Retreat by Jay Crownover Pages: 354
Series: The Getaway
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Source: ARC
Also in this series: Shelter
Also by this author: Asa, Built, Charged, Honor, Riveted, Salvaged, Shelter, Unbroken, Justified, Unforgiven, Blacklisted, Fortunate Son, Prodigal Son, Son of a Gun
Goodreads
Every once in a while, you need to get away from it all.
I was a woman on the edge, shaken and shattered after a breakup that felt like it tore my entire world apart.
My best friend, sick of watching me drown in misery and melancholy, harassed me until I agreed to go with her on a week-long wilderness retreat.
She promised days spent bonding and getting in touch with our inner bad-asses. It was supposed to be all about the two of us roughing it and making do with the bare minimum. She assured me we were going to be pushed to our limits in ways that were unimaginable. Neither one of us could have ever guessed just how right she was.
Nowhere in the glossy brochure did it say anything about the fact I was going to have to battle the insufferable but deliciously rugged and sexy trail guide instead of the elements. The brochure also forgot to mention the part that warned when you left civilization behind, there was no place to pack your inhibitions and fears.
I was told that I would be facing a week where the only thing I should expect was the unexpected. However, no one mentioned that I was going to have to fight for my life…and my heart as soon as I ventured into the unknown.
I was a pro at hiding from my feelings but when it came time to face a real threat, one that could change everything, I learned I was more of a no surrender, no retreat kind of girl.
Retreat is a standalone novel, the first in the Getaway series which centers on the hardheaded and brokenhearted Warner brothers and the women that dare to love them.
These boys are very good at putting the wild in wilderness.
Jay Crownover is one of my auto buy authors. If you haven’t read her Marked Men or Saints of Denver series, you are missing out. She surprised us with Retreat and it was the best kind of surprise.
Cy is a ‘not a cowboy’ cowboy who runs his family’s ranch. They give tours to city slickers who want to be cowboys for a week. He isn’t really a people person, so his 2 younger brothers usually do the tours and he does the paperwork. Leo has just found out her boyfriend wasn’t who she thought and the break up has shaken her. In an effort to make her best friend happy, Leo agrees to go on this adventure in the wilds of Wyoming. The trip starts off on a different foot because Cy has to go instead of one of his brothers. There is an instant spark between Cy and Leo, but Leo is still so burned from her previous relationship she can’t do anything but make snarky comments and rude quips. Cy isn’t exactly Mr. Personality either, and he doesn’t hide his disapproval of Leo’s behavior.
Cy and Leo are probably 2 of the most well written characters I have read. Both have these pasts that are filled with a million tiny things. It seemed ridiculous that Leo was THIS upset over a boyfriend, but its not just that. Its a million tiny things that have brought her to this point. Cy has his own million little things that have shaped him. As the two are forced to get to know each other in this intense situation, you see how their lives have come to the point they are in now. Cy and Leo felt real to me. Parts of the plot seemed a bit far fetched, but it was so easy to gloss over that because the people in the story are the real story.
I am dying to get the stories of the other characters. Em, Lane, Sutton….all of them were so fascinating to me. If character driven stories are your thing, you will fall for Retreat.
- POV: 1st (all Leo)
- Tears: I did tear up at the end a bit!
- Trope: opposites attract, mortal peril
- Triggers: View Spoiler »
- Series/Standalone: standalone
- Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
- HEA: View Spoiler »
Necessary Evil by Jamie K Schmidt, Shattered Duty by Katie Reus, Her Renegade Rancher by Jennifer Ryan…then you will probably like Retreat!
Retreat
I loved this book too! I think it was my favorite Crownover book so far, and I’ve read all of them! Lovely review!
Yes, I love Jay Crownover and I think this was one of her best!
Jay Crownover rocks! Couldn’t believe it when I saw she wrote a cowboy romance! Best surprise ever! 🙂