A Character-driven, Smart, and Real Love Story
You could read Grit separately from Dirty, the first book about Link and Rocky, but I agree with the author that the reader would enjoy it even more by starting at the beginning. Also, if you haven't read Dirty yet, after Grit, you'll obsess and dive straight into Dirty anyway.
Cheryl McIntyre has die-hard fans who reads everything she writes, and I understand why: it's the consistency in her authorship. If you crave character-driven, smart, and real love stories of the kind that put your heart through the wringer, then hers are must-reads. Where Dirty was a dark, violent romance treating crimes not often spoken about, Grit picks up and focuses on what happens after that happily-ever-after of the first book. I can count on one hand the dark romances who have gone there - beyond that HEA - to follow the characters' lives without inventing some new adventure to push them into.
"Link's quest for revenge ended in my redemption. Or so I thought. The part I didn't fully understand is that recovery is a process." This is how the first chapter begins. When two permanently scarred humans try to digest their pasts, how do they manage their guilts and fears, meld them with their day-to-day routines? Exactly how strong does their love need to be for them to survive as a couple?
The banter with Link's guy friends at the gym made for a nuanced book. It made me smile, even laugh at times. Then there's the subtle sexiness that is Link himself. His innate protective attitude toward Rocky, and his penchant for what Rocky calls "one of the many perks of working at his gym:" office sex with the boss.
Sometimes, their dialog is masterfully simple, cute, and hot all at once:
"I want you," he husks. "Right here. Right now."
"That's good," I breathe, "because I want to give myself to you. Right here. Right now."
But then with seamless expertise Cheryl brings us back to the essence of what Link and Rocky face: "Life is an ugly and wondrous thing. It beats you to a pulp and rewards you for surviving. Over and over, it's an endless loop of ups and downs. Goods, and bads. Pleasures and pains. Gifts and losses. We power through."
We know Rocky and Link so well by the end of this book. We root for them. We love them. And Grit is easily on my top ten list for 2015.