DISCLAIMER: I was lucky enough to receive this book from BookSirens on behalf of the author. This is in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. I hope the prospective reader will read this review fully before making any prejudgments on the book. I will give the book my thoughts, good and bad. Also, this review contains opinions that are my own and not the author’s. My thoughts will be different from your thoughts and just know that before reading the book. Lower in the review, I will talk about disclaimers in the book as well that you should read before opening the book.

Our story begins with Julia, a young woman who is searching for where she belongs. She knows that her sister will be with her when times get tough, but she is risking everything to achieve freedom. This is the freedom she never knew she wanted, but truly desires. The dream turns out to be a man named Colton. He gives her a chance at living. Is this a risk she is willing to take? Can she trust a man again and learn to love? Or is all of this a façade? Also, there is a major danger lurking around her. Will she trust Colton to be her savior or run away before he has the chance to protect her?

While the summary does give a great description of Julia, it is important to talk about how important the background of each character having is. The reader needs to know about the past of everyone in the novel because it adds so much to the story. Reading a story where background can make or break the novel is difficult. If there is one section where too much is given away, the ending is disappointing and if you wait until the end and the unknown builds up and then it can be anticlimactic. If the background does not pull you in, you can get sucked out of the story that you were just starting to enjoy. I feel as if this book was written wonderfully when it comes to the background. Everyone is different and you feel that, but everyone is so genuine. Each character comes out and is a standout. I feel like that is difficult, but the author managed to do it wonderfully. I felt a connection with each character, and I love that feeling.

After talking about the background, I feel as if I have to talk about the characters themselves. Having a wonderful group of characters is extremely important to a wonderful novel. I am always much harder on this section of my review than I am on the background. I think that you can have a story that is a little bland, but you cannot have characters that are bland. In this case, I really love the protagonist and I was very interested in the antagonist. I really liked that I was left guessing for a while and it wasn’t an immediate start of a relationship. It was quick from beginning to end, but by the end of the story, I felt like I knew these people. I went on a journey with them from the sidelines and it was lovely to see. Although, some of the language was not something I loved. For example, at first, I did not enjoy the fact that Colton would “giggle” in the story. I did get used to it more as time went on and it didn’t bother me as much later on.

I always like to give a disclaimer for those who are not as comfortable with violence, intimacy scenes, or language. In this case, all three are used. There is language that is not suitable for younger readers, but I did not find it excessive or distracting. It was used in the right areas. There are scenes of a sexual nature. I think that in this book, they work. I didn’t feel uncomfortable while reading and it didn’t feel out of place or fake to me. I would like to add that if you don’t love those scenes, you can skip them and continue on the story. I did go back and do that to see if it works and I feel as if it does from my personal experience. There is some violence, but I would not call it anything that is graphic. I would say it is tame violence. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I will just say this, it is not something to concern a prospective reader who is a little squeamish.

My rating: I have to say, I enjoyed this book immensely. This was a one sitting story. I couldn’t put it down and I never wanted it to end. I was pleasantly surprised. Even though there were moments I didn’t love, mainly the “giggle” that Colton had, it didn’t sway my rating. This book and these characters are written so well. I am picky on the books I love. If I give a book 5 stars, it means I will read the book again. This is a read again book. Reading a story that was charming and wonderful was fun and exciting. Sandra Alex is an author that I will read again very soon.

I hope this review helps you in making your next book choice. Happy reading!