Tuesday 22 April 2014

Release Day ~~ Fragile Bonds by Sloan Johnson

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"Without trust, we have nothing."


These are the words which have haunted Melanie Erickson for six years. When she walked out of the house Xavier Ross bought as their forever home, she thought she was closing that door permanently, but fate had other plans.



Xavier Ross tried to keep everyone at a distance until Melanie came into his life. The more he tried to fight his feelings for her, the more he fell in love. One rash decision fractured the trust that was essential to their relationship.



Six years later, she is the last person he expects to see walk through his front door. Will Xavier and Mel be able to learn to trust one another again so they can fulfill a dying womans wish?

 ARC RECEIVED FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

It is a fine line between love and hate, and Melanie and Xavier are toeing that line.

After an argument, Melanie and Xavier who are planning their "together forever", split up a with miscommunications and misunderstandings, seem to be separated forever.

6 years down the track, their lives come back together through the illness of Xavier's wife.

Alyssa Ross has had to live up to "the one that got away and broke his heart" since she first met Xavier.  Even on her death bed, she can feel the tension between Melanie and Xavier, and it does not take much for her to realise who Melanie is, as hard as Melanie and Xavier try to hide it from her (not in a bad way though).

The emotions flow off the page in Fragile Bonds.  The love, the hate, the sadness, the confusion.  It is the first time that I have read a book with this kind of storyline, and I may have shed a tear or two as I was reading.

It is a story about love and loss, forgiveness and redemption, second chances. 

As sad as the base story line is, the love between Xavier and Melanie is one that cannot be stopped.  After all the years apart, the bad feelings between them, they have always loved each other.

As we learn more about Xavier and Alyssa, I really didn't like him for a while.  He was such an asshole to her for no other reason than that she was not Melanie.  I know why she stuck with him, but how she didn't throttle him, or at least walk away I don't know.


Jacob is the reason she hung around, and he really is a scene stealer.  He made me laugh, he made me cry.  So many things  for a 4 year old boy trying to understand about his dying mother. 

I did like the changes we see in Xavier.  He goes from standoffish with his son to his son being his entire world.  I also loved the attachment that forms between Melanie and Jacob. 

We get the back story as to why Xavier and Melanie originally broke up.  That was pretty devastating when we get to the heart of it.  

I loved that Melanie and Xavier didn't just jump right back into their relationship.  Even though his wife knew that he always loved her,  I would have been disappointed if they had just fallen back right in where they had left off.  Watching both Xavier and Melanie deal with the guilt they feel, how they feel they are betraying Alyssa by moving forward.

There are some pretty great secondary characters in Fragile Bonds.  Melanie's "gay husband" Tyler is great.  No matter what his feelings are about Xavier, he is all for Melanie finding happiness.  Xavier's brother Braydon I wanted to strangle at the beginning but that didn't last long.

And then there is Melanie's best friend Stacey.  There are no words for what I feel for her ~~ and what i felt for her was nothing good! I am not a violent person, but this one person made me want to hurt them! You will have to read to find out why I despised her so, but you will know when you get to it!

While there are hints of light  BDSM through the back story, that is not what Fragile Bonds is about.  It is about ordinary people dealing with extraordinary loss.  It is about mending broken hearts.  It is about earning back trust.

I dare you not to shed a tear or two whilst reading Fragile Bonds.  Whether tears of sadness or tear of happiness, I am sure you will feel the urge to cry at some stage.


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Releasing April 22, 2014
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Portrait of happy loving couple
rear view of father and son walking on a street at sunset




sj
Sloan is a Midwestern mom who began writing nearly seven years ago as a way to make money while staying home with her daughter. Now, with two kids in tow and having written more articles on how to assemble various pieces of furniture than she can count, she is reaching to make her dreams come true.
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