Thursday 15 August 2013

Review: Beneath the Burn


They meet by chance. The timing is wrong.

Three years later, she finds him again, but their separation was poisoned with narcotics and bloodied by enslavement.

Her freedom gambled away, Charlee Grosky escapes the international businessman who held her captive. But his power reaches beyond her protective barriers and threatens everyone she has come to love.

Jay Mayard wears his tortured secrets under his rock god facade. Drugs are his release, even as he seeks to be the man forged of the steel only she can see.

In a celebrity world filled with paparazzi, groupies, and drugs, Jay and Charlee must face their worst fears. When the battle is over, what will be left...Beneath The Burn.

Title: Beneath the Burn
Author: Pam Godwin | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website
Publication Date: July 31 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 510 Pages
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Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: Absolute perfection.
Point of View: 3rd person

My Rating: 5 Huge Burning Stars

Where do I even begin?  I have no idea why reviews for the books that completely blow me away are the hardest, but they are.  And Beneath the Burn did just that, it blew me away.  Hours after finishing, I am still living in it's world, thinking about the characters, and wondering how in the world I am going to be able to move past this beautiful story.

“You showed me beauty in survival.  I’ll show you strength in healing”

I had been seeing so many good things said about Beneath the Burn that I knew I needed to start it as soon as possible.  I will have to be honest though, I had no idea it was written in 3rd person.  So when I started, it made me very nervous.  I am not a huge fan of this perspective, but I was willing to give it a chance.  It took me less than a chapter to get completely sucked into the story, and not much more than that to not even realize it was being told in 3rd person.  It's hard to explain, but it's the absolute truth.  The way it is written is not like any other 3rd person novel I have read before.  I still felt that I was in the character's heads and was feeling every emotion and thought right along with them.

“Life was jaded like that, throwing them together when he couldn’t tolerate affection and she was desperate for it.”

Beneath the Burn can be described as powerful, gritty, intense, passionate...  Honestly, there are not enough words that I could list to describe the awesomeness of this story and it's characters.  I experienced an untold amount of emotions while reading, and I guarantee you that you will feel them as well.  This is a story that will make you think, feel and experience the story as it is unfolding.  You will find yourself on the edge of your seat more than once, and will probably be in tears just as many times.

There are some beyond intense scenes, but please don't allow this to scare you away.  As intense as they were, I never felt uncomfortable reading them.  The intensity is later in the book, turned to passion.  So as intense as some are, they are required in order to help you understand what it is Charlee is having to live through.  And later, how that need can be turned into something mutual.

“She was his greatest possibility.  His reason.  His why.  He would give whatever she needed to be whole and happy, because loving her was as essential as drawing air.”

The love I have for both Charlee and Jay is overwhelming.  Both characters touched me deeply.  I adored Charlee and struggled right along with her.  Her strength is amazing, and she is such a tough character.  Jay is the perfectly tortured artist.  Their connection is instant, even though it takes years for them to be in a position to be able to act upon it.  I loved being able to see how once they reconnected, they were able to start to heal each other.  Both have demons, and instead of letting those demons win, they use their feelings for each other to adapt and learn from each other.

But, not everything is doom and gloom.  There are so many moments where I was smiling and laughing.  I loved a look into the crazy rock star world, and there were many moments of hilarity from Jay's band mates.  And honestly, Charlee has a great sense of humor.  This again points to her strong character, she hasn't let what has happened to her break her.

“You have the heart one expects to see at the centre of a fire, bending and twisting like steel, but never breaking.  If something happens to mine, yours would be stubborn enough to beat for both of us.”

Okay, I've gushed enough, and could probably go on forever if I don't force myself to stop.  I can only hope that if you were on the fence about this book before reading my review, that I have helped in some way to push you over the edge.  I can not see how anybody would be disappointed in this story, and not fall in love with these characters.  Oh, and the ending?  Absolutely perfect and we are treated to a wonderful epilogue.

“No matter what happens, no matter where we go from here, we go together.”

MORE QUOTES FROM BENEATH THE BURN

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