mind. Sophie proved them all right when she very much didn’t want them to be. What had happened between her and Oliver was too perfect, too beautiful, that it felt too painful when it’s over. But was it really over? Sophie was in the edge of a cliff of madness, by recalling and pushing the memories of Oliver every day of her life. If not because of her twin boys who needed her concern above everything, she would pretty much end up in an asylum the second Oliver walked out of their flat. And Sophie wanted to believe that she loved Adam. But could one give her heart out to someone when this other person still got a hold on that very heart? Wouldn’t it be ripped out in the process? No. Because the hold was so strong even Sophie felt herself barely living with that empty hole where her heart used to beat.

“Trying to forget you was like trying to forget my way home. I realized you can’t build homes out of people, because then you feel homesick for a place that no longer exists.” ─Chapter XI

Among the three books, Brilliant Cut had the quickest yet the most emotional plot of all. Elisa didn't play around by bringing up a lot of issues like politics, secret order, and some mind-games to bring our couple back together. It might sound too heavy for some but trust me Elisa is a pro in putting complex words together into a bedtime story without leaving the thrilling part. I seriously wanted to blurt out the whole book scene by scene but then I would be thrown away into the sea for being a spoiler brat. This book is that good that you’d feel like holding a presscon to tell the world how the story goes. I loved that nothing’s changed with either Sophie or Oliver. Sophie with her independency and Oliver with his controlled-possessiveness and sexy brain (I never even think about this phrase before meeting Oliver). I felt a lot of things at once reading this book. There was a lot of emotion in two days I finished it. Sophie’s kids got my full attention instantly. Their ‘normality’ was so Oliver, I felt like crying my eyes out that not many people could actually accept them.

There were so many ups and downs along the way, a lot of mind-blowing revelation that keeps making me question whether this was really Elisa’s first ever series. She wrote cleverly. She explored so many topics, putting a lot of exciting trivia, and the way she wrote Oliver’s character deserved rounds of standing applause. We all know how genius Oliver is. But let’s come to a realization that behind every unique and singular character, there is only one person in charge in creating them: the author, Elisa. I am starting to wonder if Elisa might be an agent or something in real life..

To put it shortly, Brilliant Cut made a fantastic conclusion to the story, thus, making the series a total excellent accomplishment. This series deserves more attention than it’s been getting until today. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND this series to everyone who happened to come across this review of mine. Elisa is a new gem in this writing world that is totally deserving of more recognition. And like a diamond, you might get a little too attached once you get to know her pieces.