Ricochet by Jessica Wilde Release Day and Review!

 

Title: Ricochet 

Author: Jessica Wilde 

Genre: Romantic Suspense 

Release Date: February 23, 2015 

Release Day Blitz: February 25, 2015

 

Fear.

It's the last thing I remembered.

I was afraid.

Afraid to fight, afraid to run… afraid to breathe.

Then, everything had gone dark. As if life was finally hearing my pleas, my cries to end the torment. To end the fear.

But even in the dark, I still felt it.

I always felt it.

My life had been a ricochet of one event leading to the next. Bouncing back and forth from good to bad. Happiness to despair. Hope to fear.

My name is Arianna West. I'm stronger now. Steady. Alive.

I can find a way to survive on my own. I can see what is coming for me. I can channel my fear into strength.

Except… I didn't see Jack.

And Jack changed everything.

For readers 18+ due to language, violence, and sexual content.

I laughed. A laugh so deep that the muscles in my abdomen flexed. How long had it been since I had felt that? Too long. I hadn't really laughed in a long time and something so simple had brought it out of me.

Jack had brought it out of me.

"God, I missed that laugh," Jack whispered.

I went silent, so suddenly that my breath couldn't keep up and it came rushing out with the emotion that had been built up inside of me.

Tears immediately sprang to my eyes and the heaviness in my chest was back.

My life had changed so much. Everything had changed.

"Jack..."

"Ari, please don't cry."

He had turned his body towards me and was holding my face in his hands. The tears running down my cheeks didn't make it far. He wiped each one away.

He saw the moment my control slipped and I just couldn't seem to stop the tears. That's when he pulled me into his arms. Arms that had always made everything better. Strong fingers combed through my hair, down my temple, across my jaw, then retraced their way back up and into my hair once more. He was giving me whatever comfort he could while I sobbed on his chest.

I should have been embarrassed about the quick change in my mood. I should have felt ridiculous. Childish. With Jack, though, I never had to worry about being anyone but myself no matter who I was now.

"So much is gone," I said in a broken and weak voice. "So much is missing from me."

"No, Ari. You're still in there, babe, just a little harder to reach."

I shook my head. In denial? I wasn't sure. He was only half right.

"I've bent too far for too long. I'm broken," I whispered. So much regret came pouring out of me and I couldn't control it.

I had been slowly breaking for three years and my determination to move on was waning much faster than I could ever keep up with.

Jack buried his fingers in my hair and I felt the press of his lips on the top of my head. When he spoke, the tone of his voice sounded defeated. Resigned. "The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places."

I sniffed as the rumble in his chest vibrated against my cheek. His shirt was wet from my tears and I knew I looked like a mess, but I looked up at him anyway.

"What is that from?" I asked.

"What? You don't think I could come up with something so profound by myself?" he teased.

"I know damn well you could, Jack."

He looked at me for a moment, his eyes searching mine and his fingers sweeping a lock of hair back behind my ear. If I didn't know any better, I would think he was reading my mind, seeing all my secrets, all my broken places. "It's Ernest Hemingway. He said that."

"Do you believe it?"

"I do. So much so that I tattooed it on my shoulder the first chance I got," he mumbled with a short chuckle.

I glanced down at his shoulder. It was too dark to see much of anything, but the moonlight streaming in the window showed enough when he lifted his shirt sleeve. The words were there, permanently inked into his skin just above a complex shape that I couldn't quite make out.

So, you know what one of the worst feelings is? When you pour your heart and soul into a review because you loved the book SO MUCH, and then your laptop crashes. No.Joke. This happened to me this week. But, you know what? Ricochet is totally worth it and I'm sure this review will show my love for Jessica Wilde and her writing even more than the original!

First, let me start off by saying I was graciously given an ARC for an honest review. I'm so grateful to have the chance to read and review this book, and I've been counting down until release day so that other people can read Ricochet! 

At the beginning of this book, we're introduced to Ari. Scratch that- we're introduced to fear. Jessica Wilde is such a talented writer and I knew it from the prologue. Through her words, you can feel the anxiety, the pain, the fear, the darkness. As the reader, you instantly connect to Ari and you want her to run, you want her to flee, you want her to survive. 

Ari escapes the horrible life she's been stuck in. She goes home, to family, to the people who have always and will always be there for her. She starts over, starts a life of her own and sees someone that she thought she'd never see again. Enter Jack. Ari has mixed feelings towards him. He was her childhood crush, her brother Jake's best friend, and one of her best friends, too... and then he was gone. Ari has never been able to get over the hurt she felt when Jack and his whole family left her life, based on what she thought was a horrible mistake he'd made.

Throughout Ricochet, Jack is trying to find a way to tell her the truth and trying to find a way to make it up to her. Jake tried to do everything he could to protect her. 

Gotta pause and share with y'all my favorite quote from this book~~~~

"Because he can't stop loving you. Because that kind of love is impossible to forget. It's impossible to even put into words, sweetie. These books and movies try so hard and they come close, but never will they truly make the heart understand that kind of devotion, the kind of power that it can wield. Seeing Jack look at you, seeing the way he longs for you, Ari? That's the kind of love that makes the world keep turning. The kind of bulletproof love that nothing and no one can stop, not even the girl who is shattered to the point where she thinks she could never heal again. Jack doesn't care how many pieces you are in, my beautiful broken friend. He just wants to make sure he has them all in his hands."



 Let me pause right here and say this: Ari is LOVED. You can feel the love in this book. Jake, her brother, her protector-- he'd do anything to protect her. Jack, though. Ari is his. He's loved her since he's known her and now that she's back in his life, he will never let her go. Jack has to hold on tight, though because the ex is coming back and he's not going to stop until he has no fight left. 

This is a book of fear, of pain, of heartbreak, but it's also a book of love. It's a book of hope, of endurance, of family, of fighting until the end, and of survival. It's a book you need to read! 

 

I live in Morgan Utah with my husband, daughter, and dog, Kolo. I write as often as my active daughter will let me and my husband has the patience of a saint. I find inspiration from dreams, people I meet, and life experiences. When I write, I usually end up drinking one too many cans of Peace Tea, eating three too many Fruit by the Foot fruit snacks, and accidently kicking my pup and best buddy, Kolo, too many times since he loves to sleep under my desk at my feet. I started writing as a teen, but my fear of the unknown won out every time and I threw everything out. After becoming a mother and deciding to stay at home to raise my beautiful little girl, I tried again when I couldn't stop thinking of ideas. I loved every minute, every hour of sleep lost, and every character that came to life in my mind. It's strange, but my favorite moments are when I have writer's block because I can turn to my husband and find inspiration through him by just doing what we do best together. Talking, laughing, and just being in love. He doesn't like to read, but he never stops encouraging me to keep going. Writing has become an important part of my life and every book has a special place in my heart.