She’s a combat medic. He’s SAS, and her best friend. They weren’t supposed to fall in love.
Fighting Absolution, an all-new standalone contemporary romance by USA Today Bestselling author Kate McCarthy is LIVE and a fave for 2019!
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Blurb
At fifteen, Jamie Murphy finds herself broken and alone, convinced she doesn’t need anyone.
Until she does.
Bear is the boy behind the fence, the one who was there for her when no one else was.
Until he’s not.
Left with nothing, Jamie joins the army hoping it will give her purpose. The last thing she expects is the best friend from her past to reappear in the dusty plains of a war-torn country. No longer the boy she once knew, Bear is now a man: big, bearded, and SAS—one of the army’s elite.
Soon Jamie finds herself not only fighting against her enemies, but her feelings for a man who left her once before. Can she risk losing him all over again?
Fighting Absolution is a friends to lovers romance and features characters from Fighting Redemption, but is written as a standalone.
Review
“Home is wherever you are.”
6 stars!!
Wow, what a read! What an amazing, emotional, incredible, beautiful read! A military-themed friends-to-lovers love story that is surprising, unexpected, unique and absolutely epic! I was completely captivated from start to finish and I loved every moment of it. Definitely a fave for 2019.
First up, be aware that this book ties in with McCarthy’s incredible Fighting Redemption. You don’t have to have read that book first, but if you are planning on reading it, then I would recommend reading it before this one. Not only does the timeline crossover (this book is set before, during and after), but the way these two stories link together is just brilliant, and as a hardcore fan of Fighting Redemption, I loved watching those ties unfold.
Jamie is 15 years old when her world crashes around her. Grief-stricken and completely alone, she finds her only solace in the boy who lives in the house behind hers. They talk through the back fence of their properties, sharing secrets and opening their hearts to each other without revealing who they are, instead going by the nicknames ‘Bear’ and ‘Little Warrior’. But they share something that is significant to both of them, until it all stops.
Years later and Jamie has followed Bear’s lead and joined the Army in an attempt to find herself and find meaning in her life. As a combat medic, she is exposed to horrific situations, but she finds a sense of purpose and close friends while on deployment. She also endures heartbreaking tragedy. What she doesn’t expect is to run into the boy who was her whole world all those years ago, now a member of the elite SAS and fighting right alongside her.
I’m not going to say anything else about this story because you just need to dive in and experience it. And OMG, what an experience it is! Yes, it’s heartbreaking and tragic, and yes, I cried right along with Jamie and all that she goes through. What I wasn’t expecting was to laugh as much as I did. As Jamie and her Bear reconnect, there is a wonderful sense of camaraderie and fun between them as these two friends recapture the magic from their past. They tease, they joke, they banter and they flirt, and they have a lot of fun together. They have a true connection that is beautifully written, and I loved seeing that explored in such wonderful detail.
Their story takes us from war-torn Afghanistan to the sunny beaches of Perth, Western Australia (my home town, which made this an extra-special read for me), and an epic road trip all up and down the coast. We get to see an incredible friendship that slowly, naturally and quite unexpectedly becomes something so much more.
Jesus Christ, I’m in love with my best friend.
But it’s not an easy road for these two. Jamie has built walls around herself to protect her heart, and after her difficult childhood, I could absolutely understand why. She is looking for meaning in her life, and she believes the Army is it and that it’s all she’s capable of. Whereas Bear, who is also without family, has big dreams of creating his own – complete with wife, kids and a house by the beach. It’s a heartwrenching journey for them to find their happiness, and with Jamie’s strong, funny, fearless best friend by her side, I loved watching their story unfold.
“You keep talking like nobody needs you, Little Warrior, but I do. I need you.”
The book is written in dual POV, which I love, and with strong themes of friendship and finding your own family, there’s also a wonderful group of supporting characters – some that we’ve already met in Fighting Redemption, and a bunch of fantastic newbies that had me laughing and crying and wishing that I had more people like that around me.
This is a really special read, and I adored it so much. The blend of drama, emotion, fear, suspense, humour, fun and heart-pounding romance is so beautifully combined, and blends perfectly with the serious subject matter and the realities of war. I read it in a day, unable to put it down, and then went to bed unable to stop thinking about it. It captured me heart and soul, and, like its predecessor, I know it’s one that is going to stay with me for a long time to come.
6 massive stars (because 5 stars aren’t enough)
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Standalone – but connected
Fighting Redemption
Review
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Excerpt
After an early night, I wake in the morning with my body sagging into the ground. “What the hell?”
I roll and flail, my air mattress squeaking like a little bitch.
Bear laughs and I turn. He’s watching me, thoroughly amused. “I’m not here for your entertainment,” I hiss, my back aching from an uncomfortable sleep.
“Someone needs her coffee.”
“Did you poke a hole in my mattress?”
“No, but there’s something poking a hole in my—”
“For the love of god!” I rise up, the knife from beneath my pillow in hand. “I’m gonna stab yours just for that.”
“No!” He laughs, half-rising from his own bed, warding me off with his massive paws. “That damn thing is probably why you woke up on the ground.”
I lunge across the tent, my knife jabbing straight into his inflatable mattress. It tears a long, deep gash in the corner. Air hisses out in a wheezy rush. “What in the actual fuck?” he shouts, falling back with a stunned laugh. “You’re such a bitch!”
The knife drops from my hand, and I double over, gasping with laughter while the airbed deflates around him, sinking him slowly to the ground.
“Now neither of us have a bed!”
“Oh well.” I tuck my knife away. “We can start on those bottles of red tonight until we can’t feel a damn thing, and then it won’t matter.”
I unzip the tent and step out, my jaw cracking from a yawn that stretches my face. “Bring me coffee!” he orders from inside the tent.
I turn my head, sneaking a glance his way. He’s standing over his duffel bag, clad in nothing but a tight pair of bright blue cotton boxer-briefs. It’s almost a physical punch. I linger a moment before I look away, back to the ocean, trying to dispel the image, but my mind won’t let it go. The wide, muscled shoulders, his tattooed arms, the thick washboard abs, his body scarred from combat and a lifetime of hard and heavy training.
I shiver with a sense of longing and have to remind myself that it’s just Bear as I start on the coffee. The same Bear who laughed his ass off when I tripped on the edge of the jetty in Broome and fell in the water. The one who snores like a freight train after one too many beers. The one slowly turning into a mountain man because he hasn’t shaved since we left. The very same Bear who tips his head back each night in his camp chair and makes me scratch his head with my nails while he sits there and whimpers like a little girl.
About Kate
Kate McCarthy is a USA Today Bestselling author who resides in Brisbane, Australia, a city in the state of Queensland where she works full time on her writing.
She has two children, two dogs, and a pile of friends and family dotted all over the world that help keep her sane.
When she’s not busy running after naughty kids, filthy dogs, and writing books, you can find her curled up in bed in the early hours of the morning reading new books and re-reading old favourites.
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