Badass Bloggettes: ***6 STAR REVIEW*** SURVIVING US by Erin Noelle

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22027888-surviving-us?ac=1

Two survivors.

Two weeks.

One awakening.

When Bristol Criswell travels to St. Lucia for an Enduring Life retreat, she hopes to discover encouragement and support from like souls. A vacation fling is the furthest thing from her mind, especially not with a cocky-mouthed, arrogant jerk like Davis McKay.

But when it becomes evident she can’t deny the magnetic attraction between the two, she gives in to her desires, and for the first time in her life, learns the difference between simply living and truly feeling alive.

As their time in paradise quickly comes to an end, will her heart be able to withstand another devastating loss when it’s time to say goodbye, or will their connection be strong enough to survive the real world?

Death brought them together, but love will give them a reason to live.

**This book is a full-length, stand alone novel that is not a part of a series**

From the prologue of this story right to the end I knew that Erin would take me on an emotional trip and I was not wrong. I feel I must tell you how affected I was just by the prologue, that to me was the soul into the whole book, it was emotional and heartfelt and the fear and pain in this outline was so real, I burst into tears just by reading this beginning of an amazing book.

The story was so good that I was hooked from the beginning, I could not put it down, however, I had to in order to get some sleep LOL.

Throughout this book, Erin has installed quotes and phrases which I felt were so relevant to the story and the next chapter, they were not only inspirational but heartfelt but told me as the reader what may lie ahead, these touches in the book only enhanced how good this story is.

The characters I loved with a passion and wanted to know so much more about them.

Bristol: Feisty but troubled young beautiful girl who survived through tragedy from a young age for which she blames herself for every day. She knows what she wants in her life and she goes about getting that, she is apprehensive at times and yes insecure but under the circumstances of what happened all those years ago I don’t think anyone reading this would not feel the same way as her. There are parts of her I could relate to and I think everyone will. I loved her and her ability to try and move forward not for others but for herself.

Davis: Sexy as hell but also extremely troubled, my heart went out to him on so many levels, the pain, anguish and percussion he went through every day was breaking my heart. He has demons he needs to be free of to live a life for him.

Alyvia: Bristol’s best friend, well she to me was brilliant, everything you would want for a best friend and I loved her.

Bristol and Davis’s journey first begins when they are at the same airport about to board the same plane to a destination that will hopefully change both their lives. Their plane has to make an emergency landing at a different airport and as Bristol finds out, Davis is going to the same retreat as she is going so the easy option would be to share a taxi together.

The attraction that these two have for each other is evident from the beginning but Davis is a troubled soul and tries so hard to keep Brisol away from him “You need to stay far away from me, Bristol. I’m supposed to be a good boy while I’m here, and you’re the perfect kind of trouble for me”.

I loved the vulnerability here by Davis; you can see him struggling to keep his attraction for Bristol at arm’s length.

I loved this quote that Erin included in between the chapters

“Forget the risk, and take the fall. If it’s meant to be, then it’s worth it all” – author unknown. To me that quote speaks volumes, yes life can be risky but if you take the risk and it is meant to be then go for it, what have you got to lose and I kept this mantra in my head while reading more about Bristol and Davis and at times yes I shouted it to them on my Kindle obviously thinking they could hear me LOL.

“If you find something or someone you want, go after it” This quote is given to Bristol by one of the councillors but the magnitude of those words holds fast to Bristol and the words themselves are so true of life.

These two could not control the attraction to each other and when they did get it on OMG it was HOT and sexy as hell but also very comforting and encouraging to know that throughout all the tragedy these two have been through they can find love, support, solace and acceptance in each other. They are two souls who up until then were empty, now they are filled with each other.

Throughout this whole story there are up’s and downs for both of these people, how they deal with these are another matter.

They know they want to be with each other but they also know that time is limited on the island before they have to go back to the real world and their lives outside of their bubble, however, what was great is that these two together helped each other overcome so much of the troubles of their past that you could not feel that these people should be with each other.

When they said their goodbye’s at the airport on the day they had to leave and go home, my heart broke for both of them, I cried like a baby thinking OMG is that is are they never going to see each other again after this, NOOOOO that can’t be, what was Erin doing to me.

“Today, I’m losing the first person I’ve ever fallen in love with. In a matter of a couple of hours, he’ll no longer be part of my life and there’s nothing I can do about it”

Was it the end???? Or did they have another path to journey on????. That my friends I will leave up to you to find out.

Erin takes you on a journey with this book, it deals with so much that people deal with in real life, loss, depression, blame, troubled pasts and not being accepted in life. She also shows in this book that people do care, they do love, they do find acceptance and they do find that one person in their lives that makes all the difference.

This book will make you laugh, cry and love and I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

I leave you this last quote which I love:

“Great love is worth great risk”

A loud rapping on my door startles me and I rush across the room to see who’s there, thinking maybe Lena forgot to tell me something. Swinging open the door, I’m surprised to see D standing there with my two suitcases.

“You have my stuff,” he declares with obvious annoyance.

I crinkle my forehead with confusion. “Excuse me?”

“They mixed up the bags, put yours in my room,” he sets my two bags directly inside the doorway, “so I’m assuming mine are here. I kinda need them to take a shower.”

My face lights up at the mention of my new found discovery, forgetting about his moodiness. “Did you see the shower?” I ask excitedly. “It’s the most heavenly thing ever.”

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “No, I haven’t. It’s a shower—a place to get clean.”

“I know you told me you usually act like one, but does D really stand for Dick?” I spout off, unable to understand how anyone could be in a bad mood in this tropical paradise. “’Cause it sure the hell would fit perfectly.”

Spinning around waiting for him to answer, I eye his bags in the corner and stomp over to retrieve them. When I whirl around to throw the smaller one at him, he’s resting against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, his t-shirt stretched tightly over his muscular biceps, hat still low on his face, and a playful grin plastered on his face. Yet another mood change.

“You’re not going to make this easy, are you, Trouble?” he drawls huskily.

“Make what easy? And why am I trouble?” My voice rises along with my annoyance. “I haven’t done anything to you!”

Slowly, he stands up straight, twists his cap around backwards, and begins stalking over to me, causing me to back up slowly. Holy shit, he’s gorgeous. “You’re trouble, because you show up on my plane, all naïve and innocent, completely unaware of the effect your sexy-ass legs and beautiful brown eyes have on me and every other fucking guy around.” My back hits the wall as he closes in. I hold his bag up to my chest as a shield.

“Then, you announce you’re going to be here, at this damn retreat I didn’t want to come to in the first place, forcing me to be around you for twelve straight days,” he grabs the duffel from my hands and tosses it to the ground, his eyes never leaving mine, “knowing I don’t need to get anywhere near you, because if you’re half as messed up as I am in the head, the only thing we can cause each other,” he lowers his face to mine, so close I can almost taste his warm, minty breath, and whispers, “ is trouble.”

Right now, in this moment, I want him to kiss me more than I’ve ever wanted to be kissed in my life. Despite the fact he’s a temperamental ass and I know what he just said is true, my brain has forgotten about the underlying reason we’re both here, the reason we’re both permanently emotionally damaged, and all I can think about is how those sexy full lips will feel pressed against mine.

I close my eyes instinctively, either waiting for the contact or for him to walk away, but he does neither. He hovers in front of my face for seconds, minutes, hours—I have no idea how long—before he rests his forehead against mine and sighs.

“It’s been an overwhelming, whirlwind of day for you, Bristol,” he says softly, drawing my eyes open. “Think about what you want long and hard before you make any decisions, ‘cause once I take this pretty little mouth, I’m taking the rest of you too. But remember, no matter what happens while we’re here, when it’s time to leave, we return to two different cities and two separate lives.”

He pushes off the wall, turning on his heel and scooping his suitcases up on his way to the door. “My real name is Davis, and the ball’s now in your court, Trouble.”

Amazon: http://goo.gl/2bhxSB

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Amazon UK: http://goo.gl/MZx5lf

Amazon AU: http://goo.gl/A0mbjF

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Erin Noelle is a Texas native, where she lives with her husband and two young daughters. While earning her degree in History at the University of Houston, she rediscovered her love for reading that was first instilled by her grandmother when she was a young child. A lover of happily-ever-afters, both historical and current, Erin is an avid reader of all romance novels. In 2013, she published the Book Boyfriend Series, which included books Metamorphosis, Ambrosia, Euphoria, and Timeless, and recently published When the Sun Goes Down, a contemporary romance novel. Her books have been a part of the USA Today Bestselling list and the Amazon and Barnes & Noble overall Top 100.