***4 ‘We Define Them’ Stars***
I’ll admit that I waffled over this one before deciding to dive in because all I could think was that this book would be an all out angsty shit storm and I didn’t know if I wanted to dive into that pit of emotional chaos, but my enjoyment of the author’s writing style and damn curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go on the ride and I was pleasantly surprised. Though the emotional rollercoaster wasn’t as chaotic as I thought it would be, I enjoyed how the story ended up playing out.
Camryn’s life hasn’t been an easy one, but the one bright spot in it has always been Brecken, her best friend and love of her life, until he’s taken from her in the most final way possible. I had an odd relationship with Camryn because half of me admired the conviction behind the choices she made and the other half couldn’t believe that she did what she did and stuck with them. Vague? Yes, but to say more will make me venture into spoilers and that can’t happen. I guess you could boil it all down and say that I found her and her choices fascinating when everything was said an done.
Brecken was simply amazing. He wanted to make a better life for himself and Camryn and knew, based on his options, that the military was the only way to go, unfortunately things go majorly sideways. I adored Brecken and he, and another character, were what really made the book for me. In some ways the man is too good to be true, in others he is every man’s man. Even though it hurt my heart to watch him get used to all the changes that had occurred while he’d been taken, I couldn’t help but admire how he handled it all.
As much as I liked the direction Camryn and Brecken’s reunion went and the journey they went on to get their HEA, I wish that there had been a little more of them before he went off to war and was taken and even a little more of the fallout directly after his supposed execution because I wasn’t emotionally invested in either of them so their reunion didn’t have that gut punch I was hoping for. But besides that I really liked how they reconnected and had no issue with the choices they made along the way.
I’ve waffled a bit over my rating for this one because of how I felt about needing a little more meat to Brecken and Camryn’s relationship in the very beginning and the the lack of the emotional gut punch I felt at their reunion, but I really enjoyed the direction the author took with this book and found the characters choices, and the conviction behind them, fascinating even if I didn’t necessarily agree, which in the end is what kept me turning the pages and therefore garnered the 4 star rating. I thought she did a wonderful job at showing the struggles Brecken faced after being rescued and how he worked through it all. If you have triggers, this book will set them off. Ms. Williams didn’t hold back and though some were of a more graphic nature, they weren’t done gratuitously and did have a purpose within the story.
~ Copy provided by Ardent Prose PR ~
When he left for a twelve-month deployment, she knew it would feel like forever before they saw each other again. She didn’t realize how right she was.
When Lance Corporal Brecken Connolly gets taken as a POW, Camryn hopes for the best but steels herself for the worst. In the end, steel was what she needed to survive when he didn’t. She moves on the only way she knows how—gilding herself in more steel.
Years go by.
She builds a new life.
She leaves the old one behind.
Until one day, she sees the face of a ghost on the news. Brecken seems to have risen from the dead, but she knows she can’t perform the same miracle for herself. While Brecken was held in a torture camp for the past five years, she’s been trapped in her own kind of prison. One she can't be saved from.
The man she mourned comes back to join the living, but the girl he wanted to spend his life with isn’t the same woman he comes back for. Brecken isn’t the same person either. The past five years have changed them both. While he’s determined to put the pieces back together, she’s resolved to let hers rot where they shattered.
Broken or not, Brecken wants her back. He’ll do anything to achieve that. Even if it means going against the warden of Camryn’s personal prison—her husband.
Nicole Williams is the New York Times and USATODAY bestselling author of contemporary and young adult romance, including the Crash and Lost & Found series. Her books have been published by HarperTeen and Simon & Schuster in both domestic and foreign markets, while she continues to self-publish additional titles. She is working on a new YA series with Crown Books (a division of Random House) as well. She loves romance, from the sweet to the steamy, and writes stories about characters in search of their happily even after. She grew up surrounded by books and plans on writing until the day she dies, even if it’s just for her own personal enjoyment. She still buys paperbacks because she’s all nostalgic like that, but her kindle never goes neglected for too long. When not writing, she spends her time with her husband and daughter, and whatever time’s left over she’s forced to fit too many hobbies into too little time.
Nicole is represented by Jane Dystel, of Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency.
Nicole is represented by Jane Dystel, of Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency.
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