Review and Giveaway: The Scars of Us by Nikki Narvaez

Kaiya Marlow has always been cautious, precise in every decision she makes. When her dark past threatens to resurface, she decides to take precautions to protect herself by enrolling in self-defense classes at her gym.

Her instructor, Ryker Campbell, is the tattooed womanizer everyone warns about. Kaiya attempts to resist Ryker's advances, but the more time they spend training together, the harder it is for Kaiya to resist him.

Ryker's view on relationships is simple: strictly sex, nothing more. Haunted by demons from his past, he never allows himself to become attached to any woman. No attachment means no weakness, no vulnerability, no pain. He doesn't realize that his whole world is about to be turned upside down when Kaiya enters his self-defense class. Determined to have her, at least for one night, Ryker sets a plan into motion that will change both of their lives forever.

Will love be able to heal their scars, or are they too deep to overcome?

4 Fantastic Stars

Review by Allison East

This is the story of Kaiya, who is very unstable and unable to trust anyone completely. She is the broken shell of somebody that she used to know and also the story of Ryker, a playboy who has a different woman every night; he never lets anyone close to him because he was hurt once.

Their past experiences have made them guarded to love, and to one another, which lead to  A LOT of angst. Sometimes I like those kinds of stories  and sometimes not.  This time around I really liked all the angst being thrown back and forth. And some hot and heavy sexual tension. Time actually does not heal all wounds, especially Kaiya’s wounds, which I cannot blame her for having. The only thing that will help to heal their scars is the love that they have for each other.


The Scars of Us broke my heart so many times. I felt so sorry for both of them, but especially for Kaiya. Not pity, but terrible for what she had to go through. I just feel like she did have some comfort in her brother Kamden, who took care of her when she needed him.  She considered herself weak for what had happened to her. I wanted to hold her hand and tell her that it was not her fault, nothing she could have done could have prevented the type of horror she was subjected to. She also felt guilty too, but I don’t think she could have stopped what happened. Mental illness is not something people can control, how could she have known? I found Kaiya's character extremely likable, she was very afraid, but she was taking self defense classes which was a step in the right direction.

The only person who stood behind her was her brother Kamden and her best friend Nori. Secondary characters always aid in the enrichment of a book. I appreciated the fact that Kaiya had some great friends and an awesome brother to fall back on in her time of need.

There was also some suspense following Kaiya’s storyline of being attacked when she was younger. Which always helps, and it ends up being a page turning book.

I really enjoyed this book, it was not an easy read, but it's definitely worth it in the end. The romance was really wonderfully written and I loved how their love for one another really helped Kaiya and Ryker rebuild their emotions and scars from disturbing things that happened to them. 

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