Restore Me: The New Haven Series - Book #1

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The truth is I’ve not been myself for what feels like a long time, so much so that I’ve begun to wonder whether I ever really knew. I stare, unblinking, into the mirror, the din of buzzing hair clippers echoing through the room. My face is only dimly reflected in my direction, but it’s enough for me to see that I’ve lost weight. My cheeks are hollow; my eyes, wider; my cheekbones more pronounced. My movements are both mournful and mechanical as I shear off my own hair, the remnants of my vanity falling at my feet. This one just wasn’t for me, unfortunately. Mainly because I didn’t like either of the MCs so I wasn’t invested in their story at all. I’m a very character-driven reader so this really killed the book for me. I tried to get through this for like 4 days before finally deciding to DNF. Her hands settle on my hips and pull me forward; I trip a little as I follow her lead. “What are you doing?” I begin to say, but when I meet her eyes I find tenderness and concern. Something thaws inside of me. My shoulders relax and I reel her in, drawing in a deep breath as I do. Some people say life is for the living, but I say life is for the prepared. For the planners who know that controlling every piece on the board is the only way to get the result you want.

After one drunken night, and a surprisingly sexy act of heroism, he's started to be...nice. Treating me like something other than the physical embodiment of his annoyance, which would be nice if it didn't make me feel all the things I swore to never feel for another man after my husband died. I almost quit at the "your mouth hasn't said yes but your body has" line, because that's not how consent works and that's a man who won't stop when you say no, but I kept going hoping it was a one-off and just a bad line of dialogue in a sex scene. What finally made me quit was reading from his POV while they're discussing a relationship they may or may not start. Reading the scene from his POV actively made my skin crawl. She has one single boundary she sets for the relationship - just one - and he verbally agrees to it while thinking about how he doesn't actually agree, he thinks it's ridiculous, and he's only telling her he agrees to get her into this relationship and has no intention of actually following her wishes because once he has her in his grasp he's not going to let her go and he's going to make her see that what he wants is what's best. It was so uncomfortable and reads to me as him clearly having no respect for this woman as a person, much less anything even close to love.My heart is literally breaking. The way I don’t know if I can watch them go through more pain in the next book because how can I ever recover from this HEARTBREAK??? I didn’t let him cut my hair,” he says, scowling. “It was”—he hesitates—“it was a gesture of camaraderie. It was an act of trust I’d seen practiced among my soldiers. In any case,” he says, turning away, “it’s not as though I have any experience building friendships.” the reason for the 5⭐️ rating is what i like to refer to as the murder mystery. as much as i would love to get into this subplot and dig DEEP into theories with y’all i can’t. and i mean not even a little bit. bc i would never be able to forgive myself if i robbed y’all of the element of surprise jl has perfected. i was GAGGED, REPEATEDLY! and that’ll just have to be enough for y’all. I went into this book scared cause I saw a lot of the ARC readers reactions. And I was right to be scared cause my heart still hurts. The little bits of Eric and especially seeing how happy he made Sloane hurt me so much and I wasn’t expecting it. Also, Dominic… my mannnn was really going through it. Like that man was miserable YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR and it only makes Restore Me matter to me more. I call her my angel because that’s what she is to me. The promise of God’s love in human form, a treasure from heaven walking here on Earth.'

This book made me realize that Chris and Mal’s story was never going to be able to be a smooth journey because just like Mal said they really are a case of right person wrong time She giggles and even the sound is heavenly. I want to soak it up, pull every note out of the air, and absorb it into my being.” This,” Warner says, spinning around so I might inspect the damage, “is not trimming the edges, you incompetent moron—” Mallory Kent could ask me for the moon, and I’d find a way to get it for her. She could ask me for the stars, and I’d steal them from the sky. She could ask for my heart, and, well….she already has that. She just doesn’t know it yet. Chris and Mal’s relationship and their love MY GOD. They really did something for me and their story was such a journey. It was painful and heartbreaking yet devastating beautiful. You just don’t understand how perfect they were and then… we aren’t even gonna talk about this.

The first time I kissed Christopher Johnson, I knew he would be my biggest mistake. It didn’t stop me from wanting him though, and when the ghosts from my past came barging into the present, it didn’t stop me from agreeing to let him help.