Book Description
In this modern-retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," Savannah Carmichael, betrayed by an unreliable source, returns to her hometown of Danvers, Virginia with her once-promising journalism career in ruins. Given the opportunity to get back in the game by writing a patriotic human interest piece, Savannah turns her attention to the town hermit, Asher Lee, a wounded veteran who returned to Danvers eight years ago, and hasn't been seen since.
After an IED explosion in Afghanistan took Asher's hand and disfigured half of his face, he's lived a quiet life on the outskirts of Danvers where the locals respect his privacy...that is, until Savannah Carmichael comes calling in a borrowed sundress with a plate of homemade brownies. When Asher agrees to be interviewed by Savannah, he starts feeling things for the beautiful reporter that he hasn't felt in years.
Misfits in small-town Danvers, Savannah and Asher create a bond right away, touching each other's hearts in ways neither thought possible. When a terrible mistake threatens to drive them apart, they'll have to decide if the love they found in one another's arms is strong enough to fight for their hard-won happily ever after.
** Contemporary Romance. Due to profanity, realistically depicted scenes of war and very strong sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.**
My Review
Savannah comes home after she got fired from the journalism job she loved. Her sister, Scarlet is getting married so that's a good reason to come home and help. When another journalism job gets dropped in her lap, she jumps at the chance not knowing that interviewing Asher will be more rewarding than she expected.
Asher is a wounded warrior and came home to a less than welcome arrival. Because he's disfigured and feels like the people of the town look at him like a monster, he's kept himself locked away in his home for years. But when Savannah asks to interview him, he surprisingly agrees to it.
The interview happens over the course of a few weeks and the more time they spend together the closer they get. First starting out as friends and then more when they find that they really like one another.
When Savannah's article is published, it's not printed exactly as she had written it which causes a lot of problems. I don't know if a publisher can actually 'edit' an article the way this one was in real life and get away with it but I would have been more than a little mad.
It takes them a while to get passed this bump in the road and frankly I wasn't sure it was going to happen but Asher finally finds out that she never meant to have that story published. Things happen, some things change and some things get better before we get to end of this story. Asher's story is heartbreaking and it's gruesome in some of the descriptions of what happened to Asher but this book was great and a real tear jerker.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.