4.5 stars
This was one of those random reads that just totally grabbed my attention and made me shift my TBR. I went into it not really knowing what to expect but came out of it pleasantly surprised!
It was refreshing to read such a different plot line than the usual. It was basically the story of two people stranded together on a life raft in the middle of the Caribbean struggling to survive and dealing with their growing feelings for each other.
But… it wasn’t that simple. The hero, Bastien, (who was the captain of the ship) was a rude, crude and drunk yet lovable jerk who was also in the process of detoxing and the heroine was sweet and quiet and just his complete opposite in every way so dealing with him detoxing and them trying to survive on top of the fact that their ship just sank definitely made for an interesting story set up.
The entire story was told from Bastien’s POV. So, basically we get the perspective of the broken, drunken (now detoxing), manwhoring, badass ex-fighter. I loved it!
“Throw her overboard or stick my tongue down her throat? I could decide and it fucking ticked me off.”
He went through a lot of change in the book. He did have some pretty low, utterly asshole moments but it was all on the outside. On the inside he was just this broken totally tortured guy who had just been completely fucked over by life and was tired of trusting people… deep down he really just wanted to be loved and I could really sense that right from the start. But… on the outside, seriously there were definitely times when I wanted to slap him. What. A. Jerk.!!
“Please stop shutting me out.”
“I never let you in, baby.”
But I’m a sucker for guys with tortured pasts… oh, and did I mentioned he was scarred? Ex-fighter… Really protective… Swoony in a really rough way. Yeah, I kinda fell for him.
I really like Raine too. Despite being sweet and shy and rather innocent, she was also quite strong and I loved that she just did NOT take his shit! I loved that she wasn’t a pushover.
But really, you couldn’t have had two more different people stuck on that raft together.
Ok, I will say this in the interest of honesty.. there were a few things that suspended my belief a little — like how quickly he opened up to her about his past given how incredibly dark it was but still, it wasn’t anything that made me disconnect from the story, more just something I noticed.
As far as the things they went through to survive, I’ve never been stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean, but it all seemed pretty realistic to me so I liked that everything at least felt very believable from that respect.
I liked the bit of a twist to his back story. It certainly wasn’t your average ‘past’.. in fact it honestly might have been the first time I’d heard of a character being a part of something like that and I liked the way it made sense as a backstory of what had built him into the man we were seeing in the story. But seriously. It was fucked up. No wonder he drank himself into oblivion!
“I want to let you in, I just don’t know if I can.”
The book is basically very focused on two things: their survival and their growing relationship. There were a lot of survival tips and tricks. Some of them actually really interesting, and some of them seriously gross (dear freaking Lord may I never have to be in the position of needing to suck the liquid out of a fish’s eyeballs for hydration *shudders*)
“Survival 101… You can live three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. It’s not exact, obviously, but it tells you where to put your priorities.”
But there was also a lot of focus on the relationship which eventually turned into a romance. I liked that it was slow-building and that they didn’t just fall into each other’s arms. It took its time so that by the time they got together, I believed it. I loved this part:
“I love your arms,” she said, almost too quietly for me to hear. Her fingers trailed all the way down to my wrist, then back up to my shoulder where she outlined the muscles there.
“I thought you loved my dick,” I teased.
Raine chuckled and sighed at me.
“I like that, too, but your arms are my favorite part of you. They make me feel safe.”
“I’ll always keep you safe,” I told her. I tilted my head to the side, looked into her eyes, and smiled down at her.
“I know.”
Some parts of the book felt a little “out there”, others were really sweet, and some were just downright HOT!!
“I could do it you know… I could make you come without even touching you.”
I loved the whole angle of the broken hero, utterly fucked over by life, a true survivor, and yet with zero self worth being shown how to trust love by this girl who saw right through his facade into the real him and brought out the best in him and made him feel safe, loved and worthy.
“As long as I’m breathing, I’m yours. Even when I’m nothing more than a fucked up dick, I still love you.”
What is it about the grouchy crude, rude, lovable badass jerks that just melt our hearts?? There were times when I couldn’t help but smile.
“What did you do before sailing?”
Here was a topic best avoided.
“Not much.”
“You must have done something.”
“Not necessarily.”
“Well you had to have done something to be able to buy your boat, right?”
“It’s a ship. Or it was. Boats are small, and size fucking matters.”
LOL. I loved that Raine was strong, but just in a very quiet way. Yes, she had moments of naivete but not stupidity and I respected that difference.
Emotionally, this was really a journey of feeling worthy of and finding love. Physically, it was a journey of survival.
There is no relationship cliffhanger however there are still really big bad guys out there who will likely try and come after them so I’m looking forward to the next one but have no doubt that they’ll remain strong together as a couple.
“I love you… I’ll never walk away from you, Raine, I swear — I’ll be with you as long as you will have me.”
I really enjoyed my read and if you just want something really different, this would definitely be one to consider. There were a few slow parts but at the same time, looking back on it, there weren’t any parts I’d want to take out either and during my read, I couldn’t put it down. It was just a total chance of pace from my normal reads and sometimes that’s exactly what you need 🙂
4.5 stars
Amanda says
Hi Aetas!
Thank you for all your giveaways, really, I appreciate them. But I believe that ALL and I mean ALL giveaways should BE FAIR. I have notice in almost all your giveaways that the Rafflecopter says AND THE WINNERS ARE when the giveaway should say AND THE WINNER IS. Obviously that is *if* the giveaway was handled FAIRLY. You cannot imagine how unfair I think this is when I see it, not only on your giveaways, but in SO MANY OTHERS. One thing I want to make clear is that I’m not hating on you or your blog, ‘cause really I love you both! I’m just, you know, letting you know my opinion.
*hugs*
Aestas says
Amanda – That’s a valid question but the answer is out of my control because that is because that is a predetermined setting by Rafflecopter. They don’t know how many winners we are going to drawn for each giveaway so all of their templates say “are”, not “is”. All my giveaways always say if there is going to be more than one winner, otherwise, it is always one winner.
Thank you for your support!
Stephanie K says
Is this a stand alone book or does it have a cliffhanger? I know there is another book coming but wasn’t sure if it was the same characters.
Aestas Cross says
There will be a sequel this summer! Not really a cliffhanger though… mild one… more like it leads into the next book
Natalie says
Hi, can you tell me the name of the guy you have cast for Bastien? 😉
Thanks!
Aestas Cross says
I believe his name is Lucas Gil
kiran says
totally loved this book, a very well written book. completely enjoyed the story and the character.
It is definitely a must read.