Thirteen stories up. Two broken hearts. One last chance…
Surgeon Grant Sullivan’s once-perfect life lies in ruins. His daughter is gone—lost in a tragic accident he dare not allow himself to remember—and his beautiful wife now stares at him from across a legal table, insisting she wants nothing from him.
Julia Sullivan lost everything, especially her illusions about her marriage, after the accident. Her grief only seemed to drive Grant further into his emotional shell—except for the nights he turned to her in silent, furious passion. Unable to live like a ghost in her old life, she’s packed up what’s left of her broken heart and is ready to move on. Alone.
Determined to break their stalemate, Grant follows Julia onto the elevator just in time for an earthquake. Trapped for hours in a building pressure cooker of unspoken pain, he’ll do anything to remind her what she’s leaving behind, as deliciously as he can. But giving her what she needs to save their marriage is the one thing that could destroy his soul.
Grant does not want a divorce. He loves his wife and the last thing he wants is to live without her in his life. But Julia can’t live with Grant any longer. She loves him but is ripped apart by Grant and his apparent unemotional state of being. You see Grant, Julia and their toddler daughter, Autumn, were all in a car crash together but Autumn didn’t make it. Grant blames himself for her death and refuses to grieve. Julia interprets this refusal as an absence of love for both Autumn and Julie.
When Julia and Grant are stuck in the elevator Julie sees her chance to make Grant talk. He can’t escape and she is determined to finally get inside his head.
This was a very emotional book to read. Reading first about the accident and then the horrible ruin that the child’s death left Grant and Julia’s marriage was just heart-breaking. I thought the author did a great job of showing the reader everything that the couple was going through and it made me really get involved in the story.
While being a very short read, only about 33 pages, Shaken packs an emotional punch. If you’re looking for a fun, light contemporary then this is definitely not the book for you. But if you like a story that will hit a few emotional buttons then this would be a great book to read.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Shaken releases on October 19 from Samhain Publishing
Intriguing premise!
I love Dee's books – always highly emotional. And I adore the marriage in trouble trope, too. Win-win.
Chris – It was!
Lori – This was my first read from this author. 🙂
Oh, you should definitely read more if you liked this.
Great review Tracy. And I'm with Chris, very intriging premise!
I like Dee's writing. This sounds interesting.
Wow, that is indeed very short. I think that women sometimes kind of forget that men grieve and feel differently. I mean, the way Grant copes is not good, but it's his way. I've never read this author… so I might just with this one 😛