The true saving grace of this story was the interactions between the Renegades team; it was much needed and appreciated comic relief. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures
Description:
Bad boy Troy Jacobs is all about taking risks. As a stunt double for Hollywood’s A-listers, there’s no fall he won’t attempt. With one exception—women. Troy fell hard once, and it nearly broke him. Since then, he’s vowed never to trust like that again and he’s got everything under control. Until the woman who shattered his heart years before shows up on his movie-set.
Country music star Giselle “Ellie” Diamond learned long ago that sometimes love isn’t enough. When love got in the way of her goals, she made the tough choice to let go of happily ever after and chased the glitz and glamour of the stage. It may not be all she expected, but now it’s all she has. And with a worldwide tour on the line, Ellie needs one last gig to rocket her toward stardom: a high-profile role in a blockbuster film.
Passion sparks, and old feelings return. But while Troy and Ellie grow closer their problems from the past simmer in the background. And this time around, there’s more tearing them apart than just one star-studded career.
Review copy provided for an honest review
I have been a fan of Skye Jordan’s Renegades series from the start and while I enjoyed Relentless for me there was just too much angst and emotional drama. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the story, I did but I didn’t love it like I did the other books in this series. Friends who became lovers whose lives were torn apart when one chose fame over their relationship are reunited under unusual circumstances leading to confusion, heartache, anger and eventually understanding, acceptance and love.
Growing up in less than stellar foster homes left Troy Edwards and Giselle (Ellie) Diamond with emotional scars but finding love with each other was a bright spot until Ellie’s country music singing career took off leaving Troy left out and their relationship in tatters. Throughout this book we see them now and are treated to glimpses of their past lives together giving us a pretty good look at what they are thinking and feeling.
I’ve always appreciated wild man, bad boy Troy and his big, bad attitude but in this book we see another side of him the side that was hurt badly and the one he hides from everyone. Honestly his behavior with Ellie the first time he encounters her after so many years kind of surprised me because I always felt he was a pretty stand up guy and his actions seemed a little “off” for someone who has been pretty honorable but I think he’d even agree that what he did wasn’t wise for his own state of mind.
Ellie was one of those characters that I had a hard time truly liking. There were moments when I felt bad for her and when I understood her insecurities but there were other times when she seemed so self centered and almost diva like which drove me a little crazy. I hate the way she let people manipulate her and how easily she agreed to things she wasn’t sure about. More than that I kind of resented how she easily she blamed Troy for so many of their issues when she was equally if not more responsible.
They spent a good deal of this book at odds and it took what felt like a contrived (and easy to see coming) incident to force them to look at their relationship past and present and make some big decisions yet even that wasn’t enough and we had a bit more drama to get through before they both finally came to their senses.
While there was no denying that Troy and Ellie belonged together there were several moments when I wanted to lock them in a room together and not let them out until they hashed it all out. The true saving grace of this story was the interactions between the Renegades team; it was much needed and appreciated comic relief.
Every once in a while an author whose work I love writes a book that just doesn’t resonate with me and that is this book. While there were moments in Relentless I enjoyed there were more that frustrated me and left me feeling somewhat disappointed.
3.5 Stars
This one frustrated me as well Slick, I rated it 2 stars.