Good Morning fellow bookish friends! I hope you’re all having a wonderful week so far. Today, I have an AMAZING book to share with you — From New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Jay Crownover comes a standalone romance with a hero sure to keep readers up long into the night.
The road to recovery is full of twist and turns no matter who is in the driver seat. This achingly beautiful story has taken a very special place in my heart and I loved every moment I spent with Cable and Affton.
Pick up your copy of RECOVERED for just $.99 through release week only!
5 ★ – So Achingly Beautiful and Addictive
Genre(s): New Adult, Romance
Release Date: March 27, 2018
Publisher: Jennifer Voorhees / Jay Crownover LLC
Pages: Paperback 286
Formats: Paperback, eBook, Kindle
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It was hate at first sight……
Affton
I hated Cable James McCaffrey.
He was entitled, spoiled, a user…and an addict.
He was out of control and didn’t bother trying to hide it.
He had everything anyone could want but still seemed miserable and lost.
Every move he made, every mistake he stumbled his way through, rubbed me the wrong way. However, I couldn’t stop myself from trying to save him from himself when no one else would. In the sweltering heat of the summer, Cable taught me that having it all means nothing if you can’t have the one thing you want more than anything else.
CableI was obsessed with Affton Reed.
She was rigid, uptight, and no fun. There was something about her innate goodness that called to me.
She acted like she was above all the normal faults and failures that clung to the rest of us like the scent of smoke after a fire.
I was infatuated with her, but that didn’t stop me from acting like she didn’t exist.
In the scorching heat of summer, Affton taught me that there is always a way back from the brink of despair. She showed me that the trick to having it all was realizing that it was already there, in my hands. All I had to do was hold onto it.
Before I get into my review, I have to share my most recent embarrassing moment as a reader and reviewer. If you don’t want to read this part (and I really don’t want you to) just scroll down until you get to my review.
So, I tweeted a few days ago that this was my first Jay Crownover book and how much I was loving the story. Crownover even tweeted back which of course made me fangirl. Well, along the way, I realized that I’ve actually read one of her books in the Marked Men series. AWKWARD MUCH…
How I forgot was beyond me. I felt so silly and really embarrassed. Even more so because Rule is one of my Favorite New Adult Romances and Rule Archer is an awesome and swoony book boyfriend.
I guess that’s what happens if you read TOO MANY books. I’m sure I’m not alone in this… How many of you have read something, loved it and after a few weeks, you can’t remember too much about the book? Well, that’s certainly happened to me more than I like to admit. BUT, I do remember whether or not I liked/loved the books… That should count for something right?!?
Want to know which books I loved/enjoyed, but can’t remember anything/much about them? — Then check out this Top Ten Tuesday Post.
Okay now that’s over and I’ve somehow recovered, let’s get into my review!!
How can I move on after going through this insanely awesome emotional roller coaster ride?!? This book, these characters, the gorgeous writing, and every little surprises had me ridiculously hooked. There’s absolutely no possible way I will ever forget this story or Jay Crownover! (I MEAN IT!!) EVERYTHING about this novel was perfection and I simply could not get enough of the devilishly sexy and broody Cable, and the fiery and passionate Affton who was determined to save him from his demons.
Recovered was such an intense, sexy, and amazingly affecting story. Jay Crownover managed to reel me in from the very first page and made me feel so many different emotions – love, helplessness, sadness, guilt, anger, confusion, hope, beauty, and SOOO MUCH MORE. This book was dangerously, but wonderfully addictive that I found it extremely difficult to put the book down. The writing was so damn beautiful! – Real, raw, gritty, evocative, and so full of heart. I never wanted the story to end, but at the same time I wanted to see Cable and Affton get to their happy endings.
Cable and Affton were the perfectly broken and flawed characters that you can’t help but love – and I LOVED them to pieces! They were fascinating, realistic, and strong characters in their own ways. Cable was going through so much pain and sadness that my heart bled for him throughout the entire time. He was so numb, lost, and felt so alone that he turned to sex, alcohol, and drugs. Affton wanted nothing else, but to be invisible, graduate high school, and leave Loveless, Texas. She did everything to be unnoticeable…BUT, Affton could not stop noticing Cable. Having experienced the worst from loving an addict, Affton couldn’t bear to see Cable fall apart and lose his life. So, she did what she thought was right – she decided to intervene and confront him.
The chemistry between Cable and Affton was sexy, sweet, and so much fun. If you’ve been following me, then you know that romance is my weakness and enemies to lovers trope is definitely one of my addiction. Cable and Ashton pushed and frustrated each other. They hated and avoided one another. They craved and wanted to be close together. And in a lot of ways, they challenged and made each other better. The push and pull between them was SOOO GOOD! Drove me absolutely crazy, but I honestly and without a doubt enjoyed every moment. Even if their relationship was a bit unhealthy at times, I could not help but root for them. He’s darkness and she’s light. He’s all pain and hate while she’s hope and love. Affton was the best cure and everything he needed – kind, patient, supportive, encouraging, and stable. Their relationship was so not easy and definitely had some ugly parts, but it was real and relatable and so memorable.
Life is not always pretty or kind. There are plenty of twist and turns, losses and sadness, and hate and anger. But, there’s also so much beauty, compassion, and love. Recovered is such a wonderful novel that will break your heart only to mend it and fill it with so much more! It’s poignant, compelling and so inspiring. If you’re looking for everything I just described in this review, then go read this book right now!!!
Oh and one last thing — I’m positively addicted to Jay Crownover and cannot wait to finish the rest of the books in the Marked Men Series and check out all the other books she’s written and will write!
I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher via InkslingerPR Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
RECOVERED is just $.99 through release week! Order your copy today!!!
I took another swallow of cinnamon-flavored booze and made a face as it burned down my throat. Maybe I could breathe fire. I needed to be able to if I was going to make it through the summer with Affton Reed looking over my shoulder. She had some of the strongest shields I’d ever seen. If my fire wasn’t hot enough, it would bounce off her and burn me to a crisp.
The sun was down, and I was pretty much sitting in the water now. I thought about lying down and letting it lift me up and carry me wherever it wanted. I wasn’t drifting anywhere good on my own. I heard splashing and felt the air behind me stir. No longer alone. No longer left to my own devices and bad choices.
I took another swig from the bottle, draining it, and looked over my shoulder at the girl making her way toward me. Her hair looked silver in the darkening light, and there was no mistaking the annoyance on her unmade-up face. She looked at me then shifted her gaze to the empty bottle in my hand. Her lips pulled into a frown, and her eyebrows tugged down into an angry V over the top of her nose.
“You aren’t going to make anything about this summer easy, are you, Cable?”
I had a thing for her voice. It was a little bit husky and a lot sweet with that slow, southern Texas twang in it. The way my name sounded when she said it, all exasperated and frustrated, was fucking sexy. It made me wonder what it would sound like when she whispered it in the dark while I was inside of her. I’d imagined that more times than I could count over the last eighteen months.
“I don’t really do easy, Reed.” I looked at the empty bottle in my hand and contemplated tossing it into the Gulf. Knowing my luck, I’d hit some endangered marine life and give the judge one more reason to add months onto my sentence. Instead, I reached up and handed it to the leggy blonde who was now standing next to me, the water well above her ankles.
“Jesus. Did you drink this whole thing?” She sounded incensed, and when I rolled my eyes up to look at her, it was clear she was contemplating hitting me over the head with the very weapon I’d just handed to her.
I shrugged. “Pretty much.” The bubbly teen girls barely had the chance to put a dent in it before I swooped in and snagged their stash.
She sighed from where she was hovering above me. I jolted in shock when she suddenly lowered herself to the wet sand next to me, the water immediately soaking into her frayed cutoffs and swirling around her ankles and hips as she copied my pose, my empty bottle caught between her feet. She leaned forward, rested her cheek on her knee, and gazed at me steadily out of those mesmerizing eyes. “I tried to tell your mother this was hopeless. I warned her there is no helping someone who doesn’t want to be helped. I don’t want to be here, Cable.” Her voice was hard, and I was surprised that her admission hurt a little bit. I didn’t want to be around me most of the time, but I was used to other people flocking to me, vying for my attention. “I don’t want to be here, but I have to be, so that means you’re stuck with me no matter how difficult you decide to make the next couple of months. I don’t have a choice.”
I wanted a cigarette. I needed something to occupy my hands and my mouth. I’d left the smokes and m y t-shirt on the steps of the deck off dad’s house. The steps led to the beach, just a few feet from the water. It was a beautiful house on a prime piece of property. With Affton here, it was nothing more than an expensive jail cell.
I knew exactly what means my mother had gone to in order to get Affton to agree to this madness. She told me outright she was blackmailing my former classmate, I think in a thinly veiled attempt to make me care about someone else’s future if I wouldn’t care about my own. I knew if I drove Affton away, her father would lose his job. It wasn’t fair, but my mom had been nothing short of ruthless in her pursuit of my sobriety. “My mom can be very convincing when she puts her mind to it.” She could also be tough as nails and immovable when she wanted something.
Affton snorted and shifted so her chin was resting on her knee instead of her cheek. She looked out over the endless landscape of water and sky, and I shivered even though it wasn’t cold. I lifted a hand to run it through my hair. My unease lived inside of me, crawled all around my bones and under my skin. I wasn’t used to it making its way to the surface because of someone else. There was a lot unsaid between me and this girl. The few words we’d exchanged were powerful, important ones that hung heavy between us. It was so much easier when I looked at her, and she refused to look back.
“I don’t think convincing is the word I would use…more like conniving. Either way, she tied my hands, so succeed or fail, you are stuck with me until the end of summer. Let’s get you into the house so you can sleep this bottle off and pray you don’t get popped for a piss test tomorrow.” She grabbed the bottle from where she had plunked the base in the sand and lifted a pale eyebrow at me. “You should have picked something…” she trailed off and gave me a shrug. “Less wussy to enjoy your last binge with. This stuff tastes like toothpaste.”
She offered me her free hand, and for a second all I could picture was grabbing it and pulling her under with me, letting the water cover us both and take us somewhere we would both rather be. I didn’t. I took her hand and struggled to my feet. Months of forced sobriety tumbled away under the wash of cinnamon whiskey. I wobbled and almost went back down, but before I could nose dive into the shallow water, Affton was there, arm around my waist, empty bottle pressed into my side, a chilly reminder that I’d already fucked this up and it was only the first day.
I had no idea how either one of us was going to survive the summer, and if we did, I had no idea how I was supposed to survive beyond that when I was once again left to my own devious and duplicitous devices.
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Jay Crownover is the international and multiple New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men Series, The Saints of Denver Series, the Point Series, the Breaking Point Series, and the Getaway Series. Her books can be found translated in many different languages all around the world. She is a tattooed, crazy haired Colorado native who lives at the base of the Rockies with her awesome dogs. This is where she can frequently be found enjoying a cold beer and Taco Tuesdays. Jay is a self-declared music snob and outspoken book lover who is always looking for her next adventure, between the pages and on the road.
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Thank you for stopping by and reading my review for Recovered. I hope you get to meet Cable and Affton and fall in love with their story.
I’m happily married to the love of my life (don’t gag) and raising three beautiful children in the gorgeous state of Virginia. We live just outside Washington, D.C., and every day I wake up to find myself stuck in traffic trying to get there.
Sincerely Karen Jo 