Review: emotional and heartbreaking
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 20, 2014
SHATTERED is the second storyline in Tracy Wolff’s contemporary, new adult Extreme Risk series focusing on a group of extreme professional snow boarders. This is snowboarder Ash Lewis and nineteen year old Tansy Hampton’s story-a story of grief, recovery, acceptance and moving forward. Although it is the second in the series, SHATTERED can be read as a stand alone without too much difficulty.Told from alternating first person POVs (Tansy and Ash) the focus of the storyline is Ash Lewis-a one time, up and coming snowboarder whose life was shattered the day his parents were killed on their way to his Olympic qualifying trials. Not only did Ash lose his parents but his fourteen year old brother was left paralyzed as well. Ash’s guilt eats away at his heart, his soul and his existence. When the Make A Wish foundation approaches Ash to grant a snowboarding wish to a dying teen, Ash refuses because he believes snowboarding and thusly himself are the cause of his parents’ death and his brother’s injuries.Tansy Hampton’s first Make A Wish assignment is Ash Lewis. A dying fan’s wish is to meet and watch Ash on the snowboarding half pipe but Ash is shrouded in so much guilt that he is unable to grant the wish. With the help of Ash’s friends, Tansy is able to give young Timmy his dream but Ash is reluctant to hit the slopes. What ensues is an eight day trip to the Andes Mountains of Chile and a developing relationship between Tansy and Ash.The attraction between our leading couple is immediate but Ash has spent the better part of the previous six months whoring around to forget about the lives lost and shattered. The sex between Ash and Tansy is sensual, innocent and provocative. Tansy is an inexperienced female with a secret that she hopes to keep buried but an unexpected turn will force Tansy’s secret to be revealed.The secondary characters include Ash’s fellow snowboarders Luc, Cam, X and Ophelia and, Ash’s brother Logan. Logan and Ash’s relationship is strained and a good portion of the storyline focuses on Ash’s guilt, angst and emotional stability. The world building continues with the familiarity of the friends and the snowboarding experience, language and scenery.SHATTERED is a story of one man’s guilt, grief and inability to move forward and in this, much of the novel is angst ridden in Ash’s self deprecation, self loathing and misdirected anger. Although his brother is alive, Ash cannot see past the paralysis and, the wheelchair is a daily reminder of everything he and his brother have lost.Tracy Wolff has written an emotional and heartbreaking story about death and grieving. It is difficult to say how long or how much grief is too much but each individual must learn to accept a loss before moving on. SHATTERED will show one man that he is not the only person suffering in a world of hurt and pain and, there are others who are suffering right along with him.I was gifted a copy