A bohemian Spanish instructor teaches a disciplined, but wounded soldier how to lose control.
“‘The kiss was a goodbye when we’d never said hello.’ With its incredible storytelling and poetic prose, Sol is a heartbreaker in the very best sense of the word. Beautiful, spellbinding, and kinetic, this is a story not to be missed.” — NYT bestselling author Kim Karr
The army taught me discipline. … not to be missed.” — NYT bestselling author Kim Karr
The army taught me discipline. Order. Control.
None of that matters the day I walk into her classroom.
Or her bedroom.
What’s more important than my grade?
Not failing her.
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Sol (Love in Translation Book 1) by Leslie McAdam is a contemporary, new adult, forbidden, military romance told in dual POV. It follows the story between Dani, a language instructor, and Trent, her little brother’s best friend.
Trent and Dani share a scorching kiss before he goes away to boot camp. Four years later, he’s out of the army and tracks her down in Spain to personally deliver some news. Trent has been in love with Dani his entire life and the years apart haven’t changed anything. Is it finally their time to be together? Or will heartbreak and grief keep them apart?
I loved Dani and Trent’s story! The setting in Spain was rich, compelling and vivid enough to make me feel like I’d actually spent time there. This emotionally charged, sensual, romantic story deals with issues of trust, grief and loss. I highly recommend it.
Sol…this title has soooooo much meaning. It’s heart warming. (snicker at lame but amusing joke) Seriously, the meaning behind the title brings tears to my eyes.
This story is obviously one that will evoke emotions. Tears are a fact. A touching, heart ache filled story. Sol is a sweet, so sweet story. A life long love, a tragic situation, and fear mix to give you this emotional rollercoaster.
Along with the emotional ride, there’s an adventurous spark. Seeing Spain through the characters eyes will ignite a flame in all you curious readers. I loved the picturesque descriptions of places I’d love to roam. Crazy things I’d love to try and do. But I think the key to this story is the people in it!
I found friendships I wanted to have. People I wanted to get to know better. I love when a character makes you want to be their friend. I live when a book gives you new friends.
Sol is a bright spot of love, friendship, and life. It is the perfect ray of sunshine.
[Side note- I have no idea if yoga is all that this book makes it out to be. As a skeptical and a yoga virgin, I had never entertained the idea but the release that this book describes makes me want to try it.]
So for all the book skeptics out there, come grab Sol. It will (pardon the cheesy pun) light up your day.
reviewed for Sweet Spot Sisterhood
This book was so beautiful and romantic!!!! Trent and Dani were such amazing and complex characters. There were so many different components to this story and it made it that much more amazing.
Trent, he is just so amazing. I love that he’d always been in love with Dani and he wasn’t ready to give up. And Dani, she’d been changed 4 years ago when Trent left, and she as so afraid. Trent’s perseverance is so adorable! He’s willing to do anything to be with her, to earn her trust and to show his love. There were also many obstacles for the two of them, but they didn’t let that hold them back.
I love the backstory with them so much, I love that they had this past life and that they have to learn how to have a new life together. My heart broke so many times, whether it was Dani not allowing herself to be free of worry and just love, or it was Trent and his PTSD. The perseverance that Trent has those is so admirable, he’s not willing to lose or give up on what he wants.
This was one of those books where you really got everything you’d hoped for, and that is a truly amazing story!
Gahhh, all I can say is wow. If you are looking for beautifully moving, soulful read about, love, loss and the power of forgiveness, then this is the book for you. Danika “Dani” Anderson is the free spirited older sister of Trent Milner’s best friend Deagan. Trent has loved Dani his whole life and is drawn not only to her beauty, but her calm and peaceful spirit and her beautiful soul. Dani fills a need in Trent and he is simply drawn to her. Bound by their desire to serve their country, Trent and Deagan, enlist, leaving Dani behind. Four years later, the hard, cruel reality of war brings Trent back in search of Dani; his true north. Set in the historic, intoxicating vibrant city of Granada, Dani and Trent’s epic love story unfolds, but will fear, grief and Dani’s desire to be truly free get in the way of their happily ever after? “You can pick. You can live your life in the sun….or stay in the shade. But it’s your decision.” Sol, is a hauntingly beautiful story that had my her from page one and never let it go. 5 stars!
It took me a little while to connect with this story, but once I did, I was hooked. It was very emotional from the standpoint of Trent and his PTSD from being in the army. War changes people and the effect it has on Trent was one he tried both to hide and avoid.
Trent had joined up full of conviction he was doing the right thing. He’d just kissed the girl he’d loved forever, but hadn’t told her. Dani was his best friend Degan’s older sister.
Now he wasn’t sure what was going to happen.
After serving for four years, he leaves the army with a broken heart, a piece of himself forever lost in that faraway desert. When he returns home, it’s with one plan in mind. Find Dani and tell her his devastating news and show her how he feels.
Dani is horrified by what Trent tells her. She refuses to listen him and he has a battle on his hands to make her believe him.
Two broken characters who just need each other to become whole. If you want a truly gut-wrenching story to make you ‘feel’ then this is the one for you.
An emotional read
This is an emotional read that you feel all the emotions with. I loved this story. Trent and Dani story is an emotional one where they both overcome tragedies to have there HEA.
Five FREED stars! Sol is about freedom, peace, loss, redemption and love. One of the best reads of 2017
Holy sweetness! Leslie McAdam has delivered one of the best reads of 2017. This book is ones of those books that mark your life in a good way. I’ve never thought that a soldier’s life was quite hard when they come back home. The things they see in combat field are stressful and scary like to watch in first line how your colleagues lose their life in order to protect freedom.
This book made it very clear that the job of a soldier is noble because they serve their country. They want to change the world: to keep peace and freedom. They sacrifice themselves to guarantee their people could live in a better world. Some could say that joining the army is a loose cause. Especially for those who doesn’t believe that war is the answer for solving the world´s problems in danger regions. To keep peace and freedom is a hard work. Many have lost their life. Parents have lost their sons and daughters. Wives have lose their husbands. And those who were lucky to come back suffer post-traumatic stress disorder.
Losing a friend or a brother who joined the army is a hell thing. It’s not easy to handle because we tend to search who to blame. Leslie has done an excellent work. Her poetic prose will make you shiver. She was capable to transmit the best and the worst feelings through Trent’s story. Because those who joined the army have different motives.
Sol is about freedom, peace, loss, redemption and love. Leslie was able to show us the human feelings in full bloom. The plot is humanly crude. The characters are well developed. This book is told by the heroine and hero. This is not a cliché book. Be prepare for a bittersweet story where the heroine is a free spirit and the hero is a base on the ground. What makes this book so special is that here the beliefs of the characters are so different but at the same time very similar.
Dani and Trent has shared a past. They were attracted to each other. But they took different paths. Trent and Degan (Dani’s little brother) joined the army. Time passed and Trent finished his military service. He came back home with a new mission in mind: to find Dani and protect her, to keep her save and to confess his feelings for her.
“If anyone is gonna fight for your freedom, babe, it’s a soldier.”
Dani is a free spirit. She dedicated her life to travel and to teach Spanish in few countries. Her life was relatively simple until she saw Trent’s name listened in her class.
“This woman would be my toughest challenge.”
In the past they shared a moment that marked them forever. They will have to deal with their personal demons. Trent will have to forgive himself to carry on with his life. He knows what he wants. He need to heal. He will follow his heart.
“I needed to make sure Dani knew how much I adored her, since she was an angel on earth here to help me live.”
I love that Trent and Dani’ story was set in Spain. And there are more brownie points to the author because she mixed the age topic and the teacher / student romance. I lost myself in this book. The character has stolen a piece of my heart. I like too much the evolution of Trent and Dani as a couple. They healed each other’s wounds. They were broken but together put back their pieces until they were hole again.
“I’d lived in a fake, fairy-tale land. One I constructed. None of it was real. You made me real, Trent.”
This book has marked my soul. It was a mind-blowing read that kept me wanting more. I literally devoured it. If you want to read a story that will warm your heart, Sol by Leslie McAdam is your pick.
this was my first Leslie McAdam book and I’m kicking myself for not reading her sooner! I laughed. I CRIED HARD. I held my kindle to me on a giant sigh. I even said I wanted to Rake Dani over hot coals. seriously this book was amazing start to finish. Trent is 100% swoon-worthy. Trent and Dani are two broken souls needing to find each other. During a yoga session they manage to discover they are each others base. Everything has to go wrong before it can be better, but it was perfectly written. I loved this book.
I really thought I would enjoy this story more than I did but to be honest I didn’t care for Dani’s character at all. I did like Trent but it just wasn’t enough for me to love this story. I found it slow and boring a lot and to be honest with me not liking Dani’s character, I found myself uninterested in this story. I’ll just say that this one wasn’t for me.
If you like BECKONED, you will love SOL too! SOL touches all of the points of BECKONED: food, travel, steamy sex! I loved it!
This story is not only Beautifully written, but it’s really special! It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read! It had a lot of love, emotion & heart in it! Trent & Dani both had to deal with grief which they dealt with it in different ways. I’m glad they came together & helped each other through it. Their love for each other was so beautiful! They found the strength within each other which was absolutely beautiful! This is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2017! Only Leslie can make me cry & smile in the same sentence! I truly enjoyed every moment of this story & I can’t wait for the next one! The ending was absolutely perfect & beautiful! I cried at the end because of how incredible & beautiful this story was! I love Trent & Dani! They’re so good for each other! I hope to one day visit Spain & go to all the places that were mentioned! It seems so at peace & beautiful in Granada, Spain! Well done, Leslie, Well done! This is your best book yet! I am totally in love with the cover! It’s definitely my new favorite cover! I loved Re-Reading Taylor’s Story! It’s my favorite! I’m so happy he is on the cover of this amazing book!
I give this book 3.5 stars.
I wanted to love this book. I love the cover and heard great things about it. I enjoyed the storyline and Trent. But I really didn’t connect with Dani. And I didn’t feel the connection between the two characters.
Beautiful, heartbreaking and also a heartwarming must read. I was blown away by this exceptionally written story and it was very easy to find myself lost into the pages. This was a very touching and inspiring novel. I highly recommend this! I also enjoyed reading how the cover of the book came to be.
Leslie McAdam’s Sol was nothing that I had ever expected. Trent and Degan are lifelong friends who join the military together, leaving Degan’s sister Dani behind. Trent has loved Dani from day one but has never let her or Degan know. Four years later, Trent is trying to find Dani to break horrible news to her but she has fallen off the grid. When Trent does finally find Dani, all bets are off. Sol is a wonderful story of heartbreak, learning to forgive and most importantly, love. The relationship between Trent and Dani was heartbreakingly beautifully and the way they complimented each other was simply amazing.
Trent had been in love with Dani for years. She was his best friend Degan’s older sister and the three of them were inseparable through some very tough times for Degan and Dani’s family. When Trent and Degan graduated, however, they decided to enlist in the Army together. For the first time, Dani and Trent share a kiss that takes them beyond friendship just days before Trent leaves for boot camp.
As a free spirit, Dani travels the world. She never stays in one spot long and refuses to put down any roots. She flits from place to place and tends to move on when things get hard or overwhelming. Her latest adventure has her in Spain teaching a Spanish / English translation class for the summer session at a university.
When the unthinkable happens and Trent has to tell Dani that her brother was killed in action, he realizes it has to be face to face, as he made a vow to Degan to always take care of her. When he finds her in Spain, he knows now more than ever that he loves her and needs to care for her in any capacity she will allow. Dani’s fear of commitment, however, puts having any type of relationship with her in jeopardy.
I had so many feels for this book! Trent is one heck of a man. He is honorable and loving and willing to do whatever he can to honor his best friend’s memory and care for his sister in any way she will let him. He’s also dealing with a sever case of PTSD and survivor’s guilt which leaves him a beautifully broken man trying to re-right his world after what he has experienced in the military.
While Dani is a free spirit, she has also been broken. Everyone she loves leaves, including her parents and now her brother. She is terrified of forming ties with anyone as it has always led to heartbreak for her. She knows she has feelings for Trent, but really does not know how to deal with them or act upon them in a way that leads to anything more than right now, as she can’t even contemplate more than that.
They really do fit together perfectly, but Dani’s fears leave Trent scrambling to hold on to something that may be impossible to keep if she is unable to deal with her fears and he can’t learn to manage his PTSD.
Sol is truly a beautiful story of loss and love and finding the light when your world truly seems dark. I give this story 5 stars.
i also want to applaud the author for her depictions of PTSD. As the spouse of a vet, I was very appreciative as she gave such a detailed and realistic view of what someone suffering from PTSD deals with on a daily basis.
SOL: What I had expected: teacher/student romance. SOL: What I discovered: an intimate story that moves from grief to forgiveness. The characters are moving. Their struggles are heartfelt and emotional. It was had not to shed a tear. SOL is beautifully poignant, a contradiction, much like the two characters. The main characters have fundamentally different ways of viewing the world. The story is a romance built from a shared lose.
Trent Miller is on a mission to find Danika Anderson. He has a letter to deliver. When Trent discovers she’s teaching a class in Spain, he doesn’t hesitate to register for her class.
Trent and Dani have a past. They had shared a kiss before Trent and Dani’s brother, Degan, left for the military. Trent never moved past their kiss and is hoping for more.
The story is an emotional rollercoaster ride. Trent and Dani are two very different people. Trent needs control while Dani is a free spirit. Their wills collide. Both characters have to work through their emotions, fears and inner turmoil. My heart broke as they came to grips with their lose. I cried as they learned to forgive. In the end they find their HEA.
Trent and Dani are two very different people however they share a bond that helped them shed their past and start a new life. SOL digs deep. 5 Stars!
Sol is Spanish for sun, sombra for shade. In bullfights, as in life, you pick which side you inhabit. Do you embrace the sun or stay safely in the shade? Leslie McAdam brings Spanish culture to life with this book. The searing sun, the sparkling Mediterranean, the scents and flavors were vivid on my tongue.
Danika Anderson is the sun, burning bright; both in appearance and actions. Shimmering through life like a sunbeam on a brook. Trent Milner is no hero. He’s grief stricken, war torn and burdened with darkness. Still mission bound even after army life.
He’s compelled to protect and control, she needs to fly free. This is their journey; the rite of a new life. As with life, and grief, and forgiveness, the path to love and freedom from darkness is winding and hilly.
Heartbreaking, awe-inspiring, courageous, sweet, soulful and passionate are all words to describe their journey. But forgiveness is what finally brings a profound change to their very heartbeats, deep down soul searing forgiveness.
War changes all those involved. The men and women who enlist and the families left behind. In Sol by Leslie McAdam you get to experience both sides. Grief, PTSD, and the ugliness and healing involved in moving forward with life.
Trent and Degan were best friends who enlisted and went off to war together. But only one of them came back. Now, Trent must find the girl he’s secretly loved for years and tell her that her brother isn’t coming home. Finding Dani proves harder than he thought. Once he does, he is willing to do whatever it takes to make her his before he up-ends her world. Including enrolling as her student.
Dani is a free-spirited teacher. She lives life as carefree and peaceful as possible. When Trent shows up after years in Afghanistan, he disrupts everything in her world. Her classroom, her bedroom and her heart. He leaves no corner untouched. After he has won her heart, he gives her the devastating news that brought him to her to begin with. Now they must learn how to grieve and heal together.
Wow, just wow. PTSD is something that many of our veterans experience, but few of us acknowledge. I was extremely impressed with the way the Leslie brought out the truth of the disorder. Emotionally captivating examples told tastefully as to not diminish the importance. Not only of PTSD, but of the grief and survivors guilt that those left behind experience.
The writing itself was brilliant. The world described so vividly that you feel as if you are there yourself. The world, the emotions and the characters leap off the pages. I was, still am, honored to have read such a stunningly realistic and heart wrenching story.
Sol includes everyday real situations and raw, honest emotion. This is could so easily be classed as a student/teacher romance or an older woman/younger man but this goes much deeper than either of those subgenres seem to be able to define. I cannot wait for what Leslie’s magnificent mind churns up next. FOUR emotionally wrecked stars.
I need to start off by saying that I loved the story behind the cover photo, you get the inside scoop on how Taylor Lotre became the cover model for Sol in “A note from the Author” at the end of reading Sol.
Trent and Degan are best of friends and have been for many years but there has been a secret Trent kept from him all of these years, the fact that he is in love with Degan’s sister Danika “Dani” and would love nothing more than to make her his. With a surprising goodbye kiss that rocks the ground Trent walks on his is more determined in his resolve that Dani is the one for him.
Fast forward four years Dani is now 26, and Trent is 22, Trent has just completed his tour with the Military and has to break some devastating news to Dani only he has trouble locating the fun loving free spirit that travels the world and is off the grid. It doesn’t take much to figure out what Trent needs to tell Dani and even though I knew it was coming I still found myself a sobbing mess. I cried several times throughout this story and to be honest when I finished the book I felt emotionally drained. If you know anyone that has been in or is currently in the Military you know the constant struggle it is to be strong at home and keep positive thoughts, you replay the last words you said to one another constantly in your mind. This is where I completely lost it, Dani was remembering what she had said to her brother right before he left for Boot Camp, and although they had talked several times over the years they never discussed the way things were left and that gutted me, tour my heart out and stomped all over it. Believe it or not I currently have tears falling down my face as I think about it all.
The writing of this story was well done, it had me feeling as if I was right there with Trent and Dani experiencing everything they were. I cannot wait to see what happens in the next book in the series and since there is no information currently available I am truly hoping it has to do with Dani’s friend Lulu whom have been best friends since they met in college and she is also a teacher in Spain.