Synopsis:
Letting go never felt so good.
Carlisle Queen is dying and no one knows it.
Burying the pain of losing her friends and her professional swimming career in a terrorist attack, America’s former sweetheart dulls her pain with drugs, pills and parties. The bomb left her with more than nightmares; shrapnel is lodged in her back and inching closer to her spinal cord. When the doctors tell her paralysis is inevitable, she decides to take her own life rather than face a lifetime in a wheelchair.
Mateo Butler isn’t anyone’s hero.
Reeling from the death of his little sister and his own cowardice, he spends his nights partying and his days ignoring the medical school acceptance letters and his parents’ concerned phone calls. Just a couple of months from graduation, he’s facing a future filled with shame and regret. The last thing he needs is to meet the woman who compels him to be a better man.
Can they save each other?
When Carlisle and Mateo meet, the chemistry between them is combustible. They play, party and hide their true selves until one night turns their lust into something more…something real. As secrets are revealed and walls collapse, what they were and what they might become doesn’t matter as much as who they are together. When the choice comes down to life or death, can love be their salvation?
My Review:
Salvation is the second book in author Robin Covington’s Nashville Nights series and after loving the first book, I was so excited to read Carlisle and Mateo’s story and let me just say, Robin has done it again. This story was beyond smoking hot, filled with emotion, and just down right amazing all around. I loved it!
Carlisle Queen is used to one thing these days: coping. Pain, loss, death…coping with all of it. Of course, her chosen methods weren’t exactly legal at times, but it got her through, and right now, that’s what mattered. But as far as the long-term? She didn’t exactly have one…a long term, that is. She was dying and just biding her time until it was over, which she had made peace with…until Mateo. Now she was a jumble of confusion and emotion because he had given her hope that maybe, just maybe, her injuries could be fixed and she could have a future…with him. Would fate give her a chance at the happy ever after that was stolen away years earlier?
You could say that Mateo was floundering. He was just kind of going through the motions of school and life and all was sort of bland. Especially after the death of his little sister. The little sister he had so many plans with. Plans that now seemed worthless. But the minute Mateo starts something with Carlisle, his world goes from bland to full of life in an instant. The sexy, smart, feisty red-head was everything he could have dreamed of and more. She quickly turned from a quick roll in the hay into something so much more. Dare he hoped she felt the same way? That they could turn this temporary fun into something permanent? He should have known fate wouldn’t be kind enough to give him a shot at happiness and a sense of purpose…
With so much loss and pain tainting the love they’ve found, will Carlisle and Mateo be able to weather this storm and come out of it? Together?
I can always count on an amazing read from Robin. Always. This book was no exception. Carlisle and Mateo are two broken pieces apart, but together make one imperfectly perfect whole. Where they both have a weakness, they also have a strength that has the beautiful ability to help shore up the weakness until it no longer matters. Mateo is quietly dealing with the guilt over the death of his sister and it broke my heart. He has such a desire to make things right for Carlisle and help her in any way that I couldn’t help but fall in love with him the very first time he picked her up when she needed him. Carlisle is wonderful at putting on a brave face for the world but is privately a disaster. I don’t blame her and honestly, I felt she had every right to feel the way she did. To self medicate and push away the pain. But I also wanted her to be ok. I wanted so desperately for these two to get a second chance at life. And love. Of course, because Robin is amazing, she always delivers.
Now, because it deserves a separate paragraph, I have got to touch on the amount of scorching heat in this story. Good. Lord. Also, another thing I can count on from Robin is the deliciously sexy scenes that happen between Mateo and Carlisle. Sexy and emotional, these scenes melted my e-reader and had me fanning myself more than a few times. Total yum!
If you’re looking for a great book with beautiful emotion, well-developed characters, and plenty of heat, Salvation needs to be on your list. Thank you, Robin for once again writing one hell of a book!
Five Loves
Book links:
About the author:
Robin Covington loves to explore the theme of fooling around and falling in love in her bestselling books. A Night of Southern Comfort, her debut novel was nominated for the RT Book Reviewers Choice Awards for Small Press and was touted by RT Book Reviews as bringing a “fresh, modern feel to the genre while still sticking to the things that get our adrenaline pumping — sex and danger”
When she’s not writing sexy, sizzling romance she’s collecting tasty man candy, indulging in a little comic book geek love, and stalking Dean winchester. You can find Robin at her website (robincovingtonromance.com), Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Don’t send chocolate . . . send eye candy!
Robin lives in Maryland with her hilarious husband, brilliant children (they get it from her, of course!) and her beloved furbabies.