Book 1 of 2 in the Consolation DuetLiam wasn’t supposed to be my happily ever after.He wasn’t even on my radar.He was my husband’s best friend—forbidden.But my husband is dead and I’m alone. I ache for him and I reach for Liam.One night with Liam changed everything. Now I have to decide if I truly love him or if he’s just the consolation prize.
In my opinion five stars just isn’t a high enough rating for this book!
This is one of my ALL time favorite love stories! I have no doubt you will fall in love with Liam and he will become your ALL time favorite book boyfriend too!
All I can say is wow. It was a fantastic book. Loved it from the first few pages. This book had me on an emotional roller coaster. I loved Natalie and Liam.
The cliffhanger is a doozie! This is a must read
Fabulous story, I go back over and over..
I love Liam and Nicole He is so caring and wiling to do whatever it takes to make Nicole happy even if he lost her!! A must read!! I’ve read it many times!
Consolation….where to start? WOW!! Corinne Michaels you have DEFINITELY succeeded in writing yet another heart stopping, jaw dropping, shock inducing book.
We know from the Belonging Duet that Natalie “Lee” is the pregnant widow of former SEAL team member Aaron Gilcher, killed in action while working for Cole Security Forces. While trying to be a good mother to her daughter, Arabell, Lee is forced to come to terms with the untimely death of her best friend, father of her daughter, and first love.
“No one will ever love you as much as I do.”
Liam Dempsey, Aaron’s best friend, comes to help Lee with tasks that she hasn’t been able to tackle on her own. Liam sees through Lee’s declarations of being “fine” like no one else had been able to. He also forces her to deal with her feelings and move forward like no one else had been able to do.
“What good does crying do? He’s dead. He won’t ever come home. I have a daughter, a house, a mortgage, and a shit ton of other things to worry about.”
Through their time together, Liam and Lee become very close. Both struggling with feelings of love and the guilt that follows, they build a relationship together. While the relationship begins in secret, eventually they are unable to hide their feelings for each other.
Lee learns things about her marriage that shake her to the core. Was her husband the man she thought she knew or the man she is learning about now? Marriage is hard work but when you add the stress of being a Navy SEAL, with deployments and trainings, the stress multiplies immensely.
Can Liam and Lee make a go of a real relationship or is fighting a ghost too much for them to overcome?
“I can’t keep pushing her and I fear I’ll push her away. I love her and that scares the ever-living shit out of me. She needs to decide if it’s me she wants. I sure as hell won’t the consolation prize.”
I can’t go into too much detail without spoiling the story but I will say that this book absolutely rocked me. The feelings in this book are so real and so raw it’s impossible for it not effect you. I absolutely love Corinne’s writing style and this book is no exception. As someone that has lost loved ones to the current military situations, I can say without a doubt that Corinne NAILED all the feels with this one!
“War takes from us. It robs us of so much, but if we let it…it can save us. You being here in my arms right now is reminding me that sometimes the victory is worth the battle.”
We first met Natalie in Corinne’s Beloved/Beholden series along with her husband Aaron. We found out in that series that Aaron, who was a Navy Seal but now works for Jackson’s private security company has been killed. Consolation begins after the funeral and Natalie is now trying to keep herself going and raise her daughter Aarabelle. Liam was Aaron’s best friend and he and Natalie have been friends for years. He steps in to help her out, not believing her steadfast claims that she is “fine”.
“Lee” is still struggling a year later to reconcile her feelings and come to grips with Aaron’s death. Liam is a saint, helping her around the house and even taking care of Aarabelle. There is a growing attraction between them, but Lee feels guilty for betraying Aaron’s memory and Liam feels guilty for breaking the “code” of the Navy brotherhood. But Aaron’s gone, and they have every right to live their lives and be happy, so how do they convince themselves that it is OK to explore the feelings they have?
Liam truly lives up to his nickname Dreamboat, giving Natalie all the time and space she needs to come to terms with how she feels about him, her situation, her future. A huge secret is revealed to her that pretty much shakes her whole foundation and it left me worried that it would ultimately damage or even derail her relationship with Liam. But the ending? That blew me away and THAT became the thing that I was now scared to death was going to derail Natalie and Liam.
Corinne was an evil genius with that ending!! Holy crap did not see that coming! I can’t wait to read Conviction to see if the million questions I have swirling through my head are answered. Brilliant Corinne!!
This book is amazing. The author grabs you from the first page and takes you on this amazing roller coaster of emotions. This is one of my to go rereads!!
You know that feeling you get after you finish a GREAT book? The one where you can’t sleep and can’t think straight because all you can think about is that book… Well, this is that book! This book makes you think and put yourself in the characters shoes. Ms. Michaels writing is phenomenal! I devoured this in one day! I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more, and then cried some more. The balance of emotions is perfection. I absolutely freaking LOVE Natalie. She is so strong and determined! Liam is the ultimate BBF. He is simply amazing! His character is just so special. He absolutely stole my heart away. Read this now! You will not regret it!
Totally Amazing book Loved IT!
Beautiful love story. I couldn’t put it down. Loved and devoured every page. Lots of depth to the characters. What an ending.
OMG. Too much like real life.
Just wow!!!!
It was everything you look for in a great read. Romance, laughter, heartache, anger, betrayal, pain, fear, surprise, happiness, elation. I love Corinne’s style. Huge fan. It was a book I read from cover to cover and only put it down to go to sleep. Loved the cover the most!!!!! A+!!
This is the First book on the Consolation Duet.. The story of Natalie and Liam..
Natalie is a widow trying to survive this new life that doesn’t involve her husband anymore.. she feels lost and doesn’t know what do do with her life and her emotions.. she is afraid to move on.. she feels like is wrong to feel all over again or to even give away his stuff.. but life a circumstances have other plans for her.. love is around the corner and she is about to belive all over again..
Liam a handsome Seal, the best friend of Natalie’s husband, he is there always to help Natalie with life and her daughter. he has been a great support for her .. he is there every day, making sure they’re safe.. Trying to ignore his feelings until he no longer can deny it.. what started as a good friendship soon turned into a very beautiful love between two people trying to survive..
Natalie is a strong heroine, you can feel her pain during the whole story, how she was always trying to move on and trying to make things work out in her home and life.. it was very hard for her to continue moving on but Liam helped her so much to finally see that not all the good things were lost, that she still have so much to fight for and look forward too..
The love between Liam and Natalie started slow both trying to give themselves time to grieve, to see where things are going, .. time to see if those feelings felt right .. Liam was always very sensible, very empathic with Natilies feelings and emotions.. he never pressure her but also never let her give up on them so easily..
There are a few twists in the story that will keep you on edge especially at the end.. everything you thought you knew will change leaving you with so many questions and clues..
Overall the story is good, easy to read and the characters are great…
5 BEAUTIFUL CONSOLATION STARS!! Wow, just wow!! This book was phenomenal and a page turner. Liam and Natalie’s story is beautifully written with all your emotion buttons being pushed. The ending through me or a loop, so I am off to read the next book.
OMG! I stayed up super late reading this book and when I got up I dived back in and finished it before writing this review. I was completely blown away by Conviction. It gave me all the feels. There were so many times that I wanted to burst into tears for Natalie and Liam. My heart couldn’t take all the pain and hardship these two had to go through. But boy did I love every second spent reading this book.
Corinne Michaels sends up for a spin when at the end of Consolation we find out that Natalie’s husband Aaron is not dead and has returned home to her. Natalie is confused but doesn’t hesitate to go stand by Liam’s side in the face of the husband that betrayed her. Poor Liam is so torn up about his situation. He is the other man now and he can’t face Aaron now that he’s fallen in love with his best friends wife and he feels needs to give Natalie space to decide who she wants. This breaks Natalie’s heart because she has already decided she wants Liam.
This book broke my heart. Natalie was such a strong character being in the situation she was in. Aaron tried so hard to win Natalie back, but I really did not like him at all. Natalie took his crap in stride and never let it make her waiver in her feelings for Liam. She comes to terms with her marriage to Aaron and wants to embrace this new life she started before Aaron came back. I really just loved the strong woman Natalie was and how she dealt with Aaron trying to win her back and dealing with Liam being gone on a mission. It nearly broke me, but damn if their love isn’t beautiful.
My only thing is that I think Aaron was trying a little too hard. I get it. The man was gone for a year and all he thought about was his family. But Natalie did try to talk to him about what happened to him and he eventually opens up and tells her most of it. There is a lot of back forth between them and why she is still angry with him. He was legally dead and she moved on. I will say Natalie probably shouldn’t have ran the Liam the first night Aaron came back. That was a bad look, but whatever. I respect Liam trying to give Natalie space to be sure she knew what she wanted. He stayed away from her despite how much he wanted and loved her. He’s not even around her through most of this book. So I did not like Aaron and he deserves no sympathy nor did he apologize for what he did to Natalie or the fact that she had to learn the truth about her husband when she thought he was dead. That is all.
I love Liam and Natalie. I really do. They may be my top 5 couple. They are both amazing characters and Liam is so damn dreamy. He is everything you’d want in a man. He is perfect for Natalie. This book will make you laugh and cry. It will also make you so happy when its over. Loved this book.
Loved the characters. Story line/plot – beautifully written. COULDN’T PUT THE BOOK DOWN. COULDN’T wait to read the next book!!! Highly recommended.
Well, Corinne, you sure do know how to tear me down only to rebuild me into something stronger. I don’t even know where to start with this review. I’m pretty sure I was crying within the first two pages. My emotions were all over the place. I felt like I was Natalie, experiencing all of her emotions with her.
This is a beautiful story about a widow struggling to move on after the death of her husband. Luckily there is someone there to help her along the way. Enter Liam. Oh Liam, you beautiful soul and wonderful man. I couldn’t get enough of you.
This is a must read. Just be ready for the emotional roller coaster. You ended this one with ripping me apart yet again, Corrine. I can’t wait for you to rebuild me in the next book. Well done!
What a great story and wow what an ending. I am definitely looking forward to the next book. I recommend this book and this author.
Loved it! I’m shocked at the ending! Cannot wait for book #2!