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Review

5 shining stars!

Wow, wow, wow, I love this book! It’s a breathtakingly beautiful story of two people’s journeys to reclaim their lives after heartbreaking tragedy, and an emotional, sweet and passionate love story that absolutely stole my heart! It’s a long-ish book, a detailed story and a slow burning romance, and I adored every moment of it.

Max is the best friend of Carter from A Pound of Flesh (and though this could be read as a standalone, I would recommend reading the previous books to fully understand the dynamics).  He is a man with a tragic past who has been left destroyed by his grief, and who has turned to drugs in order to cope. When we first met him he was an addict, hopelessly lost to his addiction unable to deal with all that he has lost in his life. Carter has arranged for him to go to rehab, and this book begins with his journey to finally deal with his demons and reclaim his life.

“Do you know what I see when I look at you?”
Max shook his head fervently. “I’d rather not know—”
“I see a man who wants so much to be better, who regrets the decisions he made, who wants to make amends and move on with his life. I see a man terrified to take a chance, to trust, but desperate to do so. I see a man who’s fractured, but trying, I see hope.”

Max’s rehab stay is wonderfully written, and he begins his recover, managing to rediscover parts of himself that he thought were lost. But once he is released life is still a struggle for him so he leaves the city to travel to the small country town in West Virginia where his uncle, aunt and cousin welcome him with open arms, and where he plans to stay while he resettles into real life. And that is where he meets Grace.

Grace has been through her own hell and has moved to town to get a fresh start for herself. She, too, has been left damaged by all that she has been through, but when she lays eyes on Max, it’s the first time she has felt attraction to a man in a very long time. He is equally as drawn to her, but neither of them are in a place to consider anything romantic and so a tentative friendship develops.

I loved the slow pace of the relationship between Max and Grace. I could understand their hesitancy, and their openness and honesty with each other was absolutely sensational. They shared their awful pasts, and the friendship that developed between them was gorgeous! Fun, sweet and protective, but with an undertone of attraction that keeps things interesting.

He doubted he’d ever feel again. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to.
Until she tumbled into his life.

Their shift to something ‘more’ is really nicely done. There are so many hurdles in their way – the first being that Max isn’t supposed to enter into a relationship while he’s so fresh out of rehab, the second is that he knows that he’ll never recover from the devastating betrayal of his first love and what they lost together. And Grace has been hurt so badly in the past that she has all kinds of issues. But they find a way to make it work, and the sexual tension that has been building since they met explodes into intense passion.

It’s one of those love stories where you can feel the chemistry between the couple, and you can see that what they have is so much more than what they’re willing to admit to, but their story unfolds perfectly. Max is wonderfully gentle and protective with Grace, helping her face up to her issues, and in return Grace supports Max as he battles his demons. They are flawed, but they are perfect together, and the emotion is beautifully written.

All he cared about was the woman wrapped in his arms, whispering her love for him, and the overwhelming sensation of hope that began to bloom among all the parts of him that belonged to his Grace.

These are two very special characters. I could understand everything they were going through, I felt it all right along with them, even when they made bad decisions, and I love the way they stood by each other. Grace in particular showed amazing strength. The way she was there for Max, accepting all of him, putting herself out there and loving him bravely was so, so gorgeous.

“Don’t be scared, not of me. I only want to love you.”

And Max absolutely stole my heart! His battle not only to get better, but to overcome his past, figure out what he wants and then fight for it, was beautifully told. My heart broke for him over and over, and I revelled in every piece of happiness that he found. And seeing him come to terms with everything that happens between him and Grace was heart-achingly beautiful.

“I know I hurt you and I’ll always be sorry for that. I’ll always been an addict but I can’t change that, either. All I can do is promise I’ll fight it every day. For us. For you.”

There is a lot that Max and Grace need to overcome to truly move forward together. It’s not an easy journey for them, but their struggles are realistic and dealt with without excessive angst and drama, and I loved their story.

“Doesn’t matter where you are,” he assured her. “You’re all I see”.

I loved the part that the side characters played throughout the story. I loved the role that Carter played in Max’s life – the two best friends have a very special relationship, and I love that we got to see that. I also loved Tate and Riley. The two brothers were straight-talkers, and absolutely fantastic. The camaraderie between all of the boys was fantastic! Their banter and antics brought a lot of lightness to the story, and it blended perfectly with everything else that was going on.

This is a book with three stories – Max’s story, Grace’s story, and their story together. It’s all perfectly intertwined to give us a deeply emotional read that held me captivated from start to finish, and I absolutely loved it.

5 stars.

Note – I listened to this as an audiobook, which is narrated by Sebastian York. The man can do no wrong. The way he brings these characters to life is flawless, injecting the right amounts of strength, vulnerability, wit and raw passion into them and making this a fantastic listening experience. I highly recommend this as an audiobook.

 

A Pound of Flesh series