BOOK REVIEW: Fighting to Forget (Fighting, #3) by: JB Salsbury + Giveaway

Title: Fighting to Forget (Fighting, #3)
Author: JB Salsbury
ISBN/ASIN: B00JBSJ4W2
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: New Adult Romance
Theme(s): MMA Fighting, Rock Star, Child abuse
Length: 381 pgs
Binding: E-book, Paperback
Published: 15 April 2014
Buy: Amazon.com, BN.com

Synopsis:

Every fighter is drawn to the violence, the release that a perfect hit can bring.

But very few are drawn to the pain.

Rex Carter lives behind a wall of indifference. The demons from his childhood act as an anesthetic, keeping him distant from emotional connections. Only the ache from a knock to the jaw, sting of a tattoo needles, or heat from a piercing, can jolt him back from the numbness. The fiery pain is all he can feel, and nothing compares to the burn. 

Or so he thought. 

Working in a Las Vegas bar isn't Georgia McIntyre's dream. But she hopes it'll be an end to the nightmare.

Over a decade she's watched him. Followed his career and kept tabs, all in preparation for this moment. To make amends, repair the wrong. But she didn't count on the feelings that seeing him again would stir up. The vacant look in his stormy-blue eyes, his perfect body now mutilated by ink and metal. 

And she knows why. She's lived his pain, every single day, since the day he left.

Changed by time, Rex doesn't remember the girl from his past. If only she could do the same. Will she get the absolution she's spent her life seeking?

Or will he continue, Fighting to Forget?

My Rating:

Is it just me, or have I hit the lottery? If you follow my reviews, then I must apologize for sounding like a broken record. I just can't believe I've dished out yet another 5 star rating in such a short period of time. The only difference is I've been a fan of J.B. Salsbury's Fighting series since the beginning and know the caliber of her writing. Because of this, maybe I was expecting a grand slam. Or maybe not... In Fighting for Flight, book 1 in the series, Salsbury gave us Jonah and Raven's story which blew me away with its unique plot, interesting cast of characters, and dark undertones. Then there was Fighting to Forgive, Blake and Layla's story. While I enjoyed their narrative, it didn't come across as intense as its predecessor. I'm not saying it wasn't good, it just offered a bit more comic relief, mainly because of Blake's personality and his overall way of handling situations with humor. Now we have the highly anticipated Fighting to Forget, Rex and Gia's story and while I was expecting a solid, well written romance, I NEVER expected the places this book would take me. The novel has set a very high bar for the rest of the series, and has skyrocketed Salsbury's writing to a whole new level.

So here are the reasons behind my 5 star rating. Fighting to Forget is a deeply emotional roller coaster ride with twists I didn't see coming. I'm going to try my hardest to stay away from spoilers, but I think it is safe and only right to warn people that this novel focuses on child abuse, some of the worst kind. It may serve as a trigger for those who have suffered from similar experiences. That being said, I commend Salsbury for digging deep and not sugarcoating Rex's horrific childhood.

On the outside, Rex is a successful MMA Fighter and musician. Covered in tattoos and quite a few piercings, he is known as a bit of a daredevil, a thrill seeker that doesn't shy away from the bite of pain. On the inside, there are days he's barely keeping it together, haunted by a childhood he can't remember, suffering from nightmares that he fears are all too real. Jumping from foster home to group home, Rex was assigned a shrink by the name of Darren Gale (whom I really like) and has been seeing him ever since. Over the years he has made progress, but there is no denying Rex's lack of memory drives him crazy, which has developed into a major OCD. No one has ever stepped foot in his apartment and when he is intimate with a woman--which is very rare and only out of pure necessity--there is a very specific way he handles the situation and the reaction is always followed by becoming physically ill. Like I said above, I really admire Salsbury because it is so apparent in the details how much research and thought was put into Rex's character. The pain from body modification and the daredevil, adrenaline junkie stunts help him to FEEL something other than remaining numb. The OCD is more of a way for him to feel in control since he had no control over his childhood and lack of memory. The only comfort he receives is from the colors of gray and red and the vague memory of a little girl with fiery hair and stormy eyes...

For over half of the book, each chapter opens with a piece of lyric that Rex has written with his band Ataxia. Again, this different form of literary prose shows how amazingly talented the author is. But the true purpose of the lyrics are to give us insight into Rex's tormented psyche. They are beautiful yet haunting, revealing yet heartbreaking. Here are a few examples:

Because inside my shell I'm that boy

Who was never given a say

The real me I'll cover and destroy

To keep the worst of the pain away. ~Ataxia

Vivid dreams, different faces

Waves of hate and lust in traces

Festering sickness, my insides rot

There's no pill for what I've got. ~Ataxia

Blue is the sky that I now see

A freedom the dark cannot touch

But the gray is the one that consumes me

And the comfort I miss so much. ~Ataxia

Then there is Gia, who we know as Mac at the beginning of the story. Gia has been working as a waitress at the bar/club that Rex's band Ataxia plays every week. Her past is obviously deeply entwined with his and her motives for moving to Vegas has everything to do with Rex. But thanks to her new identity and his lack of memory, Gia has had plenty of time to keep a watchful eye over him and it has given her the chance to play her cards just right. She wants to avenge him at the same time bring him a measure of peace. But once their paths finally cross and she comes to learn that he doesn't remember her or his traumatic childhood, she is torn as to what exactly is the right thing to do. Gia is a beautifully flawed young woman. I could feel her turmoil through the pages and could understand her indecision.

Later in the novel, Rex's lyrics at the top of each chapter turn into journal-like entries but this time in Gia's POV. Just like with the lyrics, these little snippets give us a better understanding of her past and how determined she was to find Rex and avenge him. Examples below:

"They can lock me up, but they can't keep me in here forever. I'll find my way back to him. Always." 

Georgia McIntyre- age 10

Georgia McIntyre

Gia McIntyre

Mac In Tire

Mac Entire

Mac Ellenshire

RIP Georgia McIntyre

~Mac Ellenshire, Age 17

Due to the serious tone surrounding these two fractured main characters, especially Rex and his intimacy issues, you can imagine how deeply emotional Rex and Gia's love scenes are once they begin to happen. Somehow, Salsbury still gives us all the heat and intensity that we expect from the alpha males she is so great at creating, but with Rex, she gives us MORE. This time, I wasn't just getting turned on while reading these love scenes, but my heart was aching as well.

"Her bare, pale skin beckons my touch. I run my hands from her ankles to her thighs, reading her resulting goose bumps like Braille. I record to memory the places I touch that make her tense and the others that make her melt into the bed. My mouth waters, a familiar feeling when I hook up with a chick, but this time it's not the nausea-accompanied saliva that rushes to my mouth. This is hunger, pure, simple, animalistic starvation."

As with the other two novels in the series, I love the fact that previous characters we have come to enjoy seeing make an appearance and each plays an important role in the story. They are all there, Jonah and Raven, Blake and Layla, Caleb--and Salsbury subtly hints at possible prospects for the next book in the series. I also like how Rex's boys have his back--he may think he is all alone, but the loyalty these guys have for each other really shines through in this book.

Fighting to Forget far exceeded my expectations. It's the type of story that catches you by surprise, rich in plot and character development. There are quite a few twists that I absolutely did not see coming and just when I thought the story couldn't get any more darker, it does. And I am not going to lie, I wasn't sure if I was completely sold on the twist that happens in the later half of the book in regards to one particular character's disturbing journey. Yet somehow Salsbury reigns it in and creates a completely satisfying ending. I very much look forward to reading the fourth book in the series, Fighting the Fall, although I can't help but feel nervous since her latest story has set the bar so high.

best wishes,mia

About the Author

JB Salsbury, USA Today Best Selling author of the Fighting series, lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and two kids. She spends the majority of her day as a domestic engineer. But while she works through her daily chores, a world of battling alphas, budding romance, and impossible obstacles claws away at her subconscious, begging to be released to the page. 

 Her love of good storytelling led her to earn a degree in Media Communications. With her journalistic background, writing has always been at the forefront, and her love of romance prompted her to sink her free time into novel writing. 

 Fighting for Flight, Fighting to Forgive, and Fighting to Forget are the first three novels in the MMA romance series. Fighting the Fall is due to be released in October 2014.

Connect With JB Salsbury:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Giveaway

Is this your first time hearing about the Fighting series by JB Salsbury? Haven't read the first two books, but would like to before jumping into Fighting to Forget? Well here is your chance! Enter for a chance to win an e-copy of Fighting for Flight AND Fighting to Forgive, books 1 & 2! Who can enter? Everyone! It's a worldwide giveaway! Ends 5/4.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

good luck,mia

Book Review: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits, #2) by: Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits, #2)
Author: Katie McGarry
ISBN: 0373210639
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Theme(s): child abuse, addiction
Length: 480 pgs
Binding: Hardcover
Published: 28 May 2013; Harlequin Teen
Buy: amazon.com

Synopsis: If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all..

My Rating: 

My Review: What can I say about Dare You To without my review sounding redundant? From some of the reviews I have already read, I think other die hard Katie McGarry fans are walking away from this highly anticipated sequel feeling the same way I do. Dare You To confirms a few things. One, Pushing the Limits, book 1 in the series, was not a fluke. Some authors write amazing debuts but have trouble delivering the same impact with their sequels. I'm happy and relieved to say that Katie McGarry won't be going anywhere but to the top. After reading Dare You To, there is no doubt that she is an amazing writer, that she knows how to write characters so well that they feel like they are right in front of you, and most of all, she has the ability to evoke strong emotions. In Pushing the Limits, I was in a constant state of tears and felt a heaviness in my chest. In Dare You To, I felt a range of emotions, everything from exasperation, frustration, to outrage. However, there were a few minor issues I had with the book that kept me from giving it a perfect 5 star rating.

First, here are a few things I loved about Dare You To. I like that Katie McGarry used alternating point-of-view to tell Beth and Ryan's story. Considering the fact that they are so different and that McGarry had a huge job to do in convincing us readers that they belong together, it was almost essential to use this so we can get in both of their heads. Because let's face it. If you've read Pushing the Limits, then most of you, like me, wanted Beth to get with Isaiah. So being able to get to know Ryan personally and to see how Beth truly felt about Isaiah did help me to cope with the fact that this was Beth and Ryan's story, not Beth and Isaiah's.

As she proved in Pushing the Limits, McGarry has no problem pushing boundaries. There are so many authors out there that take on controversial topics but fail in the execution because they are too worried they might offend someone or they feel they need to tone it down for fear that publishing companies will pass them by. Not McGarry. When she commits to a tough topic, she runs with it and stays true. Beth's story is not easy breezy to read-- she has had a very rough childhood. Imagine growing up with alchoholic/drug abusing parents. Imagine your own mother telling you that she hates you, that it's your fault that your father left. Imagine watching your mother get beat over and over again by different boyfriends and then they start beating on you. It would mess up any child. So Beth curses, and she smokes weed to take the edge off and to forget painful memories. Does this mean she is a horrible person? Absolutely not. But if you think this book sugar coats anything, you are wrong. If you are sensitive to cursing, drug use, drinking, and sexual situations, then I suggest you toughen up and go into this book with an open mind. Because this is where Katie McGarry truly shines as an author. She brings a gritty, realistic quality to her writing, just like NY Times & USA Today's Best Selling Author Simone Elkeles is known for in her Perfect Chemistry series. And this is why teens and adults alike are dawn to their novels time and time again.

Lastly, I can't move on until I mention one more important factor that Katie McGarry is a master at and that is creating memorable characters.  I know I and other reviewers keep going back to where it all started, book 1, Pushing the Limits. Here is the dilemma. If you are just jumping on board and haven't read book 1, a part of me rather you just read Dare You To first. Sounds weird I know, but I think I myself would have had a much easier time accepting Beth and Ryan's relationship without knowing what happened between Beth and Isaiah in book 1 (oh and trust me, there is a scene in book 1 that is burned on the back of my eyelids that had me thinking WITHOUT A DOUBT that Beth and Isaiah would be together). But then on the other hand, to fully understand Beth, and who she considers her family--Isaiah and Noah, you need to go back to the beginning. That being said, I love that Katie McGarry added in a few scenes with Isaiah and Noah (my heart was pounding when they came to Beth's rescue earlier in the book) and most of all, that one scene with Noah and Echo. This couple burned up the pages in Pushing the Limits and I think the author knew how much fans were hoping for a little Noah and Echo action. There definitely was a scene stealer and that was when Beth took Ryan to one of her kind of parties. In the back yard, Noah was lying in a hammock with his girlfriend Echo and when Noah noticed Ryan staring too long at her, he threatened him to keep his eyes to himself. So incredibly sexy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will see more of them in book 3.


Now to what I had issues with. It's sort of hard for me to focus on just one thing that bothered me about Dare You To. I feel like it is the culimination of a bunch of little things that caused me to drop my rating down to 4 stars. A part of me may still not be completely sold that Beth belongs with Ryan, but that doesn't mean by the end of the book I think she belongs with Isaiah. Sounds weird, I know, but I guess as much as Ryan is a likeable, relatable character with his own set of issues, he just isn't as memorable like Noah and Isaiah are. The heat that I felt between Noah and Echo is not the same thing I felt between Beth and Ryan. But if I sit back and think about it, every relationship is different and so is how love is expressed with other couples. Some people love widly and passionately while love grows slowly and quietly with others. So who am I to say that what Beth and Ryan feel is wrong?

My major issues lie with things being left unresolved between certain characters. Without divulging too much, things with Ryan and his dad felt...unfinished. I know that in real life, not everyone has perfect relationships with their parents, so I wasn't expecting a fairytale ending. But we never really get to learn why his dad feels the way he does about his oldest son, Mark, and Ryan. Enough said about that because I don't want to spoil anything.

Beth's relationship with her Uncle Scott and his wife, Allison, also fell a little flat for me. I wanted to find some redeeming qualities for Allison, Scott's wife. Yes, there is the little scene at the end where it looks like Beth and Allison may have buried the hatchet, but we never really get to know her. I get that Scott himself had a rough childhood and the easiest way for him to keep the demons away was for him to move away and be with someone who wouldn't remind him of his troubled past. But I would also like to think that Allison has a big enough heart that she would love Scott, shady past and all. Unfortunately, most of the book she acts like an uppity b*tch!

Now to Beth's uncle, Scott. We learn that Scott didn't have an easy upbringing himself  and he knows what it's like to struggle. Beth remembers when her uncle used to wear baggy pants and talked like a gangster. So what bothered me was all the stipulations he put on Beth when she comes to live with him. I get the no drinking, no drugs, even no smoking cigarettes. But making her change her clothes (she likes to wear ripped jeans and tank tops, like that is a crime!) and not allowing her to buy black hair die??? I wouldn't even consider Beth "goth" but trust me, I work in a school and I see kids wearing worse clothes than ripped up jeans. My point is, I think Scott and Allison spent way too much time on Beth's outward appearance rather than focusing on her inner issues. Scott obviously knows she has been through some major trauma. And when you find out one of the reasons why Beth likes to die her hair black...my heart really did hurt for her. I guess what I am trying to say is, I was waiting for a huge heart to heart conversation between Scott and Beth but it really never happens. I wanted Beth to finally break down and let out all of that pain because keeping that sh*t in is nothing but poison.

Dare You To is a solid sequel that really leaves no doubt as to how talented Katie McGarry truly is. Even though I felt there were a few things left a bit unresolved, I can somewhat accept that because life doesn't always fix itself right away. It may take years before Ryan's father finally comes around to accepting both his sons' choices. It will probably take a lot of time for Beth to break the chains of guilt and responsibility she has had on her shoulders, and Ryan will have to find patience because Beth still has a lot of issues to sort out. I myself have to remain calm and patiently await Crash Into You, book 3, which is Isaiah's book. Because I'm not going to lie, things were left unresolved between Beth, Isaiah, and Noah as well. For thematic reasons, I get why because it is a given that Isaiah has to work out his feelings for Beth and I am sure she will make quite a few appearances. But I can't help but feel that Beth owes Isaiah, Noah, AND Echo an apology. There were quite a few times when I wanted to shake her because the boys wanted a better life for her, they loved her that much. And how many times does Echo have to prove herself to Beth?  But we never get that moment of epiphany from her. But I just have to keep reminding myself  that it's going to take time for Beth to sort out her issues. After all, how can you recognize and accept love if you can't respect and love yourself?