5 Smooches!
Synopsis
For twenty three year old Katrina Smith, the events of one day irrevocably changed her life.
Life in Christchurch, New Zealand, couldn’t have been better. She was in love with a wonderful man, had a job she enjoyed, and had her life mapped out before her…
What dawned as a typical summer’s day, changed into a day of devastation and overwhelming loss. An insidious danger lay beneath the benign land surface, seismic tension, like a ticking time-bomb, was counting down to a catastrophe. And Kate and her boyfriend, Daniel, were in its path. It took mere seconds for the world to be ripped out from under her. Suddenly, Kate was deluged by a vortex of Post Traumatic Stress, guilt and crippling anguish.
Dominic Dell’Antonio, an American marine working in New Zealand, was a man hiding from his own demons which lurked behind depthless blue eyes that read so much, yet yielded so little. He kept himself aloof and isolated. Nightmares regularly plagued him.
As Kate slipped under a suffocating wave of heartache, she blocks out the world behind self imposed walls, drowning in the torrents of grief. Quiet, yet commanding, Dominic connects with Kate on some inexplicably deeper level. He wants to protect her. He wants to make her his.
Two damaged and guarded souls drawn together through tragic circumstances. Two lonely hearts drawn to one another to find comfort.
Review
From the dedication and initial preface, I knew this book was going to touch me……
For each thorn, there’s a rosebud…
For each twilight-a dawn…
For each trial-the strength to carry on,
For each storm cloud- a rainbow…
For each shadow-the sun…
For each parting…sweet memories
When sorrow is done. (RW Emerson)
Although the story is fictitious, the events surrounding the lives of Kate, Daniel, Travis, Sarah, Matt, Melanie, and Dom are real. Police say more than 100 people had been lost in Christchurch’s quake-ravaged Canterbury building, which they say was “unsurvivable”. The confirmed death toll from the magnitude 6.3 quake stands at 75, with 300 reported missing. See also: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10708295
Kudos to Ms. Pearson, as she made me feel the anguish and pain, she made me feel the guilt and remorse, but she also led me to understand that there is good in tragedy.
“Danny! Danny!” I shout, heart thundering in my chest. A hand grips my elbow, turning me away. “No..no, no! LET ME GO, h…he’s still in there. I’ve got to get to him.”
Kate and Daniel are sweethearts from university and were building a future together when an earthquake shatters their promises. Kate is forced to accept a new reality and does not know how to survive without Daniel.
“It’s over, Katy. The worst is over,” Sarah says softly into my ear. “No, it’s not, Sarah. My hell is only just beginning.”
Kate/Katy/Katrina (lots of nick names in this novel) learns to cope by any method she can get her hands on (alcohol, exercise, sleeping), and then when she is at her lowest, she meets Dominic/Dom/Dell (again, lots of nick names ).
“The timbre of his voice ignites the blood in my veins as I drink him in with my eyes. I must really be hammered because I have to urge to run my hands over the ridges and valleys of his finely honed chest and trace the indentations with my tongue.”
This book was a winner, I have never read anything by Ms. Pearson but I will read any of her books from now on. She has so much talent for expressing emotions through words. She made me love the characters, and I was pulling for Kate from the first page.
The chemistry between Kate and Dom was just perfect and realistic, it was not forced or rushed, but believable and heart-wrenching!
“Sometimes life can define you by small moments of time. Twenty-four seconds. Irrevocable changes. Ultimately what you do with these precious moments determines what significance they hold for you….”
This novel so deserves 5+ smooches!! Nice work Ms. Pearson!!
~Lisa
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