STEADFAST (TRUE NORTH #2) by SARINA BOWEN
RELEASING ON JULY 12, 2016
SYNOPSIS:
She’s the only one who ever loved him—and the only one he can never have.
Jude lost everything one spring day when he crashed his car into an apple tree on the side of the road. A man is dead, and there’s no way he can ever right that wrong. He’d steer clear of Colebury, Vermont forever if he could. But an ex-con in recovery for his drug addiction can’t find a job just anywhere.
For Sophie Haines, coming face to face with the man who broke her heart is gut-wrenching. Suddenly, he’s everywhere she turns. It’s hard not to stare at how much he’s changed. The bad boy who used to love her didn’t have big biceps and sun-kissed hair. And he’d never turn up volunteer in the church kitchen.
She knows it’s foolish to yearn for the man who returned all the heartsick letters she wrote him in prison. But the looks he sends her now speak volumes.
No one wants to see Sophie and Jude back together, least of all Sophie’s police chief father. But it’s a small town. And forbidden love is a law unto itself.
MY REVIEW:
4.5 STARS!!
“My name is Jude Nickel, and I am an addict. Also, I’m a big fucking idiot.”
I was totally intrigued by Jude in BITTERSWEET, and just knew he had quite a story to tell. The strong, silent type, he was hired to work on the Shipley farm fresh out of prison. And now in STEADFAST, he returns to his hometown and to his alcoholic father to try and rebuild his former life.
First, let me just say that the chapter headings in this book are incredible!!! They chronicle the stages of Jude’s recovery from drug addiction and are just a fantastic touch. Jude has accepted his reality: he is a recovering drug addict, an ex-con, and will probably never be able to find gainful employment outside his father’s run-down auto-repair garage. And he is back in the same town with his first and only love, Sophie, a girl he would have done anything for, until a horrible tragedy ripped them apart.
Their love is bittersweet, overwhelming and beautiful. They fell in love as teenagers, and now must try and rebuild their love after several emotional and traumatic years apart. Jude is not your typical “hero”, as the author reminds us. He is much more!! He is brave, resilient and quite damaged. I have never felt such empathy for a person with a drug addiction as I did for Jude. He is battling daily. And Sophie is right there with him, despite her father’s warnings to stay away from Jude.
“The only thing I have ever been afraid of is losing you.”
Sarina Bowen has written a very powerful yet sweetly sexy book about second-chance romance. There are some very strong scenes of domestic abuse and family dysfunction in this book, and while some characters rise above this, some do not. BUT it is Jude and Sophie’s romance that is at the center of this book. WOW!! Sarina Bowen has shown that she can write fabulous contemporary romances as well as the college romances she is so well known for. STEADFAST has steamy romance, real emotion and fantastic characters that you will fall in love with.
“Enough worrying about what we deserve. Let’s appreciate what we have.”
(Copy provided by the author for an honest review.)
OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:
BITTERSWEET (TRUE NORTH #1)
Farmers make the earth move.
The last person Griffin Shipley expects to find stuck in a ditch on his Vermont country road is his ex-hookup. Five years ago they’d shared a couple of steamy nights together. But that was a lifetime ago.
At twenty-seven, Griff is now the accidental patriarch of his family farm. Even his enormous shoulders feel the strain of supporting his mother, three siblings and a dotty grandfather. He doesn’t have time for the sorority girl who’s shown up expecting to buy his harvest at half price.
Vermont was never in Audrey Kidder’s travel plans. Neither was Griff Shipley. But she needs a second chance with the restaurant conglomerate employing her. Okay—a fifth chance. And no self-righteous lumbersexual farmer will stand in her way.
They’re adversaries. They want entirely different things from life. Too bad their sexual chemistry is as hot as Audrey’s top secret enchilada sauce, and then some.
Warning: Contains sexual situations, gourmet yumminess, a steamy outdoor shower and proof that farmers don’t mind getting dirty.
KEEPSAKE (TRUE NORTH #3)
Zach’s book coming in October 2016
(Teasers courtesy of the author.)