Warnings: Flashbacks of domestic abuse, and combat situations, suicide ideations
Heat level: Nonexplicit (though there is frottage at the end)
Tags: self-harm, cutting, stalking, PTSD, domestic abuse survivor, musician, ex-military, insta-love
Rocker Jesse Winters just wants to be left alone. If he could melt into oblivion he would and bid farewell to the wild child of rock n’ roll so many have dubbed him in recent months. Truth is, there was never anything reckless, wild or even deliberate about most of the things that had happened on Wild Child’s last tour, but had anyone cared to listen? No! Which was precisely why he was sitting in a cabin high up in the Colorado mountains, hoping the incoming blizzard would bury him forever.
Ryker Jorgensen left the VA hospital with a bunch of prescriptions and pamphlets on how to deal with reentering the civilian world, not that he’s in any hurry to do so. His nightmares still keep him up at night, and every new limitation he discovers gives him more reason to believe that he’s hopelessly useless now. Better to drive up to his cousin’s cabin and lick his wounds. Come spring, maybe, he’d look into being around people, if only for long enough to make the kind of money he’d need to buy his own secluded place.
The last thing he ever expected to see was the man whose face had been plastered in his footlocker and his dreams for the better part of the past six years, but Jesse Winters is nothing like he imagined. When trying to leave Ryker out in the storm doesn’t work, Jesse resorts to ignoring him. But two wounded souls trapped in a snowed in cabin have little choice but to reach out for one another when emotions get frayed. His only hope is that Jesse will trust him enough to let him drag him back from the edge before he’s just another burned out star in the legacy that is rock n’ roll.
Buy Links:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083YW8DLW
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Halfway-Someday-Wild-Child-Book-ebook/dp/B083YW8DLW
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Halfway-Someday-Wild-Child-Book-ebook/dp/B083YW8DLW
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Halfway-Someday-Wild-Child-Book-ebook/dp/B083YW8DLW
Halfway to Someday
By Layla Dorine
Jesse Winters is at the end of his rope: the result from every relationship the famous rocker has had. Whether it be between his parents, his band mates, or the stalker/boyfriend-from-hell, he has become the perfect example of what the lasting effects of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse can do to one’s psyche. Jesse is a kaleidoscope within himself. His lyrics are breathtaking, intelligent, and dark. Yet, at times, he seems almost child-like.
Ryker Jorgensen wants to decompress after numerous tours in the military—the last one being the worst of them all. The result is that he suffers from PTSD. When he opens the door of his cousin’s cabin in Colorado, his whole world will be turned upside down because Jesse Winters has already made himself at home there. Ryker is kind, compassionate, a voice of reason, and the calm to Jesse’s turmoil as well as his biggest, most influential advocate. I fell in love with Ryker because he put his own needs and demons on the back burner to care for someone he just met.
Two things crossed my mind at that point: either this is going to be the equivalent of watching a train wreck unfold; or second, maybe … just maybe, these two anguished souls might be able to help each other. What I found was a mixture of the two.
At times the story felt long and somewhat repetitive, yet I understand the depth of why the author was trying to explicate what these two were going through. Both situations were bad. Really bad. But empathy and kindness and love have a strange and magical way to help heal the heart and strengthen the soul.
This story shows us how two beautiful but very damaged people help one another find the will to crawl their way out of hell and, in the process, find love where they’d never expect it.
The storyline is well-written, although it could have used another once-over from a proofreader. The characters are endearing, vulnerable, and so deserving of love and happiness. The supporting characters (towards the end of the book) made me wish we could have met them sooner. My only gripe is that the ending felt rushed. Maybe in the next book of this series, we can get a glimpse of what Jesse and Ryker’s future looks like. In any case, Halfway to Someday gets five stars from me. I’ve no doubt that author Layla Dorine put her heart and soul into this book.
Reviewed by Lisa Cullinan ~ Bourbon, Bikes, and Books
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AUTHOR BIO:
LAYLA DORINE lives among the sprawling prairies of Midwestern America, in a house with more cats than people. She loves hiking, fishing, swimming, martial arts, camping out, photography, cooking, and dabbling with several artistic mediums. In addition, she loves to travel and visit museums, historic, and haunted places. Currently she has seen forty-nine of the fifty states, with plans to visit her final one, Alaska, in the upcoming year. Every journey is an inspiration and every shred of inspiration gets sprinkled into her tales.
Layla got hooked on writing as a child, starting with poetry and then branching out, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Hard times, troubled times, the lives of her characters are never easy, but then what life is? The story is in the struggle, the journey, the triumphs and the falls. She writes about artists, musicians, loners, drifters, dreamers, hippies, bikers, truckers, hunters and all the other folks that she’s met and fallen in love with over the years. Sometimes she writes urban romance and sometimes it’s aliens crash landing near a roadside bar. When she isn’t writing, or wandering somewhere outdoors, she can often be found curled up with a good book, a kitty on her lap, and her dog, Jinxx, by her side.
Email (public address): layladorine13@outlook.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005197938547
Twitter: https://twitter.com/layladorine
Website: http://layladorine13.wixsite.com/layladorineauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9814124.Layla_Dorine
Other novels by author:
Guitars and Cages
Guitars and Choices
Roadhouse Reds
Gypsy’s Rogue
Desolation Angel
…And All Shall Fade to Black
Serpent’s Kiss
Broken Prince, Mismatched Eyes
Midnight Musicals and Coffee Ice Cream
Racing the Sky
Tripping Over the Edge of Night
Dust Trail Blues
Burning Luck
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Bourbon, Bikes, and Books 