Beautifully Broken Spirit

"Love is always a risk. There's no way around it. He'll hurt you. You'll hurt him. One of you might lose the other. But it will also be so beautiful, the light of it so bright, it'll outshine all of the dark."

She's always been his safe place to land. Jensen has shared a special bond with Tuck for as long as she can remember, their friendship a language that never needed words. But as life threw her one curveball after another, that secret language turned to stony silence. He's always been her protector. Tuck has looked out for Jensen since the day she was born. As his best friend's little sister, he's tried to keep her firmly in the friend category. But she's always been more. All it takes is one moment of weakness to send Tuck's fiercely guarded walls crumbling to the ground. As a new fire burns between them, someone watches. Someone who doesn't like the new life Jensen's building for herself. And they'll stop at nothing to keep her in the dark. 

I have actually never read a book by Catherine Cowles. I signed up for an ARC of this book on a whim, and didn't realize it was part of a series of books until after I got it. Now that I've read this one, I fully plan to read the two that came before, and I don't feel like I was missing anything by starting this one ahead of the first two. 

I liked Jensen right away. You could tell she had been through a lot in life, but she was still such a strong character. She had a great family surrounding her, and great friends. I think she realized she was incredibly lucky, but she was also trying to find a way to show everyone she could do things on her own. She was stubborn when it came to her feelings for Tuck, but she had bad luck with men in the past so I couldn't really blame her for that. 

"I like you just as you were meant to be. Wild and free."

Tuck was amazing. He didn't have a great manly influence growing up, so he automatically put himself in a category of "bad guy", but he was far from a bad guy. I liked how the reader could tell right away he was in love with Jensen, well before he ever figured it out. He was protective, loyal, and loving with her and her son, and he did everything he could to protect them. He was a stand up guy, and when he finally figured out that he deserved happiness and love it was such a great turning point in the story. 

The chemistry between these two was super hot. Catherine did such a great job writing it, you could tell it had been brewing for years. When it finally came to the surface it was literally melting off the pages. The scenes were hot, but I think what made them even better was the love between the two characters. 

"You've always had a wildness to you. It's been missing for a while, but it's coming back. And when I light that match, your eyes burn with it."

I also loved that this wasn't just another romance story. It had that element of suspense and mystery, and that kept me so interested in the story. I was dying for these two to get together, but also dying to try and figure out the mystery.

Overall, I'm giving this one 5 STARS. It had everything to make it a great book. It had romance, heat, mystery, and suspense. It kept me intrigued from the beginning and I couldn't stop reading. I will definitely go back and read the first two books in the series, and add Catherine to my must read author list!