Thursday 22 October 2015

Review - From the Wreckage by Melissa Collins


Title: From the Wreckage
Author: Melissa Collins
Release Date: October 21, 2015


First, he saved me.
I lived because he was a hero.
And then he was gone.
Uprooted by the fire that destroyed our home, my family moved away and I never saw David Andrews again.
Then, he found me.
Eighteen years later, he rescued me again - in much simpler terms, of course. By loving me, by giving me the fairy tale I’d always hoped for, he provided me with the perfect life.
Now, he needs to be saved.
It’s my turn to be strong, to be brave, to be valiant.
When flames threaten to turn us to ashes, it’s up to me to pull us From the Wreckage.






Oh, this book. Since you are unable to see my flails and tearstained, puffy-eyed face, I'll have to find the words. This book is a breathtaking, fun, swoony romance about a girl and a boy whose lives have been inextricably woven together since childhood. 

David Andrews saved Grace McCann when they were both just kids. Eighteen years later, their paths cross again and the connection between the two is felt almost immediately. 

Grace and David quickly fall into an easy, adorable, sweet relationship—the forever kind. Their connection, rooted in childhood and strengthened by the bond they form as adults, is intense and fierce. It's impossible to not get sucked into their gravitational pull, to root for them, and to believe that they will go the distance. And then, heartbreak. 

Tragedy strikes. Life as they knew it is irrevocably changed and they're left struggling to put the shattered bits of it back into some kind of order. It's heartbreaking. No, it's devastating. And yet, as they go through their darkest hours, they also find beauty and hope blooming in the ashes. 

I LOVED Grace and David so freaking much. I loved them individually as giving, grounded, fantastic human beings, and I loved them together—flirty and tender and scorching hot. Ms. Collins got the perfect relationship formula just right. Then she put my heart through a shredder before somehow healing it, soothing it, and making it overflow with happiness. 

This is not a book about 9/11, but it does stand as a tribute to a man who gave his life, and to a tragic time in our history. After all these years, it's still impossible for me to read about that day without tears. Ms. Collins did a phenomenal job of paying tribute to—and acknowledging the gravity of—the 9/11 events, weaving references so deftly into the storyline that the reader almost doesn't realize that's what's going on. 

Lovely and heart-wrenching in equal measures, this book will be staying in my heart for a while. 
~ Review by Shelly

I went into this book with eyes wide open—knowing that tears weren’t just a possibility but an eventuality, because of the author, because of the subject, and a little bit because of my mood. And I was right, but not in the way I initially expected…

It’s been eighteen years since David Andrews saved Grace McCann’s life, and she’s never forgotten him. Just as he’s never forgotten her.

When their paths cross once again, they fall into a perfect fairytale romance—until it’s all wrecked by one tragic event. Now, Grace is the one doing the saving, and it’s going to take everything she has to re-build what they once shared.

This is beautiful book—simple in its love story, and yet, remarkable in the way it made me feel. I loved the way this book starts, a prologue that not only forms the foundation for David and Grace’s swoony romance, but also had my heart pounding and my butt scooting to the edge of my seat. 

I loved, too, the middle section of this book. When Grace and David find each other again, there is potential for it to be an eye-rolling, yeah, right event, but it’s the furthest thing from. It feels right and real, and the catalyst for series of gorgeous, sexy and delightful moments that perfectly encapsulate who Grace and David are together, and apart. 

And then, the final part…the heart-breaking tragedy that had the potential to shatter the beautiful illusion that Melissa Collins created, making me believe that this couple could, and would, survive anything. Although I wish it could have been more of the focal point of this book—there were a couple of things that didn’t quite get the attention I felt they deserved—it also didn’t play out as I expected, and I am thankful for that. No, instead it was a roller-coaster that proved that being in the now is more important than the then or even the later. I didn’t quite cry through it, but damn, I came awful close. 

So, where were the tears? They came in the moments when this couple talked about 9/11—about remembering, so that someone always does. And in the note from the author, where she explains her journey with this book—and the loss that inspired it. They weren’t the heaving sobs I’ve experienced reading Ms. Collins’ previous works, but gentle reminders that loss never leaves you, no matter how much time passes. Just as I suspect this book won’t be leaving me any time soon. 
~ Review by Beth




Melissa Collins has always been a book worm. Studying Literature in college ensured that her nose was always stuck in a book. She followed her passion for reading to the most logical career choice: English teacher. Her hope was to share her passion for reading and the escapism of books to her students. Having spent more than a decade in front of a classroom, she can easily say that it's been a dream. 

Her passion for writing didn't start until more recently. When she was home on maternity leave in early 2012, she read her first romance novel and her head filled with the passion, angst and laughter of the characters who she read about it. It wasn't long before characters of her own took shape in her mind. Their lives took over Melissa's brain and The Love Series was born.



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