Review: 4.5 Star Rating
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 28, 2014
Vining tells a great story about finding lost loves and second chances. What was refreshing was that this book was so off from the cliched NA story lines. Yes it has the sexy hot alpha male with secrets in his past which have left him somewhat broken. It does have a beautiful heroine who is not sure if she can get close to someone on an emotional level due to her issues from her past. Yes both characters are broken and finally come to help fix each other, but truly that is where the similarities end.Josie is a young woman on her own due to unfortunate circumstances. She has no memory of her life before the age of 14. She knows her mom is dead and her dad was killed but that is all. Faces come to her in her dreams, but they mean nothing. After being traumatized through the foster system she is out on her own using drugs, sex, and tagging to fill in all the emptiness. While not liking attachment she is drawn to this man, a beautiful stranger with tattoes up his arm. She often seeks him out but from a distance. Tristan, is estranged from his family after a poor relationship choice which got him caught up in the wrong crowd. If only he never lost his first love, this would have never happened. Imagine his surprise, when he finds that love, the one he thought was dead.Josie and Tristan's love story is one of rediscovery. Josie learining about her old self, Tristan reconnecting with the missing piece he never thought he would find. But there love story isn't easy because they are threatened with their pasts. Crazily interconnected, Tristan is determined to take on his past in order to keep Josie safe and never lose her again.Other characters in this story were also great. I loved Alex, Josie's neighbor, and his protective nature over Josie. Monica, Josie's former social worker, was funny and thoughful.There are crazy twists and turns with the mystery that backlights the whole story. People are not who they seem and some of the interconnnections are wild. What is great though, is Vining explains is all in a plausible way. There is resolution and we do eventually get our HEA for Josie and Tristan, but there are tears along the way.This was a surprising book to me and was far from what I expected based on the cover and the blurb, but it definitely was worth the read.Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.