ARC Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: Wrecked by J.B. Salsbury

Wrecked

 

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Synopsis

When you can’t trust yourself, how can you ask anyone else to?

It’s been months since Aden Colt left the Army, and still the memories haunt him. When he moved into a tiny boat off the California coast, he thought he’d found the perfect place to escape life. Then Sawyer shows up and turns his simple life upside down. Beautiful and sophisticated, she seems out of place in this laid-back beach town. Something is pushing her to experience everything she can—including Aden. But as much as he wants her, starting a relationship with Sawyer puts them both at risk. For Aden, the past doesn’t stay there; it shows up unexpectedly, uncontrollably, and doesn’t care whose life it wrecks.

 

 

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Review

“Life is beautiful and terrifying … And we deserve to feel it down to our bones.”

5 stars!!!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS BOOK! Raw, dramatic and emotional yet sweet, fun and sexy with a beautifully romantic love story, this book captivated me from start to finish and I could not put it down. The writing is fantastic, the characters are wonderfully developed and the story made my heart race, made me laugh, made me cry, it made me so proud of the characters and their journeys, and it had me melting into a puddle of goo on the floor. I loved every moment and it’s definitely going down as a favourite for 2017.

Aden Colt was a proud and dedicated soldier on deployment in Afghanistan, but his world was shattered when a devastating betrayal resulted in the deaths of almost his entire unit. He’s back home now, but the horror, guilt and grief have followed him, and he struggles to control his anger, paranoia and the night terrors that continue to haunt him.

I know what it feels like to have something living inside that eats away at your sanity. They call it trauma, a deeply distressing experience, but God…it’s so much more. It’s alive and breathing, it eats and rarely sleeps, it’s a monster that demands attention and never ever gives in.

Sawyer Forrester is serious, uptight and highly strung. She lives her life according to a series of lists, and struggles to be social and step outside of her rigid boundaries. Her twin sister is terminally ill, and she makes her final request that Sawyer travel to her home in San Diego and pack up her belongings – but she needs to step outside of her own life and pretend to be her wild, vivacious sister while she is there. To take chances and truly experience all that life can be. Powerless to refuse her dying sister, Sawyer accepts.

I can’t change who I am, no matter how much I want to. The guilt and the self-hatred is frustrating and I’m so lost in who I am and who I wish I could be that somewhere along the way, I’ve lost my way.

It’s on her first day in San Diego that Sawyer meets Aden. She is attracted to him right from the beginning, but she knows that he is way out of her league. He is a gruff and surly fisherman who seems to live his life free and without rules, the kind of man that her sister should be with, not her. He feels similarly about her – there is an immediate attraction but she seems too uptight for him, yet there is something about her that intrigues him, leaving him with a sense of edginess that just won’t go away. Neither of them can stop thinking about each other, and when they see each other again, that spark starts to become something so much more.

I don’t want to say too much more about the story because you just need to experience this one. But OMG< I love these two together!!!The romance develops beautifully – it’s well paced, full of chemistry, and feels completely natural. It flows, and I could feel every moment between Aden and Sawyer as they openly admit their attraction to each other and act on it – even though they know that there is a limit on their time together.

“I should let you go.” My fingers dig into the soft flesh of her hips going against the words that tumble from my lips.
“Or maybe you should hold on.”

There are gorgeously sweet moments as they get to know each other, and their passion for each other is sizzling, and I fell in love right alongside them as, against all odds, they fall for each other.

“I don’t want to forget you.”
He pulls his shirt off over his head, his wide muscular chest on display and tensing with anticipation. “I’ll make sure you never will … I’ll mark your fucking soul … The way you’ve marked mine.”

And as beautiful as their romance is, there is so much more to their story. Aden and Sawyer are both damaged by their past experiences, and this book is a journey for both of them as they bring significant change to each other’s lives. Aden encourages Sawyer to step outside of the rigid confines of her life and truly live…

He makes me forget all I’m not and all I’m pretending to be. With him I’m someone different, not Celia or Sawyer, but just…me.

…and Sawyer provides Aden with the peace that he so desperately craves, making him want to move on from the past and find himself again.

I’m drowning in her.
In her touch, her effect, the way she looks at me as if she sees past the darkness in my soul to the man I was meant to be. The honorable man I was before. God, how I want to be that man again.

But the circumstances of their lives are difficult, and as functional as they are together, there are parts of their lives that make it impossible for them to have a future together. It’s a dramatic, emotional and heartbreaking journey for them both to find their way forward, and I felt every. single. moment.

“Nothing about us makes sense except for what I feel when I’m with you.”

It’s truly heartwrenching stuff, and I spent the whole book knowing that certain things were going to have to happen, and thinking I was prepared for it. Nope. Not even a little bit. The feels are intense, and I was completely lost in the story as it all unfolded, and God, I loved it!!! It hurt, but it’s so perfect for the story, and I couldn’t have seen it happening any other way. And THEN, there is the most perfect epilogue set years into the future and finishing off the story perfectly, leaving me with a huge grin on my face and tears in my eyes.

I can’t gush enough about this book. It’s a truly special read that is wonderfully written, and one that I happily lost myself in.

5 massive stars!

Advanced Review Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 


Excerpt

Oh no, fuck no!

I thought he was kidding. I should’ve known better. Aden’s intentions with me since I stupidly boarded this boat have been my torment for his enjoyment. He loved watching me squirm over the bait tank and when I proved I wouldn’t shy away from a challenge, he pulled out the big guns. From his flirty smiles to his teasing touches, he’s discovered my weaknesses and is exploiting them for his own entertainment.

Now this? Raw fish probably still warm from fighting for its life.

And now I’m God knows how many feet above water sitting on a two-seater bench held up by rusty ladders and staring down a piece of glistening pink meat.

“You have to eat it, it’s a rite of passage.” He offers the meat to my lips and I quickly turn my face away.

“I’m really not hungry.” As if the idea isn’t enough to turn my stomach, watching him clean the fish before sectioning off enough for lunch wasn’t much of an appetite builder.

“Of course you are.” He brings the piece to his own mouth and takes a bite, closing his eyes with a moan as he chews.

I feel a rush of bile hit my throat, or maybe it’s beer, either way it’s warm and it burns.

“That’s disgusting.”

“You’re telling me you don’t like sushi?”

My eyes widen. Sawyer would say she’s never had sushi. But Celia’s a different story.

She ate a live cricket in the eighth grade on a dare. She didn’t even flinch. “I like sushi, just not directly from the…um…source.”

“Doesn’t get fresher than this.” He takes another bite and I can’t deny that his response to eating it does give it some appeal.

“I think I need soy sauce or that green stuff.” What’s it called?

“Just try it.”

“I really don’t want to.”

“Oh come on.” He smiles in that cute crooked way that makes my heart dip and dive.

“Live a little.”

I chew the inside of my mouth debating the cost/benefit of taking a bite of this fresh-out-of-the- ocean fish. On one hand, I’ll impress Aden. That in and of itself is worth the ick factor.  But what if I throw up all over his boat? Is the chance of impressing him worth totally humiliating myself? I groan when I realize what I’m doing, exactly what I swore I wouldn’t do.  I’m making an internal pros and cons list. I close my eyes and steel my resolve and my spine.  Don’t think, just decide. I pop open my eyes followed by my mouth.

“Yeah?” He stares at my parted lips.

I nod, hoping he’ll hurry before I change my mind.

Lifting the rose-colored flesh forward, he places it between my teeth. It’s a small bite so I close my lips around his fingers expecting him to pull away…but he doesn’t. For a moment I’m suspended in his gaze, totally stuck while his hot fingers rest between my lips. This should be grossing me out; after all, I watched him gut this fish with his bare hands and to wash off all the blood he merely dipped them into the ocean. But all the thoughts of raw fish and a stranger’s finger do nothing to stave off the warmth blooming in my belly. My tongue pulls the meat deeper into my mouth, brushing against the rough pad of his forefinger. He bites his lip but finally drops his hand.

He watches intently while I chew and swallow.

“How was it?” His voice is low and gruff.

Lost in the heated moment, I barely tasted it. “Good.”

His hand cups the back of my head and he pulls me toward him, stopping just short of our lips touching. “I can’t fucking take this anymore.” His breath is sawing in and out, bursting against my mouth with impatience. “Let me.” It’s a demand, not a question.

A kiss. I don’t need to channel Celia or flip a coin…I know what I want.

I lick my lips and close the slight distance between us.

 


Giveaway

To celebrate this release, J.B. Salsbury is giving away ten (10) print copies of Wrecked!

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

The Escapist Book Blog is not responsible for this giveaway

 


About the Author

New York Times bestselling author JB Salsbury spends her days lost in a world of budding romance and impossible obstacles. Her love of good storytelling led her to earn a degree in Media Communications. Since 2013 she has published six bestselling novels in The Fighting Series and won a RONE Award. JB Salsbury lives with her husband and two kids in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

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