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Ex-Army Ranger, Brand Killien, has always been good.
A good friend, a good soldier, a good everything. .
The problem is, good hasn’t gotten him anything but a crushed heart.
So after licking his wounds, he decides to move on. And moving on doesn’t include being good anymore.
Bad sounds so much better.
Jaded and detached, Brand is determined to never open himself up to anyone again. It’s not worth the pain. Instead, he becomes closed, hardened, aloof.
But then he’s called back home for a family emergency… a family that he is estranged from. A family that he put out of his mind a long time ago for very good reasons…reasons that involve secrets and pain. Reasons he tried hard to forget.
But home is where the heart is, and it just might be where Brand finds his again.
Why? Because home is where Nora Greene is. A fiery, red-headed spitfire, Nora is a thing from his past. A beautiful, feisty thing. When Brand left, she was away at boarding school.
But she’s back now.
And she wants Brand, scars and all.
OUR REVIEW:
You know...I always like Brand. He was so good to Jacey and always seemed to know the right thing to do or say in almost every situation. ..and even though I knew he and Jacey weren't right for each other, I always felt so bad for him and wanted him to be happy. Well, thank you Courtney Cole...you gave him a book..made him work really stinkin' hard for it..but he finally found some peace and a good woman. True. Brand is a constant for everyone in his life, and turns out...this is a theme for him. He has to deal with how he feels about it, how he feels about his new circumstances and regrets, as well as Nora and Jacey. There was a lot going on in this book!
Now..about that good woman. I'll be honest; the way Nora pursued Brand was a bit...much for me at first. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated her determination...I just had a hard time with how she sometimes viewed him as more of an object of her affection rather than Brand, the man..the person..someone who should have a say so in all of this. As I got to know her and the nightmare of her father and William, I understood her fierce desire to connect with Brand and disappear into this relationship for a while and I began to like her more and more. (FYI..her story is a doozy. I mean..whoa.)
Again. True story. I can't say that Nora passed anyone up as a favorite heroine in this series, but she did have a lot of issues going on with her too. A LOT! Scary, a lot...but I don't particularly want to slut shame her (agreed, never that. never). I'll just say she came off very strong, albeit a little bit desperate. Brand calls her out, so I feel less bad about saying that...but...hhmmm....conflicted feelings!
Again. True story. I can't say that Nora passed anyone up as a favorite heroine in this series, but she did have a lot of issues going on with her too. A LOT! Scary, a lot...but I don't particularly want to slut shame her (agreed, never that. never). I'll just say she came off very strong, albeit a little bit desperate. Brand calls her out, so I feel less bad about saying that...but...hhmmm....conflicted feelings!
Brand also has a history that is brutal and awful. It's a wonder that he is as well adjusted as he is..really. I think I'd walk around with a total black heart but not Brand; nope..he's open and vulnerable and even when he tries really hard to avoid getting sucked into a 'thing' with Nora, he just can't help it. Brand's history basically kept the story going for me...but I was not particularly thrilled with the way things went with his injury. I am an orthopaedic nurse, and some things just didn't make that much sense with mechanism, treatment and timeline for progress. I'll chalk it up at this point to maybe I read it too fast, and missed some details....though, I'm not sure I did...but once I got frustrated by this part, it was hard to get unfrustrated. Didn't work for me. At all.
There story was quick; I feel like it flew by..especially the end. Between the last chapter and the epilogue I think I'd love a few more chapters...because I'm greedy that way. As many directions as the characters had to go, I felt less connected to their romance than the events that we knew were coming. I needed more as well.
ABOUT COURTNEY COLE:
Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
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And don’t miss the other Beautifully Broken, now available:
Praise for the Beautifully Broken Series:
"I loved If You Stay. Like, really really loved it. The kind of love that kept me reading until 2:40 am and left me crying, smiling, devastated, and elated. The best kind of book love." - Andrea, The Bookish Babe
"Beautiful, raw, gritty, emotional and breath-taking are just a few of the words I can find to describe this book...reading this book was one of the best experiences I have had." -Amanda, Globug and Hootie Need a Book
"Beautiful, raw, gritty, emotional and breath-taking are just a few of the words I can find to describe this book...reading this book was one of the best experiences I have had." -Amanda, Globug and Hootie Need a Book
"In If You Leave, we continue the wild ride Courtney Cole started us on in If You Stay. This raw story of heartbreak and hope solidifies Cole's standing as a rising star in hot contemporary romance." --- New York Times Bestselling author of Down to You, M. Leighton"Another raw, gritty masterpiece with a sexy-as-hell Army Ranger to swoon over." --- K.A. Tucker, author of Ten Tiny Breaths
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