Release Day Blitz ... Ricochet by Jessica Wilde

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.

PLEASE CHOOSE 1 of the excerpts:

#1

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.

Or #2

"No, Jack. It's over now, it doesn't matter. I don't have the ability to focus on that part of my life. I've got too many other things to take care of before I go back to being... well, a woman that just wants to be loved." "Ari, I -" "Let me finish," I said sharply and held my hand up in between us. He shut his mouth and nodded. "I know I should be grateful for what I had and I have no one to blame but myself for the decisions I made, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to be that woman. Every woman just wants to find that kind of love, that kind of companionship, but I'm not like them anymore." Jack's frown deepened and I could see that he wanted to argue.

5 STARS

**I received an ARC for an honest review.**

This book is such an emotional story, but it is also a story of how a woman broken by her past can be mended by the people who love her and are willing to do any and everything for her.

Ari, the woman broken by her past and never believes that she can be fixed unless it is on her terms and in her way. She has a brother who loves her and has vowed to keep her safe, but when she realized that his best friend that she thinks abandoned them years earlier is apart of her brother's life now, all of her plans for her future go out the window. She knows that she will never be able to ignore her feelings for Jack, but boy does she try. I think she takes most of her aggression out on him, but never does he waver in his promise to help her.

Jack, a man that was a victim of his past and had to lose everything in order to build his future. A future that he had given up the hope of being with his only love. But things happen that he never thought would and he gets another chance. I loved his patience with Ari and the way he always put her first. I loved that no matter what she threw at him he was so strong and helped her heal. I love that everyone around him in his new life new the significance of who Ari was to him and the fact that he seemed to never hide it, except from her. But he was waiting for that right time and that right place and for the right person to be open to his feelings.

This story is pretty intense and isn't something that should be taken lightly. It is on a very touchy subject and the author did a fantastic job executing it. Never once did I feel that is was rushed or that anything wasn't dealt with as it should be. The characters were well written and even though Ari felt like she wasn't strong, she was. The author did a great job in portraying that with Ari. The same goes for Jack. His character is strong and I really respected the fact that their relationship, even though you knew it would happen, it wasn't rushed and it was oh so satisfying.

Now, the end of this book was something that I did not see coming and I actually teared up. I felt the pain of all the characters and I was thinking "please please please don't let this be how this book ends!" I won't say how it ends or what happened, but again the author did phenomenal with that scene and made be connect even more to this story. Another thing that I really loved about the end of this book was the bonus material in Jack's POV...I love a good male POV and Ms. Wilde delivered not that.

This is a must read, but be prepared. It isn't sunshine and roses with sweet romance. It is gritty and dirty and will make you cringe many times, but it will also make you feel so much for the story and the characters. I look forward to more of this series. 

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.