Title:  Shatter Me
Series:
Author:  Tori St. Claire
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  May 19, 2015
Publisher:  Entangled Publishing, LLC Brazen
My Rating:  4 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Synopsis:

Bound by honor, caught by desire…

Former Marine Alex McCray is ripped up inside over the knowledge that his best friend died saving him. Now he’s returned to his hometown to honor a promise he made-to take care of his buddy’s widow. Semper fidelis. “Always loyal.” But Alex’s loyalty is about to be tested, because there’s never been a time when Reagan Sanders didn’t make him burn with desire.

All it takes is one night for Reagan and Alex to give in to the deep, carnal need they’ve denied themselves for so long. But Reagan has secrets of her own?secrets Alex can never know about her marriage, or the kind of man her husband really was. But one night with Alex isn’t enough. Not even close. Now Alex must choose between his sense of honor…and his heart.

Read on for  my thoughts on Shatter Me.  No true spoilers, promise.

Secrets will come out eventually.  They are better told to the ones we love, then discovered at the wrong moment.

It’s not easy living with the knowledge that your best friend died saving your life.  It becomes something you live with, the ghost that’s always in the room – the fact that you just took a breath, and he never will again.  Alex will keep the promise he made, he will return home and watch over Reagan – but it won’t be easy, because he has always been attracted to her and now only a ghost and a promise stand in the way of Alex finding his own happy future.  Will he ever reach out and take it?

Reagan is an abused woman.  Oh, she has hidden what went on behind closed doors for years – but now she’s free, finally free of the fear, the hurt, the danger her husband, who was supposed to love her, actually was.  Yet fear still lingers, because she must now hold that secret even tighter, there is no need to destroy what his friends think of him.

Reagan and Alex have been attracted to each other, but neither ever let on for their own reasons.  Now they might have a future – if – Alex can get past his loyalty to a dead friend and Reagan can let go of her fears and her secrets.

I almost took Shatter Me down to a 3.5 star rating, but I didn’t.  I wanted them to talk to each other, to bring out the abuse and deal with it.  Then I realized that it wasn’t my story to tell – so while I might have liked Alex and Reagan to communicate better, it stays at a 4 star rating.

I enjoyed Alex and Reagan’s story.  It was sexy, hot, loving, and full of a dead man’s ghost/memory that rarely gave this couple a moment’s peace.  On some level I hurt for both of them, tied up in promises to a dead man, and I really wanted their happy ever after to work.  I’d recommend Shatter Me for anyone who enjoys a good, sexy love story and loves to see the real people emerge into the loving couple they always were behind the promises and secrets.

*I received an e-ARC of Shatter Me from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*

~What you, the reader, always must remember is this simple truth. Any review is just one person’s opinion. You might feel the same or totally different. The only way to know for certain if any novel is right for you – is for you to read it. This was my opinion of this particular book.~

Shatter Me is available for the Kindle