Blog Tour #review: Vivid by Jessica Wilde

 

Title: Vivid 

Author: Jessica Wilde 

Release Date: Oct 11, 2015 

Book Tour: Oct 15-Oct 28 

Hosted by: Always Behind A Book

Merrick Thatcher went through a hell that no one could possibly imagine. He fought to protect his country, his family, and the men standing at his side, but it wasn't just being a soldier overseas that changed him. He watched his friends die in front of him, felt indescribable pain, and lost his sight in the very same moment.

Badly injured, blind, and angry, he's done with war, but now he’s fighting his own battle. So, he’s waiting for it to end, spending his days and nights in a thick darkness no light can penetrate. Until Grace walks into his life and his broken eyes open to a woman that changes everything for him. A story about two flawed souls finding love amidst the grief. A love that shines vividly, even in the dark, and discovering that sometimes being broken is how the light gets in.

For readers 18+ due to language, violence, and sexual situations

EXCLUSIVE AUTHOR INTERVIEW & CHAPTER REVEAL

w/ Panty Dropping Book Blog

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

READ CHAPTER ONE

Like many other foundations, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides assistance to injured soldiers as well as their families. SOWF also focuses on one of the most important challenges those families face; 'getting to their hospitalized loved ones as quickly as possible'. With grants immediately provided to the family, they can travel to be bedside with their loved one, especially for those crucial first days. SOWF also provides a scholarship program, family services (including clinical social workers, scholarship counselors, and family services counselors). With on-going support and helpful counseling to all families of fallen members in every branch of the military, they are able to help in all the ways that count. The SOWF was highly recommended to me by a recent veteran who served in Iraq. Therefore, I am thrilled to be able to help them in any way possible. Every little bit counts.

This book is an amazing tribute to those courageous men and women who sacrifice their everything so the rest of us can live a peaceful existence, this book is also an ode to the resilience of the human spirit.
We would never know for certain what goes on behind the walls of a war, we hear bits and pieces but we can only imagine what goes on. Unfortunately, war does not end for the "lucky" soldiers who get to come back home, because once they're back another battle begins, a battle with the physical and emotional scars left by that war. In Merrick's case is both. He's angry, he's resentful, he's trying to adapt to his new life having to accept the help of others when being independent was all he knew, at the same time not understanding why did he make it out alive when so many didn't.
Grace has come back to live with her parents after a life altering event, she too is trying to adapt to her new life and accept her fate.
These are two broken human beings who come together more or less for convenience, but little by little start teaching each other how to smile again, how to find a new normal, how to live again.
Jessica did an outstanding job writing these two characters, specially Merrick, his pain and his scarred heart jump out of the pages and become the reader's, his vulnerability was a great contrast to the tough soldier and even tougher man that came back. Grace's desolation is heartbreaking, I felt it, I understood her in more ways that one.
The story flows beautifully and there was not a single moment where I wanted to stop reading, it became an addiction.
This is a book full of heart and soul, a story that proves that as humans we might break, but with the right people by our side helping us put the parts back together, we can become whole again.

       

Grace moved closer, shifting her body so she could reach my face more easily. She ended up practically standing between my legs, brushing up against my injured one whenever she rinsed off the razor.

"Take a breath, Merrick. I haven't cut you. Not yet," she chuckled.

I breathed in her sweet scent, my head swimming with arousal. She had no idea what she was doing to me. All those months shaving with a tiny mirror stuck to the wall in my CHU had been frustrating as hell. I couldn't see shit in that thing. Now I very literally couldn't see shit and she was in front of me smelling like she did, being as gentle as she was, and all those memories didn't seem like such a horrible thing.

Because now I was experiencing something even more torturous.

She positioned the razor under my nose and expertly removed the coarse hair above my lip. What would she do if I just leaned in and devoured her mouth? Would I miss her lips completely or would she meet me halfway?

She gently turned my face and started on the other side. I didn't think having her shave my face would be this intimate. In fact, I was planning on it being annoying as hell since I thought she wouldn't really know what she was doing. Asking my mother had been an option, but I didn't want her leaving Mitch either.

"Almost there. You need a haircut, too." Her voice was rough and sexy, and I had to hold back a groan when it sent blood rushing straight to my groin. "I can style it for you so it stays out of your face, but I'm no good with cutting hair."

"That sounds good," I replied. God, if she didn't finish soon, I was going to do something stupid.

She raised my chin and carefully shaved my neck. When her fingers stroked my skin to check for any areas she missed, I swallowed thickly and lost the battle completely.

My injured and stiff hand found her wrist, slowly pulling the razor away from my skin. Her gasp sent my semi-erection shooting straight up to painfully hard. The skin of her wrist was like silk under my fingers, the tiny bones so fragile. I worried that if I was too insistent, I would hurt her with just a touch.

"Merrick?" she breathed, her sweet breath caressing my chin.

"Grace ..."

I felt her racing pulse under my fingers and pulled her forward until I could feel the heat of her face so close to mine. I raised my other hand to her waist and made a cautious path up, until I gripped the back of her neck. She didn't struggle or protest, and I hoped her accelerated breaths were telling me that she was feeling the same intense pull I was.

My dry throat finally found the strength to speak, even if it was just a whisper. "I would give anything to be able to see you right now." I pulled her face closer, until the tip of her nose touched mine. The sound of the razor falling to the floor, briefly registered in my mind.

I live in Morgan, Utah with my husband, beautiful daughter, and a couple of spoiled pups. If I'm not deeply involved in writing my next book, then I'm probably reading in the safety and quiet of my closet. I love yoga – which I now practice regularly – playing hide and seek with my daughter (only to have my hiding spots revealed by one of the pups), and I love Fruit by the Foot, Twizzlers and Peace Tea. These are great ways to bribe me into revealing secrets about what's to come.

I have an unhealthy obsession with Supernatural, The Walking Dead, and The Big Bang Theory. I also enjoy talking about them, so if you like them, too, come find me.

Writing has become an enormous part of my life and every book I write holds a special place in my heart.  If you read one of my books, I hope you have the same experience.

        

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