Jesse Vaughn was never good at letting people
in. He’d learned a long time ago that it’s easier that way because people
leave, or unfortunately, die. The one person he wanted to let in doesn’t want
him anymore. The only problem is he can’t stop thinking about her. Jesse
returns to the childhood home he left behind with one goal in mind…to convince
her that they should be together.
When Jesse finds Alyssa she’s not the same
girl he left behind. She’s wild, reckless and hell-bent on not giving Jesse a
second chance. Lucky for Jesse, his stubborn streak has always been a mile-wide
and he’s not about to give up on her.
When your life has been shattered can you
really pick up all the pieces and move on?
*I was gifted a copy of this book
from the author in exchange for an honest review*
So, Elizabeth was sweet enough to
provide with a copy of Shattered to
review on my blog, and then you know what I did? I put off reading it. Not
because I was trying to be a dick, or I didn’t have any interest in it; I pride
myself on not being a dick and I had it listed on my TR shelf on Goodreads
before she gifted me the copy. So what made me hesitant to start this novel?
The inevitable feeling of heartache. I mean, the synopsis lets you know that
things don’t work out great – she loses both of her best friends. I needed to
get myself in the right state of mind for Shattered
and thankfully I did, because it is an incredible story of love, loss,
letting go, and finding happiness when you feel like you don’t deserve it.
I felt immediately bonded to
Alyssa, mainly because I’m a country girl myself. Riding on 4-wheelers, going
mudding, “booze cruising” on dirt roads, having a guy put the moves on you in the
bed of his pickup truck…check, check, check, AND check. I loved her character
and felt so much for her. The scenes where she shut out the world and went into
auto-pilot broke my heart, and the overwhelming guilt she battled with over
Garrett’s accident just made me want to pull her into a huge hug. When she was
picking up glass off the road that night – my heart broke and so did my tear
ducts. Sure, she frustrated me at times with her stubbornness towards Jesse, but
that’s when I reminded myself that she is
only in high school and let’s face it, we were all pretty damn stubborn and
stuck in our ways in high school.
Jesse – well, Jesse was a little
bit country, a little bit bad boy, and a whole lot of sexy…all rolled into a
nice romantic package. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with alpha
males; it’s weird, some of them I love, and some of them I hate. Jesse had a
bit of an alpha personality, but he was vulnerable at the same time and after
everything he had been through, you could easily see why. I absolutely love
Jesse and Alyssa, and there is one moment in particular that sticks out in my
head as the cutest, sweetest fucking thing ever. Two words: chocolate milkshake.
(You didn’t really expect me to tell you the meaning behind that did you?!)
Read it and I guarantee you’ll agree with me!
I loved that the story alternated
between Alyssa and Jesse’s POVs, and past
and present. I think it was necessary for the past and present to see how close
these three really were before the accident. I really appreciated it because it
gave us time to see just how great of a friend Garrett was…and he sounded
pretty damn easy on the eyes, too! I’m convinced Elizabeth somehow read my mind
and found out that a huge weakness of mine is a country boy in a flannel button
down shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap…whew, so sexy.
Shattered is
a wonderful novel that shows the unbreakable bonds of friendship, rekindled
romance, and learning how to pick up the pieces of a shattered world and make it
whole again. Elizabeth, thank you so much
for gifting me a copy of your book and I’m fairly certain you and I are
supposed to be best friends or something. Why? Because of this one line: “I’m not sure how good my coordination was
at that point, but I knew one thing…when Luke Bryan told you to ‘shake it,’ by
God, you shook it.” You said it, girl –
you always shake it for Luke Bryan!
PS – For those of you who have
never seen sexy Mr. Luke Bryan shake it himself on stage…you’re welcome ;)
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