A.L. Jackson is an amazing author who continues to captivate me with her eloquent words and touch me deep in my soul with her stories. Her latest novel, ‘Where Lightning Strikes’ is a beautiful, passionate, and completely heart wrenching story of two lost people who are both completely hardened from their past and trying to protect what is left of their damaged souls.
Lyrik West is the lead guitarist for Sunder – the band in which he has sacrificed everything for. Very complex and completely tattooed in the love and pain of his past life and mistakes, he knows that he will never open himself again and he doesn’t deserve to be loved. Tamar King is running to escape her past – even if she has to recreate herself into someone else. With her shield fully in place, she is determined to do whatever she needs to protect herself from being hurt by another man again – especially a man like Lyrik West. Every time she is around him there is an electricity between the two that even she cannot deny, but she will fight against it at all costs.
‘Tingles lifted in stark awareness and the breath punched from my lungs. Want. Need. Like the boy held the power to expose every weak spot in my armor. I hated he had this effect.’
Lyrik is determined that he will have her – even if only for a night – but what he doesn’t realize is that deep down Tamar is just as broken as he is. Could they possibly find freedom from the strings that hold them down in loving each other?
Seriously, I think I fell a little bit in love with Lyrik in this story. He had such a deep torment inside that the only way he could truly express himself was through his music – the most painful parts in which he could not even find the words were for himself alone. So afraid of completely losing or forgetting the only bit of good from his past, he continued to torture himself in his mistakes and grief as a constant reminder. Yet, the tattooed bad boy had such a contradicting demeanor with so many endearing qualities of sweetness inside as well… ‘Make it if you want it to matter.’ My goodness, could he be any more adorable? I think I died a little bit when he shared his story with Tamar. It. Completely. Broke. My. Heart. When he finally expressed his feelings to Tamar with his words, ‘You are everything I never expected. Never anticipated. Everything I never knew I’d need.’ and ‘Blue, you sing my soul.’, it was so absolutely beautiful and touched my heart as well.
Tamar had been through so much more than she should ever had to endure. Also beautiful and contradicting, she was the perfect complement for Lyrik with her tough girl demeanor, equally devastating past, and soft heart. She could ‘see’ the real Lyrik deep inside, and her patience with him was to be admired as he continuously opened up to her and then pushed her away. Although she didn’t realize it for herself, Tamar was incredibly brave, and I loved how she evolved in the story to finally see her strength within.
I have to admit that this book got me down deep and completely consumed me. Very few books bring tears to my eyes, and this one not only did that but left me lost in the feels for days after reading it. With such incredibly complex characters, I could feel the deep anguish and torment of Lyrik and Tamar and wanted to cheer them on in hope they would find happiness together. With such beautifully written sentiment, I don’t think I have ever read a book before where I have highlighted so many passages or written so many quotes in one of my reviews. I just had to – it was that amazing!
‘She was every hue of color, reds and blues, the darkest black and blinding white. Energy and life. Boom.’
This is such a great series, and I am anxiously awaiting Jackson’s follow up book with Austin’s story in 2016!
***Definitely a Top Read of 2016 – 6 Stars – Boom! ***
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