Review: I loved this book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 16, 2014
“I’ve spent years playing Russian Roulette with my life.”—ZZ Michaels will do anything to forget his past—parties, women, extreme snowboarding…if it’s destructive, it’s fair game. Ophelia Richardson is on the run from the haunting memories of her past. When two damaged souls meet, Z will learn what it’s like to live for the future, and Ophelia will free herself from the numbness holding her hostage. Love can heal them, but with Z walking the same path as the man in Ophelia’s past, love can also destroy them both…“I’ve spent so long trying to be numb that I think I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be anything but.”—OpheliaI loved this book! First off, a big chunk of this book is involved in some way with snowboarding. Personally, I’ve never been interested in snowboarding. Maybe it’s from growing up in Florida where we have no snow and certainly no mountains. So let’s just say that at the start of the book, my impression of snowboarding is pretty much like Ophelia’s: “they do turns and stuff.” After reading this book, imagine my surprise at how awesome snowboarding is—or at least the way the author portrays it! It now seems so much fun, hard, exciting, dangerous, and oh so cool! There’s one scene where Z is going down a mountain, and we’re right along with him in all its fearful and exciting glory!Oh, but wait, there’s also romance! And what a romance! Z and Ophelia’s chemistry is unmistakable (medium-high heat level) but their emotional connection is what makes the book so great! You have two characters who are so wounded by their pasts that they’re stuck and can’t heal and move on. Correction…they’re stuck until they find each other. What I love is that they don’t ‘fix’ each other. Instead, they’re the catalyst for both of them wanting to be better to get their respective recoveries going. Neither of them will ever be able to get past the bad stuff that happened to them, but they find a more constructive coping mechanism, which I love and made this such a compelling read.The book switches between their two viewpoints, and you can clearly see that you have two different character voices. Z is full of cursing and self-loathing while Ophelia is vulnerable and frightened. I love how we can see how each of them sees each other and knowing how each affects the other’s thoughts. Z is such a swoon-worthy hero once he gets his head straight, and Ophelia is a strong but vulnerable heroine. I loved both of them and was completely rooting for them.There are three other snow boarders who are Z’s besties so I’m guessing we’ll have books in the series for them. Happily, this book does not end in a cliff-hanger with Z and Ophelia. There’s resolution for them, and I loved the ending! However, there is a cliff-hanger and shocker for one of his friends, which totally broke my heart. It looks like that friend will be the lead for the next book, and I can’t wait! Overall, this is an awesome read and going on my favorites shelf. This is a 5 out of 5 for me.(Originally posted on my blog; I received a NetGalley copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.)