Whisky Sharp: Torn - Lauren Dane
Sometimes what you find isn’t what you were searching for...
Beau Petty has been searching his whole life. Searching for a place that fills all the empty spaces in him. Searching for a way to tame the restlessness. Searching for answers to the secret he’s never stopped trying to solve. What he wasn’t searching for was a woman to claim all of him, but when Cora Silvera walks back into his life, he’s ready to search out all the ways he can make her his.
Cora has spent her life as the family nurturer, taking care of others. But now she’s ready to pass that job on to someone else. It’s time to make some changes and live for herself. It’s in that moment that her former teenage crush reappears and the draw and the heat of their instant connection is like nothing either of them has experienced. He craves being around her. She accepts him, dark corners and all.
Beau thinks Cora’s had enough drama in her life. He wants to protect her from the secrets of his past, even if it means holding back the last pieces of himself. But Cora is no pushover and she means to claim all those pieces.
Let me just start by saying this book was refreshing to read because unlike 99% of other romance novels this one doesn't have major angst or drama starting the book and leading towards the characters having an unrealistically difficult relationship. In this book Beau and Cora meet up in an every day way, start dating like normal people, have a normal relationship without unrealistic expectations. It was just so nice to read a book that wasn't drama filled and ridiculous.
On the other hand, the story line with Beau's past life in a cult felt like it wasn't thought out all of the way and so the ending arc of it fell kind of flat for me. There didn't feel like a real resolution as you'd want in a book and I just kept thinking there was going to be some kind of big deal at the end and there just wasn't. Same with Cora's story line with her mother, I really expected some kind of big time blow out with the mom and Beau and while there kind of was, it wasn't to the magnitude that I was hoping for, some kind of big drama.
I'm going to give this one four stars and what saves this book is that the relationship between Cora and Beau is really sweet and normal, nothing to get crazy with, you leave the book really enjoying them as characters because while we hope for external drama, it's nice to not have any within their relationship. What keeps this from being a five star is the fact there is no big boom at the end, or anywhere.