Book Review: If You Leave (Beautifully Broken #2) by Courtney Cole

To Add to Goodreads Click HERE

IF YOU LEAVE

Beautifully Broken #2

By:  Courtney Cole

Published: August 6, 2013

Publisher:  Forever

Source:  Publisher

Mature Content:  18 & Up

GR's Summary

26-year old Gabriel Vincent is a badass hero. Or he used to be, anyway. As an ex-Army Ranger, Gabe never thought he needed anyone. But after one horrible night in Afghanistan scars him in a way that he can't get past, he needs someone who can help him heal...even if he doesn't realize it.

25-year old Madison Hill doesn't need anybody...or so she thinks. She grew up watching her parents' messed-up abusive relationship and she knows there's no way in hell that she's ever letting that happen to her.

They don't know it in the beginning, but Gabriel and Madison will soon develop a weakness: Each other.

But Gabriel's got a secret, a hidden monster that he's afraid Maddy could never overcome... And Maddy's got issues that she's afraid Gabe will never understand. They quickly realize that they need each other to be whole, but at the same time they know that they've got demons to fight.

And the problem with demons is that they never die quietly.

First Book in the Series:

To Add to Goodreads Click HERE

*To Read My Review on If You Stay Click HERE

My Thoughts:

I loved If You Stay, so when I saw that Mila's sister Maddy was getting her own story, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it!  After Mila and Maddy's parents died, her life completely changed.  Where once she was carefree, attending college, and fulfilling her dream of being a model, not her life was bogged down with a painful new reality.  She left college, and her dream career.  Instead, she had to become the strong, responsible, protective, and nurturing sister. She took over running her parents restaurant, lived in their house, and was plagued with bad memories from her childhood.  Maddy had a love hate relationship with her parents before they died.  Their dysfunctional marriage had left her with afflicted emotions, and traumatized her.  After their death, the carefree Maddie disappeared, she became boggled down with inherited responsibilities, and unhappy as she began living her parents life.

No man could make Maddy feel butterfly's, longing, and desire.  She envied what her sister Mila shared with her husband Pax.  Then, when she went out to a nightclub one night with her best friend Jacee, she met Gabe who was tall, gorgeous, arrogant, sexy, and had an air of danger about him.  Gabe made Maddie feel like a woman, with desires, and needs that she hadn't felt in a long time.  After she met Gabe, her life completely changed.  He was an Army Ranger who has just returned from Afghanistan with his best friend Brand, was suffering from severe P.T.S.D. and in no way ready or in want of a series relationship.  However, the more time he spent with Maddy, the more he fell for her, and wanted to make her his.  Gabe had some series issues, and Maddy had a deep fear of being left behind.  How would these two deal with their past demons, that were still very much alive in the present, and would love be enough?

I LOVED If You Leave.  It was a very angst-filled and emotional read for me.  Gabe symbolized the hero's and protectors in our lives that we call soldiers.  As a reader, you will live his memories of war, blood-shed, pain, fear, guilt, and emotional turmoil right along with him.  You will see everything from his view point very clearly, and what you see will affect you deeply.  Maddy was such a selfless character.  She gave up so much in her life for her sister Mila.  Then, when she was with Gabe, she was so patient, nurturing, kind, compassionate, loving, and sensitive to his needs.  I loved getting a continuation of Mila and Pax's story too.  They were so cute together, and it was heartwarming to see how loyal and protective Pax was towards Maddy.  Brand was such a sweetheart.  I really hope he gets his own story too.  Jacee drove me a little crazy with her poor decision making, but I am dying to read her story, Before We Fall, which is the next story in the Beautifully Broken Series.   

My Rating:

I give If You Leave By Courtney Cole 4.5 Hauntingly Beautiful, Passionate, Soul-Searching, Healing and Transformative Stars!  Maddy and Gabriel made me ache for all that they had both endured in their lives.  Their heartache and pain bled through every page, and made me feel for their plight.  If You Leave does an excellent job of showing how love is the most powerful force in the world, and it can heal even the most damaged and broken heart.  Ms. Cole has a talent for making readers feel deeply for her characters.  Maddy and Gabe were real to me.  The Beautifully Broken Series is quickly becoming one of my absolute favorites.  It is filled with real people, real issues, and as a reader you cannot help but care and connect with these characters in one way or another.  Read, If You Leave, a story filled with angst, drama, passion, and a real life hero.  Even ordinary people can do the extraordinary, and love can heal like nothing else.

My Favorite Quotes:

"I decide that Gabriel Vincent is an enigma.  A blatantly arrogant enigma.  A scorchingly sexy, dangerous-as-hell enigma.  An enigma with a rippling six-pack and smoldering eyes." (eARC, Loc. 868)

~Maddy

"I love the night because I love snuggling against Gabe's hard chest.  I love it when his arms close around me and he holds me close.  I feel safe and secure, as though nothing from the real world can touch me."  (eARC, Loc. 3026)

~Maddy

"I tried to sleep with Maddy for the very same reason I slept with everyone else.  But I fell in love with her instead.  And now she's all I want."  (eARC, Loc. 4106)

~Gabe

"As I look at her, backlit by the sun and gorgeous as fu**ing hell, it's the only thing I can think of.  All I need is her."  (eARC, Loc. 4368)

~Gabe

"Madison, I don't deserve you.  That much is true.  But all I want is you.  And if I can't have you, then I don't want anyone."  (eARC, Loc. 4389)

~Gabe

"I look at him, and for some reason, all the leftover feelings...the being mad at him, the hurt, the fear...it all fades away.  I know what's important now.  Him and me.  That's it.  That's all that matters."  (eARC, Loc. 4405) 

~Maddy

Purchase At:

Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

About the Author:

I am a novelist who loves thunderstorms, Autumn, Harry Potter books and picking all of the cookie dough out of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

I am the author of If You Stay (book one of the Beautifully Broken series). I am represented by Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management.

My other books include: The Minaldi Legacy (Of Blood and Bone), The Paradise Diaries (Dante's Girl and Mia's Heart), The Cougar Chronicles (Confessions of an Alli Cat), The Bloodstone Saga (Every Last Kiss, Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds), The Moonstone Saga (Soul Kissed and Soul Bound), Princess, and Guardian.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter