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beckyrendon's review
4.0
What a powerful title. The idea. The need. His life is in turmoil. He is an absolute mess. He drinks away the pain. He avoids his children. He cannot leave the abyss he has found himself in.
He needs ...Absolution. I think that what effected me the most. The agony and pain tearing him apart. You can feel grief pouring of him in the words on these pages. You can feel the desperation.
But there's always a light in the darkness, you just have to look for it.
Reviewed for Sweet Spot Sisterhood
He needs ...Absolution. I think that what effected me the most. The agony and pain tearing him apart. You can feel grief pouring of him in the words on these pages. You can feel the desperation.
But there's always a light in the darkness, you just have to look for it.
Reviewed for Sweet Spot Sisterhood
nicki_theoverflowingbookcase's review
5.0
5 Stars are not enough for this book. From the opening pages to the last word on the final page this book was filled with broken emotional devastation with a light at the end of the tunnel. With each passing chapter Ava Harrison molds the character of Jace from an anti-social, heartbroken shell of a man who is devastated from the loss of his wife into a new man with the help of a beautiful and intelligent character, Sydney. The emotional journey that they both take fills all of the broken crevices, and fills them with hope and love. I honestly can say this is a book that will stay with me long after I place it back on my bookshelf. Utterly amazing and a book no one should miss.
filthylittlereader's review
5.0
A Second Chance at a Happy Ending and Forever
“But he also kisses like a starved man who wants to devour the lifeline from my body.”
So umm wow...where is my man to kiss me like this?? There’s so many one liners like this in this book that my highlights go on for days. With Absolution, Harrison makes sure it takes root and buries itself deep in your emotional psych. So let’s be real here, Jace is an ahole, a major one, but you don’t hate him, you can’t. The heartache he has bleeds off the pages and overshadows the hate. Then comes Sydney, who unexpectedly becomes the beacon of light in Jace’s life and brings him out of the darkness he’s been living in for so long. Absolution rocks you to your core and takes you through the reamer when it comes to emotions. Anger, sadness, hope, happiness, you name it, I felt it. My first book by Ava Harrison but definitely not my last. I mean this woman has been highly recommended and so I’m so glad I listened and finally experienced the greatness of Ava Harrison. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
“But he also kisses like a starved man who wants to devour the lifeline from my body.”
So umm wow...where is my man to kiss me like this?? There’s so many one liners like this in this book that my highlights go on for days. With Absolution, Harrison makes sure it takes root and buries itself deep in your emotional psych. So let’s be real here, Jace is an ahole, a major one, but you don’t hate him, you can’t. The heartache he has bleeds off the pages and overshadows the hate. Then comes Sydney, who unexpectedly becomes the beacon of light in Jace’s life and brings him out of the darkness he’s been living in for so long. Absolution rocks you to your core and takes you through the reamer when it comes to emotions. Anger, sadness, hope, happiness, you name it, I felt it. My first book by Ava Harrison but definitely not my last. I mean this woman has been highly recommended and so I’m so glad I listened and finally experienced the greatness of Ava Harrison. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
readers_together's review
5.0
Do you like A-hole characters? Do you like books that hit you in the gut? Do you like having your heart ripped from your chest and then pieced back together again? Yes? Then this is the book for you. The book deals with some very difficult situations and ultimately it’s a book about saving and forgiving yourself. It’s a book about realising that you have to do that in order to keep living and providing for the people in your life. Admitting to yourself about how you feel and letting the guilt go, allowing yourself to grieve. I thought it was handled beautifully. It’s raw, and hard to read at times. But, ultimately it’s uplifting and healing.
These characters are amazing, not necessarily amazing in the sense that I loved them the whole time, but in the sense that they made me react. Not always in a positive way, but that’s okay. I’m intrigued by Preston, and I shall be diving into his story next, I’m on the fence about Evie - so we’ll see how that goes.
Jace is an a-hole. First class a-hole. The things he says and does are just ball-punch worthy, but, the guy is grieving and guilt-ridden, so although I don’t excuse his behaviour, I can understand it to an extent. He was so broken. As the book progresses he improves, you can see him falling for Sydney and in essence, his kids…it was like they were rediscovering themselves as a family and that was beautiful to experience. Of course, just when you think he’s getting to good guy territory he goes and says something that makes you gasp and consider throwing your kindle. He comes good, in the end, he seeks help from the people that matter to him…the people that had always wanted to help, but he never let. I can understand why some people would have issues with certain things he does and says, but, it’s so obvious that it’s the guilt talking that I was able to forgive him.
I struggled with Sydney to begin with. She was a little too much of a fixer, to the point where she was pushing herself onto Jace and his family, saying and doing things that she really didn’t have any right to. But, as time went on I did start to understand her more and become more attached to her. I did get a little frustrated that she didn’t tell Jace about her ex and what he was doing, especially when the opportunity arose. I also felt for her, she was always picking the wrong guys and that stemmed from her childhood, and knowing the type of guys she'd been with in the past, I just wanted her to be happy. I wanted to shake her a few times, but again, she came good when she stood up and made the decision to do the right thing for her and basically say, ‘you know what, I’m worth more than this, I deserve better.’
Logan and Avery are just the sweetest kids, they’ve experienced such a huge loss in their lives and it was almost like they’d lost both their parents because Jace was so withdrawn from them, I mean, he still ensured they had someone, but it wasn’t him, and they felt that, so getting to see them opening up to Sydney and doing fun things together was heartwarming.
I liked that Jace and Sydney’s relationship was built on friendship and it was that friendship that started to break through Jace’s grief and guilt to make him look at his life and his decisions and start making better ones. The connection they had was palpable and the sexy times were off the charts sexy. I need to check my Kindle for scorch marks. I loved that this was not just about Jace and Sydney, but also the children, they played a big part in their relationship and the healing process, for so long Jace had pushed them away because he didn’t think they needed him, that he felt he was the reason their mother was gone, and watching him slowly start to do more with them, and reconnect as a family, well, it was beautiful.
This is the first book I’ve read by Ava Harrison. It definitely won’t be my last. Ava’s writing is phenomenal - it is gut-wrenching, emotional, and raw. She destroyed my heart and slowly and surely mended it. It did take me a little while to get into the swing of it, there was a bit too much repetition for my liking at the beginning, (I think it was mentioned three times about Sydney’s ex and why he’s her ex,) but, once I got hooked, I was hooked hard and nothing could pull me away. I was captivated by these characters and this story. I had guessed one of the plot turns, and I knew the reactions to it were going to be bad…but, OMG, I never expected it to be that bad, I actually gasped. One of the best books I’ve read this year. I switched between the eBook and the audiobook, which isn’t something I do often and it actually worked really well, I listened more than I read. Sebastian York and Grace Grant were wonderful as Jace and Sydney. More about the narration later on. Single parent is one of my favourite type of stories and this one has blown almost all of the others out of the water. The angst and feels just captured my heart and wouldn’t let go. This cover, oh my word. You can keep all your shirtless guy covers, this right here is where it is at. This is what gets my attention, this is what hits my sexy radar. I looked into this book because of the cover. And, after finishing the book - it IS Jace. 1000%. This is a standalone, however, I personally feel readers would benefit greatly from reading Transference first. Not because Absolution doesn’t stand on its own, but because they interconnect, I’m about to start Transference and I know part of what happens and I think it takes away the guesswork, and I love the experience of reading a book for the first time and trying to figure what’s happening, what is going to happen, and if they’re going to get a HEA. But, of course, that is just personal taste.
I thought this audiobook was perfectly cast, Sebastian York was Jace. I think it’s the best performance I’ve ever listened to him do - of course, I’ve not listened to them all. His voice was deep and rather gruff…not how I’d normally describe him. The emotion he conveyed was astounding, you felt the pain the character was experiencing bleeding through the earbuds. The character and the performance were the three S’s - sexy, sweet, and swoony. Don’t get me wrong, the character is an A-Hole, but, he has sweet moments. He really does nail the single father aspects and his child’s voice is never over-compensating. Grace Grant was fantastic as Sydney too, she really gave that character life. It’s amazing how each emotion Sydney felt was conveyed in the tone Grace used…you believed that she was hurt, or unsure, or happy. It’s amazing to have that come through, not in words, but in tone and for the listener to be immersed. Grace is always so skilled at that.
Grace and Sebastian’s voices blended really well together in this book. Their performances mixed with Ava Harrison’s words at times brought tears to my eyes. They really nailed this story and these broken characters…they breathed life into them. It was wonderful to listen to and one of the best audiobooks of 2018.
I enjoyed the production and didn’t notice any issues. I’m still getting used to not having the chapter PoV said at each chapter announcement…which is especially jarring when you’re switching between reading and listening, but that is just a personal thing and I’m sure the more I listen to books that are like it, and it appears that it’s being done that way more and more, the more I’ll get used to it.
These characters are amazing, not necessarily amazing in the sense that I loved them the whole time, but in the sense that they made me react. Not always in a positive way, but that’s okay. I’m intrigued by Preston, and I shall be diving into his story next, I’m on the fence about Evie - so we’ll see how that goes.
Jace is an a-hole. First class a-hole. The things he says and does are just ball-punch worthy, but, the guy is grieving and guilt-ridden, so although I don’t excuse his behaviour, I can understand it to an extent. He was so broken. As the book progresses he improves, you can see him falling for Sydney and in essence, his kids…it was like they were rediscovering themselves as a family and that was beautiful to experience. Of course, just when you think he’s getting to good guy territory he goes and says something that makes you gasp and consider throwing your kindle. He comes good, in the end, he seeks help from the people that matter to him…the people that had always wanted to help, but he never let. I can understand why some people would have issues with certain things he does and says, but, it’s so obvious that it’s the guilt talking that I was able to forgive him.
I struggled with Sydney to begin with. She was a little too much of a fixer, to the point where she was pushing herself onto Jace and his family, saying and doing things that she really didn’t have any right to. But, as time went on I did start to understand her more and become more attached to her. I did get a little frustrated that she didn’t tell Jace about her ex and what he was doing, especially when the opportunity arose. I also felt for her, she was always picking the wrong guys and that stemmed from her childhood, and knowing the type of guys she'd been with in the past, I just wanted her to be happy. I wanted to shake her a few times, but again, she came good when she stood up and made the decision to do the right thing for her and basically say, ‘you know what, I’m worth more than this, I deserve better.’
Logan and Avery are just the sweetest kids, they’ve experienced such a huge loss in their lives and it was almost like they’d lost both their parents because Jace was so withdrawn from them, I mean, he still ensured they had someone, but it wasn’t him, and they felt that, so getting to see them opening up to Sydney and doing fun things together was heartwarming.
I liked that Jace and Sydney’s relationship was built on friendship and it was that friendship that started to break through Jace’s grief and guilt to make him look at his life and his decisions and start making better ones. The connection they had was palpable and the sexy times were off the charts sexy. I need to check my Kindle for scorch marks. I loved that this was not just about Jace and Sydney, but also the children, they played a big part in their relationship and the healing process, for so long Jace had pushed them away because he didn’t think they needed him, that he felt he was the reason their mother was gone, and watching him slowly start to do more with them, and reconnect as a family, well, it was beautiful.
This is the first book I’ve read by Ava Harrison. It definitely won’t be my last. Ava’s writing is phenomenal - it is gut-wrenching, emotional, and raw. She destroyed my heart and slowly and surely mended it. It did take me a little while to get into the swing of it, there was a bit too much repetition for my liking at the beginning, (I think it was mentioned three times about Sydney’s ex and why he’s her ex,) but, once I got hooked, I was hooked hard and nothing could pull me away. I was captivated by these characters and this story. I had guessed one of the plot turns, and I knew the reactions to it were going to be bad…but, OMG, I never expected it to be that bad, I actually gasped. One of the best books I’ve read this year. I switched between the eBook and the audiobook, which isn’t something I do often and it actually worked really well, I listened more than I read. Sebastian York and Grace Grant were wonderful as Jace and Sydney. More about the narration later on. Single parent is one of my favourite type of stories and this one has blown almost all of the others out of the water. The angst and feels just captured my heart and wouldn’t let go. This cover, oh my word. You can keep all your shirtless guy covers, this right here is where it is at. This is what gets my attention, this is what hits my sexy radar. I looked into this book because of the cover. And, after finishing the book - it IS Jace. 1000%. This is a standalone, however, I personally feel readers would benefit greatly from reading Transference first. Not because Absolution doesn’t stand on its own, but because they interconnect, I’m about to start Transference and I know part of what happens and I think it takes away the guesswork, and I love the experience of reading a book for the first time and trying to figure what’s happening, what is going to happen, and if they’re going to get a HEA. But, of course, that is just personal taste.
I thought this audiobook was perfectly cast, Sebastian York was Jace. I think it’s the best performance I’ve ever listened to him do - of course, I’ve not listened to them all. His voice was deep and rather gruff…not how I’d normally describe him. The emotion he conveyed was astounding, you felt the pain the character was experiencing bleeding through the earbuds. The character and the performance were the three S’s - sexy, sweet, and swoony. Don’t get me wrong, the character is an A-Hole, but, he has sweet moments. He really does nail the single father aspects and his child’s voice is never over-compensating. Grace Grant was fantastic as Sydney too, she really gave that character life. It’s amazing how each emotion Sydney felt was conveyed in the tone Grace used…you believed that she was hurt, or unsure, or happy. It’s amazing to have that come through, not in words, but in tone and for the listener to be immersed. Grace is always so skilled at that.
Grace and Sebastian’s voices blended really well together in this book. Their performances mixed with Ava Harrison’s words at times brought tears to my eyes. They really nailed this story and these broken characters…they breathed life into them. It was wonderful to listen to and one of the best audiobooks of 2018.
I enjoyed the production and didn’t notice any issues. I’m still getting used to not having the chapter PoV said at each chapter announcement…which is especially jarring when you’re switching between reading and listening, but that is just a personal thing and I’m sure the more I listen to books that are like it, and it appears that it’s being done that way more and more, the more I’ll get used to it.
ninadonata's review
5.0
After meeting Sid and Jace in Transference and learning to love them i was highly exited to for their own story. Because the glimpses of them both i got even more exited for what they have to tell.
And this book totally earned my excitement because it's stunning from page on i was drawn to the story and my Kindle was glued to my hand.
Ava gives male broken Hero who found his way to develop him self even if it took him a long Time. There is a lot of emotion in these story and the Author find the right way to bring theses emotion to me. I I fought tears while reading several times.
Grief and letting it go are an important element of the story and we as readers got a really amazing way glimpse of how our protagonists dealt with their situation. In the whole story i was able to understand why Jace and and Sidney acted like they did.
I liked they way Ava brought Jace Kids in to the story because they saw the trough childrens eyes. They brought some laughter to serious stories.
Even if Ava had serious theme in this book she made a grate Job with giving me a good feeling while i read it. Her style of writng made that.
Also we where able to see amazing an amzing family in backround.
Sidney was Women who is a grate friend because she ist there for her friends. She is supportive for people that are important to her or seemed to be that. She has humor and is a strong young women. She really clear about whats good for her and what she wants.
Jace defenitly is a hero who knows what he has to do if he doesent want to deal wiht his grief. But he is also a caring person whi has a kind of humor and knows when does things wrong. But he can be an asshole also if yoi him totalk to you and he doesn't want it.
To conclude you can that this Story really emtoinal and Ava the right words to make readers feel everything i#m stil caught in this book. Sid and Jace had anmanzing story. They are one of favourite couples i read about in 2018. So it gets five stars.
And this book totally earned my excitement because it's stunning from page on i was drawn to the story and my Kindle was glued to my hand.
Ava gives male broken Hero who found his way to develop him self even if it took him a long Time. There is a lot of emotion in these story and the Author find the right way to bring theses emotion to me. I I fought tears while reading several times.
Grief and letting it go are an important element of the story and we as readers got a really amazing way glimpse of how our protagonists dealt with their situation. In the whole story i was able to understand why Jace and and Sidney acted like they did.
I liked they way Ava brought Jace Kids in to the story because they saw the trough childrens eyes. They brought some laughter to serious stories.
Even if Ava had serious theme in this book she made a grate Job with giving me a good feeling while i read it. Her style of writng made that.
Also we where able to see amazing an amzing family in backround.
Sidney was Women who is a grate friend because she ist there for her friends. She is supportive for people that are important to her or seemed to be that. She has humor and is a strong young women. She really clear about whats good for her and what she wants.
Jace defenitly is a hero who knows what he has to do if he doesent want to deal wiht his grief. But he is also a caring person whi has a kind of humor and knows when does things wrong. But he can be an asshole also if yoi him totalk to you and he doesn't want it.
To conclude you can that this Story really emtoinal and Ava the right words to make readers feel everything i#m stil caught in this book. Sid and Jace had anmanzing story. They are one of favourite couples i read about in 2018. So it gets five stars.
bookwormbetty's review
5.0
Let me break it down. I felt this book in my soul. Like deep, deep in my soul. This book isn't a simple book of love and loss, of redemption, and happiness. It takes you on a journey into the human spirit, human resilience, human endurance. Jace Montgomery isn't bent, he is broken all the way to his soul. Sydney is his perfect match, she has a resilience about her that makes her a perfect match with Jace.
This book will make you think about grief. It will make you think about how you deal with life, and the curveballs it throws at you. You MUST read this book, hands down this book is in my top 5 for 2018, and it's a must read. You don't want to be left out when everyone is talking about this book, because trust me, everyone will be talking. This book is told in dual pov.
This book will make you think about grief. It will make you think about how you deal with life, and the curveballs it throws at you. You MUST read this book, hands down this book is in my top 5 for 2018, and it's a must read. You don't want to be left out when everyone is talking about this book, because trust me, everyone will be talking. This book is told in dual pov.
rattybluestocking's review
2.0
Not that great
I had difficulties getting through this book. I skipped over several pages and just was not that interested in it. Both of the main characters kind of irritated me.
I had difficulties getting through this book. I skipped over several pages and just was not that interested in it. Both of the main characters kind of irritated me.
syndi3's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I love this book. This is my first book by miss Harrison. Certainly will look more of her works. Jace is a classic A hole guy. He lost his wife and his baby and he feels guilty about it. Oh and he is also a single father. Everyday he struggle to go bypass his day. He throws himself at his work. Then at a wedding reception of his brother he met sydney.
Sydney is a character that i struggle to connect. She is too good to be true. Always giving and selfless. But slowly she grows on me. There is not much character development for sydney. But since she touches Jace dead heart, Jace is a changed man.
This book does not only about love and romance. But also touches issue about death, guilt and letting go. Forgiveness. Absolution. I like how miss harrison brings all of this alive in her book.
A tad critic from me is i wish Jace can be more A hole in this book. Reading his character at the beginning, he is mild A hole.
Sydney is a character that i struggle to connect. She is too good to be true. Always giving and selfless. But slowly she grows on me. There is not much character development for sydney. But since she touches Jace dead heart, Jace is a changed man.
This book does not only about love and romance. But also touches issue about death, guilt and letting go. Forgiveness. Absolution. I like how miss harrison brings all of this alive in her book.
A tad critic from me is i wish Jace can be more A hole in this book. Reading his character at the beginning, he is mild A hole.
delight_in_the_quiet's review
1.0
The single dad is one of my favorite tropes but this one missed the mark. I am all for finding redemption and making peace with loss and pain but that is not what I read in this story. Jace was all around not a good guy, not a good Dad, son, or brother. He treated Sydney so poorly in many ways. Sydney was a doormat. Even though Jace treated Sydney so terribly, she would run to him any time he text or let him in when he showed up. Also, he seemed to have a drinking problem and that was never addressed. I don't usually rate a one star but I just could not overlook the behavior of both of the main characters and the writing in this book just did not do it for me. I hate to DNF a book, but almost gave up several times.