What mends first? A shattered heart or a broken mind?
What began as a series of misunderstandings catapults into urgent need, as Gin finds herself forced to make an impossible choice, staying faithful to memories of the past or living for the future.
I’m not who I used to be.
Losing them turned me into someone I don’t even recognize. I’m not even sure I want to know that person.
So I ran.
… that person.
So I ran.
But that was just a change in longitude and latitude.
When I met Roman, my insides were a twisted, decayed, knife-edged thing I was sure no one would ever want.
But he took every crushed bit of it and demanded more.
He’s as scarred on the outside as I am on the inside, but somehow, we fit together like two jagged pieces of the same fractured puzzle. Our tortured pasts brought us together—then ripped us apart.
Falling for him was inevitable. So was losing him.
Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, but maybe…girl gets nothing at the end.
Happily ever after just isn’t meant for people like me…right?
Gin’s Tonic is a steamy, angsty, mature, small town romance featuring an Asian-American heroine who is stronger than she knows. This is the story of a perfectly imperfect woman and the tall-dark-and-brooding hero who proves to her that love after loss is possible.
Please note: Gin’s Tonic contains sensitive material such as uncensored adult language, explicit content, and thoughts of self-harm after extreme loss. READER DISCRETION ADVISED.
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Survivor’s guilt…. Loss …. Broken Heart …. Broken Mind … Broken Soul
Will running help? Can Gin let go of the past enough to heal?
This is not a feel good read but it is a story that will grab you, draw you in from the first page. It’s a journey … a journey by the of way of a long, curvy road with cliffs on each side. It’s a journey dealing with loss, dealing with grief, dealing with the past while trying to restructure a future. Gin learns it can be done…. but at what cost?
OBSERVATIONS:
Loss never is easy, but when it’s coupled with guilt the pain doubles, triples, quadruples and on and on. This is an angsty story where life suddenly changes. There are many forms of grief. Gin’s grief is one of the hardest. Her learning how to cope brings out many things. In the end, she finds out she has more strength than she thought possible. And the help of a special ‘someone’ does more than lend a helping hand.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The great character and storyline development kept me totally engaged throughout the entire book! I look forward to reading more from this author!
Olivia Owen, good job. I love this book. It is full of angst, deep pain, lust, betrayal and love. Much love, the kind of love that sticks by you when you are at your craziest. The kind that says you are a nut job right now, but I will hang on until you are back. Gin has faced so much pain and she knows a lot of it is of her own making. Her own need to get ahead at the cost of those who love and need her. In a small town where everyone knows your secrets and still likes you, her life is starting over, but carrying a burden of pain she doesn’t know how to mend and who does she meet? A man who has faced his own pain and betrayal. Together, they don’t make sense, but life is like that.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I would like to thank the author, BookGoSocial, with whom I have privileged access on Netgalley and the Netgalley site for allowing me to read this book.
I was immediately attracted by the beautiful cover of this book where you can see a young girl sitting on a balcony and you can see the water in the distance.
While reading this book, one asks oneself a lot of questions: what is the first thing to repair a broken heart or a broken mind?
We find Gin who seems to be lost, she must make a choice, remain faithful to the memories of the past or live for the future?
She will run away and meet Roman and fall in love, but their shared past will have tortured them, then brought them together and torn them apart until they both lose each other.
A book read in one go, so much so that I hung on to the story, so moving at certain passages, captivating, addictive, full of suspense and twists and turns with very endearing characters. Can’t wait to discover other books by this author whose pen I love so addictive.
Holy emotional rollercoaster! Well done Ms. Owens. I really enjoyed Gin and Roman’s story. Although this was far from your typical romance where girl meets boy, they both have some baggage, but work through it and live happily ever after. Gin has been living, or rather existing, in a nightmare, and Roman had gone through his own nightmare several years prior. Gin stumbles into Roman’s path by pure happenstance (or maybe fate?) and lands in the small town of Jasper. In Jasper, and with Roman, Gin finally looks inside herself and seeks external help as well. She begins the path to healing both for herself and for Roman. With time she is able to make amends with Roman and resume their journey together, and what a journey it has been thus far! I cannot wait to see more from this author in the future.
Gin blames herself for the tragic loss of her family. Unable to cope with her loss and guilt she packs up her car and drives. Leaving everything behind she finds herself in a small town in Colorado. There she meets Roman. The scars covering his outside match the scars covering her insides. The towns people are just as interesting. I love Aunt May! This book has so much feelings, angst, actions and steamy scenes. This was such a great story!
3.5 Stars
Gin’s Tonic was a solid debut novel. I connected with Gin, I could feel her emotions. I just wanted to hug her and tell her it was going to be ok. The plot flowed well. I loved the secondary characters. My only problem was connecting with Roman. I think having a character with his issues means we need his POV in the story. I still read this story in a day, it kept my interest all the way though. All in all a great debut!
Gin had suffered unimaginable loss and she goes on a road trip to find herself again. She meets Roman and recognises a kindred spirit. and they are like puzzle pieces which fit together perfectly. This is a beautifully written tale which is filled with loss, betrayal, heartbreak, angst, unconditional love. I was intrigued throughout this addictive page turner. This story is not for the feint-at-heart so be aware that this story of a sensitive nature and may contain triggers for some. and may contain triggers for some.
THIS IS MY 100th READ IN 2020!
Follow me on INSTAGRAM: burningdesire_x3 where I’ll soon be soon announcing a giveaway with this book front and center! Stay tuned!
Strong Women, Diversity & Hot Guys: My Wet Dream Come True LOL
*arc generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*
“I still get lonely
And baby, only then do I let myself recline
Can I let go, and let your memory dance
In the ballroom of my mind?
Across the county line.”
13 Beaches – Lana Del Rey
What’s this book about? (I’m trying to give as little spoilers as possible)
Gin had it all and then she was left with nothing. When tragedy strikes for Gin, it takes everything she ever wanted. Now, she needs to move on. Easier said than done. She meets Roman and she falls for him, but she can’t shake the feeling that she’s not enough. Is there a silver lining on her horizon?
THIS STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE; EXPLICIT CONTENT, SELF-HARM THOUGHTS AFTER EXTREME & TRAGIC LOSS.
“It hurts to love you, but I still love you
It’s just the way I feel
And I’d be lying if I kept hiding
The fact that I can’t deal
And that I’ve been dying
For something real
That I’ve been dying for something real.”
13 Beaches – Lana Del Rey
This is my first book by Olivia Owen; this is her debut novel. This story came to me through Instagram when the lovely author messaged me about it! Thank god, she did! Something would be missing if I hadn’t read this story. I needed it.
WHERE DO I EVEN START? WHERE? Ok. Let’s start with the general ideas. This was a page-turner for me, to the point of being unable to put it down at night. I went to sleep and when I woke up, I WAS LIKE ‘GIMME GIN’S TONIC NOW. WHAT HAPPENS TO GIN? I WANNA KNOW!’ There was happening after happening in the story, keeping you on your toes throughout. It’s a slow burn, but there’s definitely action to keep you afloat. The author built a world here that is just lovely. It drew you in from page one. I can’t wait to see where she takes the next instalments of this series! This read, as you can see from the trigger warnings, is especially emotional. It slaps you left and right. There’s so much tragedy in these characters that I can’t help but applaud their adversity once they get out of that dark hole. This isn’t a happy story, but it is pretty hilarious at times. I empathized with Gin from the first chapter to the epilogue. Her tragic backstory is heart-breaking. This is told form her perspective only and I think that’s a pretty good statement right there. I have a soft spot for imperfect leading heroines/heroes. This woman was immensely self-aware in all of her faults and I couldn’t help but cheer for her to find her peace. She’s definitely in my top five heroines of the year!
Her chemistry with the leading man was OFF THE CHAINS. As slow burn go, when these two joined forces, WOWOWOWOWOWOOWOWOW. The steam was so hot that I feared my fire alarm would go off. What a leading man… He was hot, brooding and complex, a perfect addition to the heroine.
The entire set-up of this story follows a small and gossipy but superbly cute town in Colorado. The people there were adorable, funny and dramatic. Gin’s interactions with them were amusing and entertaining. I can’t wait for more of their stories.
Another aspect that I loved in this novel was the fact that this sounds like a modern novel. There is diversity of all kinds. Women support women. Women save themselves. Characters are self-aware. Characters try to communicate their issues (at the end, lol, but it’s never too late). Men aren’t hated on as if they’re the root of all evil, but they’re not forgiven for each stupid mistake they commit either. I love the messages that this story sends out. It’s dark and painful to read what happened to these characters, but Gin takes you along the colourful ride with LOVE. It’s easy to include diversity in your story. A touch here. A touch there. No tokenisms. AUTHORS, GET THE HINT. I’m on the look-out for more stories with diverse casts and when this author releases her next story, I’m definitely reading it!
I recommend this read to readers like me who are thirsty for diversity in their novels, admirers of tortured leads with lots of healing in their future and lovers of an emotionally captivating story.
I received an ARC of this book for an honest review.
This is Olivia’s debut novel and I have to say, it is intense. The opening to the book is raw, powerful and will pull the emotions out of you without even trying. You want to know more, you have to. You feel for Virginia, aka Gin. You want to reach through the book and hug her. All of these powerful emotions are evoked just from the first few pages.
As Gin moves through the story, you continue to feel every impact of emotion that Olivia is trying to portray through this character. It is intense and raw. The impact is soul consuming, making you want so much more for her, for Roman. For everyone.
That being said, I am not a huge fan of single POV. I do understand where some author’s use it and why they use it, I just feel like I am always missing half of the story when I don’t get both sides of it. It didn’t take away from this book at all, it is just as intense as it should be, it is just a personal preference. Olivia does address this at the end of the book and I agree with her assessment on using a singular point of view, I just wish I had more of Roman’s side of things.
This book does have some triggers, so be cautious when reading it. I won’t give anything away as this is a new release, but just be mindful of these situations when they occur.
Four stars for this intense, raw and powerful read that will definitely have you feeling all the emotions possible.
Olivia Owen is one to watch! Her debut novel blew me away! After taking a peek at the first chapter, I abandoned the book I was reading and dove head-first into Gin & Roman’s enthralling story! There was so much devastation and heartbreak, but tempered with redemption and love and healing….and a terrific supporting group of townsfolk that I’m excited to read more about! For sure one of my top five reads of 2020! I am SO GRATEFUL to Hidden Gems Books for my early review copy, and for finding a new favorite author! My opinion is enthusiastically honest and left voluntarily.