Title: SAVING CHARLIE
Series: Stories of Serendipity #9
Author: Anne Conley
Publish Date: 11.15.14
Publisher: Anne Conley
Category /Genre: Contemporary Romance
Recommended for: 18+ due to
sexual content
Received from: Anne Conley (in exchange for an honest review)
Tour by: My Family's Heart Book Tours
Date completed:
11.16.14
Goodreads link: SAVING CHARLIE
Description from the publisher:
100,000
children are sexually trafficked every year in the US. In the 1990s, Charlie
was one of those children. She’s spent her adult life getting past that, trying
to become a successful business owner in Serendipity, TX. Relationships are not
goals for her. In fact, she’s not even sure she has what it takes to be a part
of one.
Les is a fool for love. All he’s ever wanted was a girl. Now that every last one of his friends are married, and in happy relationships with families, he can’t stop thinking about the sexy lady who sells house parts, even if everything about her screams at him to stay away. He just can’t.
When they are thrown together on a cross-country road trip, Charlie’s past comes back to her full-force, long-buried memories inundating her. Les seems to be the only thing grounding her to the present, when everything else seems to be trying to tear her apart.
While it has a HEA, the road getting there is long, rough, and dark. Enjoy the ride.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is book nine in the Stories of
Serendipity series. Each does stand on
its own, so they do not need to be read in order, but I would recommend it
since many characters do show up in each other’s books.
Charlie had a nightmare of a
childhood, used and then sold by her parents, then used even more. After being rescued from a sex slavery ring,
she has worked hard to bury her past and become successful, stable, and independent. She doesn’t believe she is cut out for a “real”
relationship, but there’s something about Les, one of her customers and a local
hottie who builds and restores buildings in Serendipity, TX. When Les finds himself stranded on the side
of the road in West Texas, he believes he has died and gone to heaven when the
angel of his dreams, a girl he knows as Sweetness, offers to provide
transportation on a needed trip to California.
Les doesn’t know about or understand Charlie’s demons, but he seems to
be the only one able to calm her when the past begins to haunt her present. Can Les silence the ghosts of childhood past
and will Charlie give him the chance to try?
I have loved this entire series. This story was the best of the bunch. It is dark and scary, but well worth the walk
through the valley of shadows to find the green meadow waiting on the other
side. I pray that Anne Conley never closes
the gate on Serendipity, TX.
As much as there will always be evil
in the world, there will also be good people who will extend a hand (or a song)
to help another. Les is one of those
people, though he will claim he is no hero.
So is Charlie, she just doesn’t recognize it in herself. They both are so afraid of rejection. Les tries anyway; Charlie tries to hide, but
when they are together everything is even better. I was so happy to see them learn to lean on and
love each other.
Grammar/editing: book received as an unedited ARC / errors
excused
Stories
of Serendipity Series:
- Neighborly Complications
- Dream On
- Chef's Delight
- Hot Mess
- Falling for Him
- Gambling on Love
- My Mistake
- Wrecked
- Saving Charlie
The Four Winds series:
- Falling for Heaven
- Falling for Grace
- Falling for Hope
- Falling for Faith (coming soon)
- Falling for Sin (coming soon)
Ebook of Saving Charlie
Autographed postcards
$5 amazon giftcard
When the crowd began to disperse, there was a small torrent of people
standing and walking past her chair, just before someone whispered in her
ear. The voice froze her in time, and
she closed her eyes as it grated across her skin.
“You are my diamond in the rough.”
Not someone. Him. His voice sounded
weaker than she remembered, but it was unmistakable.
Her head and body spun around to see The Man while her heart
stopped. There was nobody behind her,
where the voice had come from.
Les asked her, “What’s wrong, Charlie?”
When she turned back to her front to face him, her eyes caught on her
empty place setting, where the servers had cleared everything away.
The raccoon was sitting on the table in front of her. He’d left it for her.
“He’s here…” She whispered it to
herself, but Les heard her.
“Who? Charlie, you’re so
pale.” He grabbed her hand and saw the
small child’s meal toy on the table.
“What’s this?” He picked it up,
and she smacked it out of his hands. It
bounced across the table, where Les’s friends were all looking at her, mouths
in various stages of openness, silently staring at her outburst. Charlie didn’t care.
“Don’t touch it. It’s evil. He put it there.” She wasn’t making any sense, but didn’t see
how she could. Her vision was tunneled
on the innocent looking creature, lying on its side on the other side of the
table, a child’s toy that represented a childhood she’d never had.
Her heart pounded in her ears, a loud whooshing sound that wiped out
all ambient noises. Her bowels loosened
and she could feel the blood drain from her face. She knew she would pass out if she couldn’t
get her body under control.
Charlie stood, her entire body shaking, as she spun around, trying to
find The Man. She knew he was here, and
she was angry that he had reduced her to a trembling mass of fear. She suddenly wanted to kill him.
If she could find him.
“Charlie, what’s wrong?” Les’s
arms were around her. “Oh God. You’re shaking like a leaf. Let’s get out of here.” He tried to turn her, to lead her away, but
Charlie resisted.
“Find him, Les.” Black started
creeping around the edges of her vision, and she knew the night wasn’t going to
end well for her and Les.
“Who?”
“The Man.”
Les’s face was fading away into a fog, but she saw concern clearly
etched on his features, as he asked the final question of the night. “What man? Charlie?”
Holding her limp body in his arms, Les felt impotent. Frantically looking around, he found Rachel’s
astute gaze on them.
“You know something about this?”
She shook her head.
“Not really, but I think I can find out. Let me go make some calls.” Rachel stood and stoically left the table,
while her husband, Sam, came around to take Charlie’s pulse.
“She’s okay,” Sam said after a quick examination. “She’s just fainted. She might need some oxygen, and I’ve got a
tank in my Jeep, but other than that, she’ll be fine.”
Les scooped her up in his arms and started carrying her out of the
crowd. “Move back, please. I just need to get her some fresh air.” He heard the command in his voice and
honestly had no clue where it was coming from.
He was scared shitless. Somebody
had come into his function and scared the life out of his girl, and he was
going to find out who it was, and what had her so terrified.
Renae followed him to Sam’s Jeep while Sam unlocked it. Rachel had disappeared when he’d given his
instructions to find out what Charlie was talking about, and Les knew she was
on the job. Her tireless efficiency and
endless resources were a boon to the Refuge, and Les would use them to his
advantage.
Renae’s voice broke through his fog.
“I saw who it was, Les. I mean… I
didn’t know him, I’ve never seen him before, but I got a look at the man who
was talking to her when she… reacted.”
Sam had the Jeep door open and Les deposited Charlie on the seat. “Get with Rachel. She may want you with one of the composite
artists to get a picture. I want this
guy.”
Putting the oxygen mask over her face, Sam asked, “Who do you think it
is?”
Les raked his hand through his hair in a gesture of complete and utter
frustration. “I have no fucking clue, but
he’s the key I need to unlock what the hell has happened to her. And I’m going
to find him.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anne
has written her entire life and has the boxes of angst-filled journals and poetry
to prove it. She's been writing for public consumption for the last four years.
Currently she is writing two romance series. In Stories of Serendipity, she
explores real people living real lives in small town Texas in a contemporary
romance setting. In The Four Winds, she chronicles God's four closest
archangels, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, falling in love and becoming
human. She lives in rural East Texas with her husband and children in her own
private oasis, where she prides herself in her complete lack of social skills,
choosing instead to live with the people inside her head.
AUTHOR FOLLOW LINKS
FACEBOOK / ANNE.CONLEY (for friending)
Thank you for hosting this tour.
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Thank you, Mary Lou for such a thoughtful review. :) I appreciate the time you take to read/review my work. You are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the wonderful review and for participating in the Tour. Victoria at My Family's Heart
ReplyDeleteGreat review - thanks for being part of the tour - Tonya@MyFamily'sHeart
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