Title: Goodbye Trey
Author: Audrey Ravine
Year of publication: Out today! The author kindly gave me a copy to read and review
The heroine: Nurse practitioner Jane Seymour
The hero: Ex-Army Ranger/tattoo artist Trey Hicks
The blurb: For soldiers, the fight is not always on the battlefield. Sometimes the hardest wars are waged within.
As a former elite sniper for the Army Rangers, Trey Hicks has learned to thrive under pressure. He fought through deserts, cleared entire Afghan towns, and saved his friend’s lives.
But no pain would compare to the letter received from his his wife—leaving him broken and abandoned. Now she’s the maid of honor at his sister’s wedding.
With the wedding drawing closer, Trey faces the undesirable prospect of showing up alone. The last thing he wants is to face his ex-wife again. Or worse yet, for her see how damaged he still is.
While he ponders his dilemma, fate walks through the door of his tattoo parlor. Sipping an iced coffee through a straw between her pouty lips and curves for days, Jane–overworked nurse by day and party girl at night–is everything his ex wife wasn’t. She’s exactly the type of date he needs to prove that he’s over his ex once and for all.
As their friendship blossoms, Trey realizes there’s more to this girl than meets the eye. Jane may be more than just a date. She could be his redemption.
Standalone or series: Book two in the Healing series, but can be read as a standalone.
The review: I really enjoyed this book. Trey’s sister, April, is getting married in the Caribbean and while Trey is happy for her, there’s one thing he’s dreading about the wedding – April’s best friend, Kenzie, is his ex-wife. They married when he was in the military and she suddenly decided she didn’t want to be married to a military man, so she sent him a Dear John letter and left him. It broke Trey’s heart, but he never told anyone the truth about why their marriage ended, not even his family.
While reassuring April that he’s fine with Kenzie being at the wedding, he suddenly blurts out that he’s been seeing someone, and April is so thrilled she insists Trey bring his girlfriend to the wedding, which is in about six weeks. Now Trey’s in a quandary; how’s he going to find a girlfriend in such a short period of time?
When he speaks to his best friend, Zac, the latter suggests a woman he had a casual relationship with before he married his wife. Jane Seymour is perfect for the role; she’s beautiful, smart, funny and not looking for a relationship. When Trey explains the situation and offers Jane an all expenses paid trip to the Caribbean, she finds herself unable to refuse. She could use the break from her stressful job, and Trey’s easy on the eyes. They agree to meet up to discuss the terms of the arrangement, and end up having sex in the alley outside her building.
They quickly agree to a casual relationship in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and spend a lot of time together so they can get to know each other and a romantic relationship will seem believable to everyone. However, by the time the wedding actually rolls around, they’ve both developed feelings for each other – but neither wants to admit it because it’s not part of the rules.
At the wedding, Trey realises that all he needed from Kenzie was closure. He’s not interested in getting back with her, even though she feels differently. When Jane stumbles upon them together and misunderstands the situation, she flees back to the US. Will Trey realises how he really feels about Jane in time? Will he follow her home and manage to convince her they belong together, for real? All will be revealed!
I adored Jane. She presented a strong, fierce, take-no-prisoners persona, but underneath was a woman mourning the loss of a loved one whose death affected her entire life. My heart ached for her, because she truly felt she wasn’t worthy of real love, the kind that lasts a lifetime. It wasn’t until she met Trey that she thought maybe she could have what she so deeply desired. My heart ached for her in places as she struggled with her grief and self-worth.
The only thing that bothered me was the self-derogatory term that was used to describe Jane on more than one occasion, not only by Trey and other characters, but by Jane herself. Trey and Jane had the same approach to relationships at the beginning of the book, so I don’t understand why Jane was described in such a manner, or why she thought of herself as such. It went to speak to her low opinion of herself, but it still bugged me. However, it didn’t detract from the story or my feelings for Jane as a character.
the romance shelf 