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Blurb
Sadie Slade was the love of my life.
I left for college promising her I’d be back in four years.
She stayed behind promising me she’d wait.
We both broke our promises.
When we bump into each other five years later my feelings for her come rushing to the surface.
I want her back.
She wants me gone.
How quickly my Sadie Girl has forgotten—I’ve never been the type of man who accepts defeat.
No matter the cost.
Jack Daniels was my entire life.
Until he wasn’t.
Now he’s back and thinks we should pick up where we left off.
I miss the simplicity of what we had.
I miss how easily we fit together.
Truthfully…I miss him.
But if I allow him to get too close, he’ll see I’m not the same girl he left behind five years ago.
He thinks I’m upset about our break up.
The truth is so much worse.
Review
4.5 swoon-filled second-chance stars
Oh, I love a second-chance-romance, and JB Salsbury has given us a beautifully written, emotional, passionate and swoony love story that I have been desperate to read. Jack and Sadie’s story was well worth the wait, and I was captivated from start to finish.
I was so freaking excited to get my hands on this book, a Fighting series follow on – Sadie is Jonah’s (Fighting for Flight) daughter and Jack is Blake’s (Fighting to Forgive) son. We saw a glimpse of their love story in Uncaged: A Fighting for Flight Short Story, where after spending their childhoods completely wrapped up in each other, a teenaged Jack and Sadie have their first date, and this book continues their story, showing us the two of them madly in love in high school and planning for a future together after Jack finishes his four years away at College.
We were soul mates, destined to be together forever. From the moment I remember having life, she was in it. Sadie was my first love. My first everything. She was mine, and I was hers.
The story then shifts to five years in the future where Jack and Sadie are apart and living very separate lives. But when they unexpectedly run into each other again, Jack is completely shaken and he realises that he wants his Sadie back.
“It was like I’d gone so long without the missing piece of my soul, I’d forgotten it was even missing. But after seeing you again, the emptiness I feel without you is unbearable.”
But Sadie has been through a lot in their time apart and she has changed. She’s no longer the girl she once was, and though she misses Jack terribly, she’s not able to let him back in. It’s a heartwrenching situation and it sets the stage for a slow-burning second chance romance as Jack goes all out to get his girl back.
“I believe in us. Since we were little and you’d play tea party with all my Dino Trucks. I knew you were it for me. I got off course and fucked things up, but I’m back on track and I’m coming for you, Sadie Slade.”
There’s something about a romantic hero putting everything on the line to win back the woman he loves, and I was completely sucked in to Jack’s torment and heartache as he came to realise exactly what he let go when he and Sadie parted ways. He is open with Sadie about his feelings, which I loved, and he didn’t hold anything back in reconnecting with her and letting her know exactly what he was feeling.
“We were made to be together. No one will ever take your place, not in my heart or in my life.”
Sadie’s part of the story is equally as emotional. She’s dealing with some pretty big issues, and she has quite the journey ahead of her. But with Jack determinedly pursuing her, she slowly begins to open up to her old best friend, and I was swept up in all of the swoon as they find their way back to each other.
There are hurdles along the way – reveals, twists, and some questionable behaviour – but it all works to show the development of the characters as they deal with the past, figure out what is important, and then fight to claim it. It’s emotional and romantic and beautifully written, and I was feeling it all as Jack and Sadie pushed and pulled their way to their swoon-filled happy ending.
With every single part of my being, I am in love with you. There hasn’t been a single second of my life that I can remember when I wasn’t in love with you.”
There are cameos from the Fighting crew, Jack and Sadie’s families in particular, and I loved seeing them again – especially the scenes with Jonah and Blake still bickering and teasing each other mercilessly. But you can read this book as a standalone.
This is a gorgeously written book, and I loved it.
4.5 stars.
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Find more details on the Fighting series here
Check out more awesome reads on our JB Salsbury Author Spotlight page