Thursday, July 7, 2022

REVIEW - SAVING YOU, SAVING ME by Billie Dale


Hendrix Carmichael can now talk and walk he refuses to do either since he still can't hear.  His family finally released the team of therapists because of his refusal to cooperate.  His hair is filthy and stringy hanging past what used to be buff shoulders.  His once sexy body was now skeletal. 

Music had been his life since the time he could climb on a piano bench.  But in his effort to save his twin Preslee's life from a psychopath who held her prisoner in a cave damaged his body and left him deaf after the cave collapsed.  He refuses to eat or bathe and rejects all help wishing he had died.

Six months ago his twin sister and best friend's six-year-old son had been kidnapped while they were at Samantha and Mazric's destination wedding.  Creedon Jones had taken them into the vast cave system that ran throughout the island.  Hendrix had thought he could take him, but only got shot for his efforts.  Although his major injuries had healed after the cave in, brain swelling left him deaf and he didn't know if he would ever hear again.  

Asia DiMarco was Preslee's nemesis but she needed a break from caring for her unappreciative brother and decided to get a mani/pedi along with a cut and color treatment.  Asia had been the town bully from the time she was six years old, but since arriving back in town it seemed that Asia was trying to make amends.  Everyone was shocked at how much she doted on Samantha's daughter.

As Preslee tells of her discouragement on how they could help Hendrix, Asia decides to let Preslee take her place in her yoga class that afternoon and she would head to the Carmichael Plantation to give her brother a haircut.

Preslee had told her it was bad but nothing could have prepared her for how bad.  Imagine being in a room of men who didn't know the word deodorant with the funk of frat house underwear and bad breath.  It was a gag worthy stench.  She couldn't understand how the sexiest man in town had arrived at this point.

Asia grabs his white board and writes that she is there to cut his hair.  When he gives her double birds gestures she turns to leave, but before he can pat himself on the back for running off another person...a bucket of water is being dumped over his head...

I loved this book!  It has to be one of the top books I have read this year!  It is very well written and the characters are fully developed and relatable.  

Hendrix didn't know what hit him.  Asia gave his attitude back to him tenfold.  Although everyone in town hated Asia, Hendrix had to admit how gorgeous she was.  During high school, hormones had dictated his make-out sessions with her until her bullying focused on his sister and best friend Samantha.  But, when she is bent over to grab something he gets a peek at what she has hidden under her oversized sweatshirt.  Not only does he see signs of physical abuse, but she also makes a skinny person look fat. 

So Hendrix makes a deal.  He will get cleaned up and begin his therapy sessions again, but she would have to eat with him every time she visits and has to sit for an hour afterward so he knows that what she has eaten has time to digest and make sure she doesn't purge what she has eaten.  

Everyone hated Asia because she was a bully, but her back story and current secrets will make you cry.  This book deals with physical and sexual abuse, bulimia, and anorexia, just to name a few triggers.  This book is very intense, full of action and danger, suspense and over-the-top smoking-hot chemistry.

Out of deafness came music and out of abuse comes love and new beginnings.  I laughed and cried.  I absolutely loved the angel/devil on their shoulder conversations.  This is the first time I have read Billie Dale and I can't recommend her enough.  I look forward to starting at the beginning of this series to read Samantha and Preslee's stories.



Start reading SAVING YOU, SAVING ME today!
Available in Kindle Unlimited!

SAVING YOU, SAVING ME is book three in the LOVE IN SEVEN MILE FORGE Series
Start reading the LOVE IN SEVEN MILE FORGE Series today!
Available in Kindle Unlimited!


Check out all my interviews/reviews for Billie Dale!


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