Status Updates From Salvage (Salvage Stories, #1)

// I want this author to stop yammering on and on about Jamie already ... he has his own book!!! I am beginning to get annoyed and am starting to zone out!! Enough about Jamie >:-o!!!!!

// I want Gabe to yell at his dad to fucking shut the fuck up with his constant snippiness or passive aggressiveness >:-o!!!! Gabe feels guilty enough as it is and he doesn't need his father's bullshit!!! He needs to tell him to back the hell off!!!!!!!!! I hate it when authors keep an MC quiet when another character badgers them >:-o!!!! Enough!!!

// I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief when reading this because it's very clearly written by an author who writes EXCELLENTLY (though I am not surprised; this is Con Riley and her being a superbly fantastic writer is definitely nothing new) :-D!!!

// This author is an absolutely EXCELLENT author and is superbly talented in her craft :-D!!! Definitely in the mood for a fantastic book, which I know this one will certainly be :-D!!!!

// These kids can clear everything up in an instant by being truthful and honest, but instead, typically, obnoxiously, they're now getting their innocent guardian in trouble >:-o!!! So fucking aggravating!!! I know I am getting annoyed before knowing the story, but I am prepared to get annoyed by how things are unraveling here!!!!!

// I am already getting irritated!!!
On the one hand, you want to tell this dude to mind his own fucking business ... but on the other hand, you appreciate the awareness!!!
Kids are really fucking obnoxious and this better not be a book that focuses on them!! I really dislike my books with kids in them!!!

// "That was no way to talk around kids".

~ What an obnoxious, ignorant, and aggravatingly American thing to say!! So ignorantly and typically American to censor harmless and innocent language (that impacts NO ONE), instead of focusing on beliefs, actions, and behavior ... things that ACTUALLY matter!!! Author, just shut the fuck up!! Shut the fuck up with that fuckery and nonsense already >:-o!!! Shut the fuck up!!

Financial management - Been wondering what Scott did. Also kind of wondering where he's from, why he's not at his own place, if he has money, friends... don't know much except dejected neighbour, overwhelmed uncle.

Soooo they actually go out, sort of - it's to a veteran art exhibit where soldiers are painting their nightmares.

There can be NO joy here, kill it, kill it.

They've barely spoken but Scott has momentarily lost his blank, bleak, sick, exhausted, downtrodden, anxious, angry, bleak, blank expression to kiss.
....or maybe he still looks bleak while kissing, I shouldn't assume.

Is there ANY joy in this book?
Does anything go right for anyone?

Likeable main character but more a family story than a romance, at this point barely spoken to love interest.

3.25

Overall, a good romance and a good family/found family story. The hits just kept coming, though, kind of all the way through the epilogue (though everything worked out fine with a strong enough HEA!) A lot of things feel bittersweet, like Gabe and Jamie’s now long distance friendship and knowing the kids will go back to their mom. Honey didn’t die though so that’s a big win. Honey 4ever

I’m grateful that Gabe and Scott are just supportive of each other with very little drama of their own, but holy hell do the emotional family dramas that they have to deal with pack a punch. And if Jamie’s confessions and early healing processes are any sign of what’s to come in his book, I’m going to be a complete wreck

If Gabe’s dog Honey dies before this book ends I will riot. I don’t care how old she is

“There you were, all tall & dark and handsome in an apron, playing with a jar of marbles like a kid.” He reached up and traced Gabe’s bottom lip, his thumb dragging a little. “I asked if I could play with you, but you looked at me like I was on something.”
“That was you hitting on me? You suck at that. Seriously, I had no idea.”

Scott rolled onto his back, looking up at Gabe. “It was only afterward. Once the adrenaline rush wore off. I woke up here & wondered what the chances were that you might be into me too. I hit on you the next time I saw you. I didn’t mean to, but I just couldn’t help it.” Scott’s voice was a low rumble. “There you were, all tall & dark and handsome in an apron, playing with a jar of marbles like a kid.”

“Wait. Back the truck up a minute. You’d just lost Emma, but you were thinking about getting down and dirty with me? There’s definitely something wrong with you.”
Scott rolled onto his back, looking up at Gabe.

Emma calling Gabe “Uncle Gabe”. Please excuse me while I cry

Ooo. Ariel slipped on the marble Jamie swiped on the walkway. That... is better and worse at the same time

Huh. So Ariel was hurt falling from high up at the warehouse instead of in a car accident with Jamie and Gabe like I initially thought? Trying to put all these pieces together

Finally!!

Who wouldn’t put these kids first? Looking out for people was how Gabe had been raised. He and Ariel had done that for each other, right up until Coop made it clear Gabe wasn’t needed. Then he’d looked out for Jamie instead. Seemed like Scott shared that ethic too. So where was the rest of his family?

Josh was in front of the fridge, packages scattered on the floor behind him. “What magic words, sweetheart?”
“Freaking mothereffer. I even said them three times. Then I dropped the big pan.” She shifted away from a pool of spilled milk.

If nothing else, I love these kids and Scott’s fumbling parenting

Jesus.
Less than seven hours in his care and they could have burned the house down.
“I tried using Uncle Scotty’s magic words,” Emma said. “But they didn’t work when I said them.”
“Magic words?” Gabe shouldered the kitchen door open and quickly crossed to the stove to check that none of the burners were alight. Josh was in front of the fridge, packages scattered on the floor behind him.

I’m assuming it will get a bit lighter once the romance picks up. At least I hope so. So far it’s very heavy on the hurt and light on the comfort