Hard to Hold On To (Hard Ink)

Hard to Hold On To
by Laura Kaye
Release Date:  August 19, 2014
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Book #2.5 in the Hard Ink series
Number of Pages:  208
Kindle Edition
Source:  MCL
Contemporary Romance/Military M/F
Rating:  NC-17
Read 9/11/19

 

Edward “Easy” Cantrell knows better than most the pain of not being able to save those he loves–which is why he is not going to let Jenna Dean out of his sight. He may have just met her, but Jenna’s the first person to make him feel alive since that devastating day in the desert more than a year ago.

Jenna has never met anyone like Easy. She can’t describe how he makes her feel–and not just because he saved her life. No, the stirrings inside her reach far beyond gratitude.

As the pair are thrust together while chaos reigns around them, they both know one thing: the things in life most worth having are the hardest to hold on to.

This book is so intense.  Not in the way the other books in this series are full of intense action and danger.  No, this story has none of that.  This story is about emotions and connections.  It is a novella and, in this case, a true “filler” story.  It really doesn’t further the underlying storyline of this series, but it has an extremely important message and helps the reader to more deeply see the connection of this band of brothers.

Only a couple of weeks have passed since the beginning of the first book in this series, Hard as It Gets, and things have been go, go, go for this group.  This book is finally giving them a couple days to recoup, some desperately needed downtime for them all.  In this eye of the storm, Easy has time to quiet his mind and all of his monsters and nightmares come creeping back in.

The connection between Easy and Jenna was obvious in the last book, Hard as You Can. This story picks up right from Jenna’s rescue and their connection just gets tighter and deeper.  But while Easy is glad Jenna feels comfort in his presence and wants to do all he can to help her come to terms with what she’s been through, he also feels he’s not the best person for her.  This goes back to Easy’s military career and that final mission.  Easy has PTSD and has not talked to anyone about his issues or his depression.  This time of quiet for the group makes Easy finally face his issues and take that first step of asking for help.

While I’ve seen quite a few reviews of this book stating they were disappointed since there is no action, this book is not meant to be that.  As I said above, it is a true filler story.  It gives a lot of important information about veterans and active duty service members and others who are victims of assault and how they deal with their PTSD. It’s also a beautiful love story.  If you’re looking for the usual action and suspense of this author, you wont’ find it here. I don’t see how skipping this story will be a detriment when reading this series as a whole.  But I personally highly recommend you read Easy’s story.  It’s a short and quick read so it won’t take much of your time.

Fair warning: I cried a lot.  Not just runny eyes, but full on sobbing.  Easy will touch your heart.

5 stars