Title: On Solid Ground
Author: Melissa Collins
Genre: M/M, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: January 15, 2015
Synopsis
When Jacob “Dax” Daxton returns home from war, he has to fight a new battle – the one to find his place in the world. The man who normally has a clear path to victory surrounded by brothers in combat is suddenly lost and alone. After meeting Beckett Ridge, a bearded tattoo artist, Dax’s journey begins winding down an unexpected path.
Still reeling from events that shook his foundation, Beck has never been part of anything meaningful. Now faced with responsibilities foreign and daunting, Dax’s broken spirit mends Beck in ways he never even knew he was destroyed.
As both struggle to find balance, they are healed by the comfort they find in one other. On the other side of chaos, they hope to find themselves On Solid Ground.
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Review
The lives that Dax and Beckett lead keep them on anything but solid ground. The ground is unbalanced at best due to some circumstances that are beyond their control and others they’re just too afraid to grasp onto alone in order to solidify their footing and steady their paths.
But even though their journeys may have led them in different directions, molding them into quite opposite people, the course they walk together has a healing power that will definitely give them the stability and evenness they both desperately need – they just have to be willing to take it.
All of Dax’s life, he has been searching for who he is…trying to figure out how to stay true to himself without alienating those around him. In the process of that search, he found himself across enemy lines, defending his country while escaping a life at home that didn’t truly define him. After his discharge from the Army, he heads to California, attempting to put the past and its nightmares behind him while still struggling with PTSD and the guilt that weighs him down.
Beckett’s scars didn’t come from a war against enemies, but rather, his own family and the dysfunction that surrounds it. From early on, he was forced to play the role of caregiver and witness the downward spiral of both his mother and sister, placing him in overwhelming and life altering circumstances.
Their stories of torment and anguish may have very different plot lines, but the struggles and fears they continue to endure from them resonate and forge a connection between them – one of camaraderie, support, and love.
As a reader, you will feel every painful and beautiful emotion felt by the heroes, and while you may question some of their actions, Melissa Collins explains through her lyrical words and Dax and Beck’s personal commentary, why things are they way that they are and almost have to be as a defense and coping mechanism.
Take the walk with Dax and Beckett as they try to reach solid ground together, one moment at a time. Their road might be bumpy and complicated, but it’s also one filled with compassion and fueled by intimacy and love.
It’s a truly beautiful journey – it’s not an easy one, neither for them as individuals or as a couple, but it’s cathartic and life changing; it’s one of personal growth and redemption.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
5 poison apples
About the Author
Melissa Collins has always been a book worm. Studying Literature in college ensured that her nose was always stuck in a book. She followed her passion for reading to the most logical career choice: English teacher. Her hope was to share her passion for reading and the escapism of books to her students. Having spent more than a decade in front of a classroom, she can easily say that it’s been a dream.
Her passion for writing didn’t start until more recently. When she was home on maternity leave in early 2012, she read her first romance novel and her head filled with the passion, angst and laughter of the characters who she read about it. It wasn’t long before characters of her own took shape in her mind. Their lives took over Melissa’s brain and The Love Series was born.
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