Shelter From The Storm by Molly Wens
Blurb: Life can change in the blink of an eye, as Carissa James discovers while on an ill-fated business trip. Kidnapped, injured and left to her own wits in the frozen wilderness of the Bryce Matheny, though, knows all too well what can happen when the Fates play games with the lives of mortals. One moment on a dark highway and his beloved wife is gone. Left scarred and embittered, ostracized by society as a branded killer, he leaves the world behind, retreats to a mountain hideaway where he intends to live out the rest of his years, alone.
Another dark night changes Bryce’s life forever when the howl of a wolf and the insistence of his faithful dog drag him from the safety of his cabin into the raging winter storm. That’s when he finds Carissa, half-dead, buried in the snow.
Afraid she will see him as a monster, he tries to hide his disfigured face. When he finally allows her to see, he is struck by the pure desire in her eyes. He wants to share that desire with her, but wonders if it still lives within him as he watches her scantily clad body reclining on his bed.
Passion wins and love is born, but the moment cannot last. She has no choice but to return to her children and her home.
For Bryce, life without Clarissa is sheer torture. Haunted by the memory of her soft caresses and fiery green eyes, he becomes a man possessed. But does he have the strength to face his past and go in search of her? Will his damaged soul once again find her to be his shelter from the storm?
Warnings: This title contains graphic language and sex.
Word Count: 113,963
Review:
I was captured and entrapped by this story from the warning tones of the first pages, and embarked upon the book at a fast clip as Molly seems to make me do. Holding my breath with the twists of the plot and sighing with its resolutions, I would continue on just before being caught up in another whirlwind of suspense-filled situations full of mangled feelings and intense actions…she doesn’t let the reader go.
She dealt with some gruesome circumstances of tragedy well, letting the reader to emotionally bond with the characters as well as see the strength of the heroine at the same time. Although, with the hero his back story was unfolded in a slow, peeling back the layers sort-of way, the same strength was shown and maybe a touch more weakness was masterfully worked in. This in no way takes away from the beast of a man who hugs the reader with his battle-scarred heart and virile character.
As always, Molly touches on the rawest of human emotions, eliciting our sympathies because we can so easily identify with each sentiment irregardless of whether we have experienced the same situation or not. Words like “damaged soul” and “atonement” commingle on the pages, written or alluded to. Carissa and Bryce fight and love on so many levels that they leave you wanting more even at the end of the long novel. And, I must say that her subtle touches of the super-natural are mesmerizing as well.
Having only read her first two works, I am considering myself a fan of Molly Wens!
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