Unused Napkin: REVIEW: Scarlet Stone by Jewel E Ann

Wednesday, 14 December 2016

REVIEW: Scarlet Stone by Jewel E Ann

Title: Scarlet Stone

Author: Jewel E Ann

Genre: A romantic suspense standalone

Release Date: December 10^th, 2016

Synopsis

“My name is Scarlet Stone, and my biggest fear is that someday I will find what I want most in life, and it will be impossible to steal.” What happens when life just stops? When one moment makes you question your entire existence? Scarlet Stone is a third-generation thief who has everything: a doting fiancé, a spacious London flat, and a legitimate job offer. In a single breath, everything becomes nothing, and she finds herself on a plane to Savannah, Georgia in search of the meaning of life. After securing a six-month lease for a beachfront house on Tybee Island, Scarlet changes the way she looks, thinks, eats—basically her entire outlook on life. She needs peace, but what she gets is a housemate who looks like Thor, acts like a warden, and smells her proximity like a Bloodhound. Theodore Reed is a carpenter and perfectionist with a body built of steel, a black, hollow heart, and a hunger for revenge. He doesn’t like company, girly-smelling crap, and British accents. He resents every breath she takes. She’s fascinated by his every move. In time, they discover their coexistence is toxic, their physical attraction is electric, the secrets they keep mean the difference between life and death, and the only truth they share is that everything is a lie. “Over eighty-five percent of the world's population believes in a higher power, yet, very few people believe in miracles.” Do you believe?

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REVIEW

RATING:

There’re a few things I learned right from my first Jewel read. First, her blurb always has the right hook; at least, for me. Second, her blurb only touches the surface of the story, in a good way. Third, expect the unexpected with her characters….

In Scarlet Stone, I got all of the above, as usual. And with what this book took on, what I got is one exquisite read… At this point, I cannot be any more in love with this book… SIGH…I just know my review will not do this book or how I feel about this justice. It's taken me a long time to begin with writing this, just because... SIGH...

From the first few lines, I knew I was gonna be in for one distinctive ride. Immediately, I wanted to know Scarlet’s story. Scarlet moved far away from home to… hmmm… to escape? To search? To discover? To learn? And as soon as she got there, she meets these interesting people and most interesting of all is Theo. Immediately, there's this caustic energy between them that manifested in the most electric way.

As the story opens up, you learn Scarlet's true purpose. Theo was the unexpected "monkey wrench" in Scarlet's plan...

This is really best read by just diving in. I feel like if I keep talking about the story itself, I'd give it all away bec I won't be able to help myself and I'll just keep going. So I'll just say this. All along, what I really can't shake off is how this story moved me. From Scarlet's journey to Theo's pain to this bond that formed between them. Practically every other line causes pause for contemplation.

Scarlet will definitely go down in my reading history as a top fave h. Everything about her quietly screams strength. It's the kind of strength I know I would aspire to possess should I find myself in any tough situation. Her pragmatic approach is spiritual on its own, if that makes sense. And more so, as typical with Jewel's h, she's quirky and hilarious, appropriately non-apologetic. As far as I'm concerned, she alone gets all the stars I can give.

Theo was easy and difficult to love all at once, the kind of H you want to hug and punch at the same time, then hug again. It's frustrating and endearing how much he fought Scarlet off. Despite his gruffness, you get a sense of a man who feels quite a lot. I think Scarlet made him shine and in doing so, I fell just as hard for this broken man.

The story took turns that I didn't expect. At first, I thought it was going to distract me from Scarlet and Theo's story, but eventually, I understood. It's a story about love, no matter what the future holds. By the end of the journey, there was the love a parent has for a child, the love a child has for a parent(s), there was the love that's true but not meant to be, and then there was the love that was meant to be regardless of anything and the love that you know can and will transcend time.

I want to say that this is unlike any of Jewel's books, but then again, every one of her books is really unlike the one before... I truly feel Jewel's books are like hidden gems that really shouldn't stay hidden. That's just not right. So if it's still not clear at this point, I highly recommend this.

About the Author

Jewel E. Ann

Adult Contemporary Romance Author

Jewel is a free-spirited romance junkie with a quirky sense of humor. With 10 years of flossing lectures under belt, she took early retirement from her dental hygiene career to stay home with her three awesome boys and manage the family business. After her best friend of nearly 30 years suggested a few books from the contemporary Romance genre, Jewel was hooked. Devouring two and three books a week but still craving more, she decided to practice sustainable reading, AKA writing. When she’s not donning her cape and saving the planet one tree a a time, she enjoys yoga with friends, good food with family, rock climbing with her kids, watching How I Met Your Mother reruns, and of course . . .heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, panty-scorching novels.

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