They grew up together as the closest of friends... and then more. When Sara Nolan and Jaxon Barlow decided to be together, their relationship as a young couple was consumed by a love that was both passionate and beautiful. Sara had it all when it came to a boyfriend: romance, trust, and a protector of all things bad. Jaxon had given her his bleeding heart for the keeping. The last thing Sara expected was to ruin it all. Falling into a darkness that turned her loving relationship into a chaos of deceit and violence, she walked away from the pain she was inflicting on the man she loved, never seeking to return again.
But when Sara is forced to return to her hometown, she didn't anticipate for Jaxon to be there. Nor does she anticipate the change in him; a change so harsh and callous, he is a stranger with a dangerous agenda of his own. Ignited by her past feelings and the reminder of the guilt she carries in her heart, Sara attempts to avoid Jaxon at all costs… only to find herself trying to pull him out of the same darkness she was once in.
4.5 Fabulous Stars
Review by Jen Hagen
Sara didn’t have it easy growing up. Her parents didn’t pay any attention to
her. She was barely fed, never clothed
in anything other than was 2 sizes too small, and had a haircut of a boy to
make it easier for her to pick the lice out.
And her father scared her so bad she would wet the mattress when he
would come pounding at her door. Nobody
looked out for, nobody that is until Jaxon.
Sara was 8 and Jaxon 10 when a
bond of friendship was developed as Jaxon stood up for Sara and fought back
against the mud slinging. Jaxon may not
have been able to decipher the gender he was fighting for due to Sara’s brutal
haircut.
“Don’t worry about
it, little boy. I got your back.”
After this Sara became Jaxon’s shadow, being at his beck
and call, and he kept his promise of having her back. Jaxon and Sara didn’t live far from each
other and Sara became like a daughter to Jaxon’s single mother. It was at their table that she was fed, loved
and nourished. Jaxon didn’t seem to
mind one bit that a frail girl was hanging on his every word and whim.
He wasn’t at all
afraid of letting the world know that I was his best friend…
Jaxon has always been a force to be reckoned with. He has an aura that demands respect, and
probably a little bit of fear also. He
had no problem making certain that Sara was never bullied again; nobody wanted
to take on Jaxon. As the years progress
and Jaxon graduates, he has become quite the lady’s man, and he has found ways
of making money by stealing and shady dealings.
He never wants to be dependent on anyone and wants to be his own
boss.
Sara is 18 when her home life goes from bad to
worse. She had a brief respite thrown in
when her father left, but he’s back with a vengeance. She escapes her personal hell with the help
of Jaxon and Sara’s life is beginning to
take a shape in the form of happiness in the arms of a man who has professed
his love for her.
I would forever
look back at this moment and know with certainty that he was making love to
me. It wasn’t all lust and all passion;
he was giving me all of him, surrendering a part of his soul he’d knowingly
reserved.
Sara and Jaxon start a new life together. Jaxon is willing to change everything he had
planned in order to guarantee a life free of crime with Sara. He is 100% devoted to her and her
happiness. Unfortunately Sara finds
herself falling into a black well she can’t seem to climb out of and she is
determined to bring Jaxon down with her.
Sara has turned into an evil person full of hate and insecurities. She continually lashes out at Jaxon and he is
willing to take it because he loves her so much. But if you play with fire long enough you will
get burned.
His eyes went red
with unshed tears. He looked absolutely
betrayed and hurt by me, and I could actually see him trying hard to restrain
his own anger.
Jaxon’s unconditional love for Sara wasn’t enough. Their beautiful love is no more. Sara has to
return home to deal with a death and while there she must confront the past;
the past being Jaxon. Jaxon is not the
same person anymore. His life is not
free of crime and blood. He is now hard
around the edges and inside. He makes no
claims of living the life of the innocent. I was crushed that a man who could love so
hard and be willing to give up his dreams without a second glance was going to
change for the worse.
“I can’t help the
change, but it’s there, and…there are things you need to know about me now.”
Can Sara and Jaxon forge their way back into each other’s
hearts, or has too much hurt put up a wall?
Is the change too much for Sara? Sara has a life of her own away from
Jaxon. Is that enough to hold her back
from giving herself to Jaxon?
“Promise me you’ll
come back.”
This was a quick read that drew me in and I couldn’t
stop. I had stomach pains and heart
palpitations while leading up to their relationship demise. I knew the glass ball would eventually drop,
but I didn’t know when and how hard it would fall and shatter around
everybody. The glass shards did damage
to both Jaxon and Sara and just when you think you know how each of them got
along in their lives following their tortuous breakup, another twist is thrown
in and leaves you reeling and feeling the pain.
Jaxon wears his heart on his sleeve and I fell for him hard.
“There’s no salve
to the heart when it comes to forgetting you.
You’re unforgettable; unimaginably, unbelievably, inconceivably
unforgettable.”
Jaxon and Sara's story continues in Burn.
Amazon Ignite
Amazon Burn
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