Can dreams ever truly die?Garrett’s dreams could have ended with the loss of his leg.Yet he’s behind the bar, working towards his own restaurant—and someone to share his life with.Lilah forgot how to dream.Her abusive boyfriend trapped her in a life without a future. Until a chance meeting with Garrett stirs a longing for more.But their timing sucks, and when Lilah winds up broken and alone a few … more.
But their timing sucks, and when Lilah winds up broken and alone a few days after Valentine’s Day, she has to reclaim her dreams on her own.
You’ll love this touching tale of love after abuse.
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Love and Libations is the second book in the Holiday and Heroes series, but each book can be read as a complete standalone.
WARNING: Love and Libations contains scenes of domestic violence and abuse that may be disturbing to sensitive readers.
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Lilah and Garrett have a lot to overcome to find their happy ending but their physical and emotional journeys make their love story even more satisfyingly sweet and touching. Lilah is an abused woman trying to find herself again and Garrett is the hero who has known the pain of loss and of rejection. He is truly wonderful and supportive as she tries to fight the demons of her past. This excellent, well-written story is another great read by Patricia D. Eddy. I loved it.
I am voluntarily reviewing an advance reader copy of this book.
I loved this book! I don’t usually read vampire stories but this one caught my attention. This is my first book by this author but I will definitely be looking for more in the future. A well written book with interesting well developed characters that intrigued me. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
“There’s more to life than getting by. Believe me. I’ve been there. Barely living. Existing. And that’s all you’re doing, darlin’. Existing.”
This book was equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting. Eddy’s ability to make her characters and their inner demons come across so realistically is an immediate draw into the story. There were parts of the story that, by design, were difficult to get through, but the journey that Lilah – and to a lesser extent, Garrett – takes is so inspiring, even to one who hasn’t faced true abuse.
So many of us have heard that our dreams or goals don’t matter. Maybe not even from the outside, but from that inner voice that pushes aside our own needs for others. This book served as a fantastic reminder that we are all good enough, that our dreams are good enough even when they don’t appeal to others, and that there is always a strength somewhere deep within.
I enjoyed this quick read, and I loved the heat between Lilah and Garrett, right from the start.
As a bartender, Garrett is used to seeing people drinking away their problems, but when he man he stops serving ends up being an abusive boyfriend, Garrett draws the line of staying neutral. But when Garrett tries to help save Lilah from the abuse, he ends up in harms way himself. Knowing that Lilah is safe makes the time fly but when they finally reconnect quite a few months later although gun shy Lilah understands he is not like her last boyfriend. But will it be enough for Lilah to want to try again? Or will Garrett always be a connection to her past? Filled with heart wrenching moments this was another great book from Patricia D. Eddy. She always seems to write her characters in such a way that the reader cannot help but feel the connection and only want them to find their HEA.
Patricia D Eddy has written a well crafted love story dealing with domestic violence, emotional abuse and its ramifications for the victim. She also interweaves the element of dealing with a catastrophic injuury and using a prosthetic device. I loved Garret’s easy going, southern gentleman charm, his caring attitudes, and protective nature. Lilah’s struggle to overcome the torment heaped upon her by her ex was terribly sad. As she learned to trust again, her setbacks were heartbreaking.. i liked Garret and Lilah as a couple and rooted for them throughout the book.
There was so much packed into this book and you just got sucked into the world of Garrette and Lilah. They are both damaged people trying to heal and Garrett meets Lilah when she needed him most, but he walks away as he knows she has a lot of healing to do. Will they meet again or will they just stay as a lustful memory to each other. Definitely have the tissues handy for this one!
First, apologies to the author. I thought I’d already reviewed this here.
This was, and still is, a favorite book of mine, not only of Patricia Eddy’s, but straight across the board. Love and Libations has very strong character development starting with Garrett, who is missing a leg, but still intends on having his dream of his own bar/restaurant come true. The steadfastness and the determination the character shows throughout this book is inspiring. While he knows his physical limitations, he doesn’t acknowledge that he HAS others. He was written with the inner drive that we all like to read about. Then there’s Lilith. Oh my, she is so wounded at the beginning that you’re not sure whether to feel sorry for her or slap her alongside the head to get her to move! But the way Ms Eddy wrote her, I felt uplifted watching her grow and learn how to be HER, and not a victim any more.
The pacing in this book was very good, and I know that because I read it in one sitting, the read it again the next day. Then I read it again not too long ago, just because I needed something to read that I knew would make me feel good.
Once again, Ms. Eddy did an admirable job with a tough topic and with characters that could have gone awry and didn’t.
Amazing book from an amazing author. Highly recommend this book!
Tackling abuse of any kind in a relatively short story is a feat not many should tackle. In this story it was covered pretty well. I liked that both MC’s were very real and despite their inner strength, there were quite a few vulnerabilities. It made them much more relatable. Garrett is captivated from the start and for good reason. Lilah is written very well. While she is in an abusive relationship and can’t see the full extent of how bad things are going to get, she’s a spitfire when she has her back against the wall. It shows that she’s a survivor once her eyes are truly opened to her situation. What she sees in Garrett is safety but that safety scares her. I liked Garrett’s approach and reactions in every single moment. He was an understanding hero that is truly worthy of love, compassion, and support. Lilah’s fear does get the best of her and I didn’t appreciate Roe’s interference at all. To look out for Garrett is good, but for Roe to berate someone who is healing from trauma and reacted badly (to the words that came out of Roe’s own mouth, by the way) wasn’t helpful or endearing or supportive. Aside from that, I enjoyed this read and was grateful for the tact and honesty used to describe and write about an abusive relationship.
Dreams don’t die if you work for them
This is my 6th book by Patricia and love an author who writes in dual point of view. Garrett is a vet with a self-image issue over his prosthesis, who bartends while he saves money to open his own bar. Lilah is in an abusive relationship with her own self-image issues. Lilah and Garrett meet when Lilah’s boyfriend gets out of hand at the bar and she had to pick him up. Garrett suspects an abusive boyfriend and asks Lilah if she wants to leave with her boyfriend to which she replies she can handle him. Lilah eventually leaves the boyfriend after Garrett saves her, and moves on with taking back her life. Garrett opens his own bar to which Lilah and her friends walk into one night. Will Lilah let Garrett into her life? Will they get over their self-image issues? You have to read to find out and will enjoy all the twist and turns of the plot!
Dreams don’t die…
I loved this story but it was a very emotional read for me. Lilah and her “situation” brought back memories of someone I knew years ago. My only hope is that she,like Lilah, eventually found someone like Garrett too. What can I say about Garrett? I guess..”Wow!” and that I wish there were more good men like him. Yes, I know this was only a book but Ms. Eddy wrote a story that really “touched” something inside me.
*I received an Advance Reader’s Copy of this book via Hidden Gems which I am voluntarily reviewing*
Bourbon, bruises, and breakthroughs
Patricia Eddy has a thing or two to say about domestic violence. Love and Libations is the story of Lilah who, like most victims, was seduced by her own guilt into staying with a man who verbally and emotionally ground her to dust. The abuser drinks at the bar where is a bartender. He meets Lilah when she comes to take her drunken boyfriend home. The abuser spirals out of control, ends up physically attacking Lilah and Garret, and the war for Lilah’s freedom – and Garret’s heart, is on . Garret is an Iraqi veteran who lost a leg, but not his dreams and not his sense of self. Against all odds, he gets through to Lilah, and catalyzes her journey to recovery – but the journey to love is a much longer and harder road. Despite all the boozin’ and bruisin’, Garret and Lilah’s slow-burn romance is the real focus of the story – along with the inner journey each must make to find love, trust, and HEA. Garret is a hero worthy of the name – a beautiful soul with a wise and loving heart, and there’s nothing wrong with his looks, either. Lilah is a woman/work in progress – her growth and her healing are a beautiful counterpoint to Garret’s caring and nurturing. Emotionally real, smoothly written, with a satisfying finish – Love and Libations is the perfect spicy-sweet cocktail for contemporary romance fans. My thanks to Hidden Gems for the ARC, and this review is voluntary, independent, and uncompensated.
What an amazing and powerful story. The storyline of emotional and physical abuse is authentic and raw. Lilah’s psychological and mental well-being are tested to their limits by her boyfriend, Danny. Garrett, the bartender and all around good guy sees Lilah and Danny’s relationship for what it is and is not and helps Lilah in a significant way. The relationships between these characters is simple in context and complicated in nature.
This is a really good and extremely well written story that mixes a heavy dose of reality with the fairy tale ending. I highly recommend this book.
This is a wonderful story but I have to say that if you are a woman that is in a situation or have been in the situation of emotional and or physical abuse from your partner this book may set off triggers for you. This book is a story of one woman’s journey from the abusive relationship, and the man that had helped to be get herself free of it. It took her a while to get over the emotional abuse for it had happen over years add to that early on in her relationship with Danny she was in a mugging gone wrong. She was 20 weeks pregnant and the attack not only took her baby but also the ability to have any more children. Now we as women who desire children to have something like this to happen is emotionally damaging in it’s self.
Garrett himself has had to fight his own demeans. Having lost most of his leg in an explosion that took out the hummer that he was in and killed his best friend he still has to struggle with some of the PSD that had resulted from it, and the two years that he spent hating his life until a friend of his helped him to pull it together again and he started back on the road to health.
Danny her boyfriend at the time was coming on a regular basis to the bar the Garret James was working at as a bartender. Danny was a lousy drunk and they were repeatedly having to kick him out for his behavior. This is how Garret meets Lilal the girlfriend of Danny whom he verbally abuses each chance he gets. Garrett tries to tell her to leave him that she is worth so much more than the way that he is treating her. It all comes to a head however around Valentines day where Danny brings her to the bar leaves her and joins his friends to drinking. Later as Garrett is driving down the road it is poring down rain and it is cold; walking down the side walk is a figure huddled down trying to protect the groceries that she has and he recognizes her as Lilahl. He pulls the truck over and has her get in. She doesn’t have a car Danny made sure of that and for some reason the bus did not come to the stop so she was walking the 4 miles to their apartment. Turning up the heat to try and warm her they arrive at the apartment complex and Danny comes out pulls Lilah out of the truck and begins to physically beat her. Garrett comes out to try and help her and Danny turns on him in between beating Lilah. At one point she took off running but unable to see where she was going with Danny chasing after her she runs out into traffic and is hit by a car. This is the beginning of her journey to healing both physically and mentally. Garrett contacted one of the few friends that was on her phone and had her flown in to be with Liliah. He knew that it would not help her for him to stay around that she needed to find herself first.
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It was a year before she finally saw him again and it was all by accident though she had gone back to the bar that he had worked at but he was not longer there. You see he pursued his own dream to open his own bar that served dinners as well. Libations is it’s name and it is the place that she and her friend chose to celebrate her new book being published. Now the rest of the story is for you to read. Is she able to over come her demons that Danny has instilled in her especially since he sent goons to attack both her and Garrett? It is a fantastic story if you are willing to chance your own triggers I know I had to deal with a few of my own. It is a story of healing, growth, and love. A story that needs to be read. At the end of the book if you are a woman in one of these relationships know that you are not alone, there are many of use out there that have experienced some of what you are experiencing. There are places that you can go for help, please consider them before the violence get to the point of life and death.
If you have a soft spot for military romances then his is one for you to read.
It is a hot, sexy and funny book in places. It also deals very well with domestic violence.
Great story.
Highly recommend
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book
By far, my favorite Patricia Eddy Book to date. Lilah is so relatable to anyone who suffers from mental health issues with the hardships and trying to remain strong at the same time, and the Garrett is the hero we all dream about. I’ve read this book several times and I’ve only had it a few months! I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who loves military men, sexy heartfelt romances and cocktail recipes!
Lilah and Garrett are finding that baggage is best handled when you have someone to help you carry the load. Lilah knows deep down that Danny treats her terribly. He constantly berates her and puts her down. His drinking has gotten out of control and he has basically cut her off from the outside world. She stays out of misguided obligation and the conditioning he has been controlling her with. When she meets Garrett after one of Danny’s drunken exploits, her eyes are opened for the first time in a long time to what a real man should look like. Garrett can see as plain as day that Lilah is hurting. She has a beautiful spirit that is being crushed and he would like nothing more than to nurture it for her. All he can do is give her the tools and encouragement to make decision for herself, ultimately the choice needs to be her own. When Danny takes a completely innocent situation out of context and shows his true colors, it makes Garrett fly into action to protect Lilah. Lilah’s wings may have been clipped but she can still fly, but learning to stand on her own feet is going to be a hard but worth it if she can find the recipe for HEA.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book.
Second book on the Holiday and Heroes by Patricia D. Eddy and I got to say I enjoyed it as much as the previous one. I admit that I knew Mac from other stories but Garrett and Lilah did a pretty good job in their own way to make me fall for this book, from beginning to end.
The two main characters where realistic, each in their own way. Not only that but I also got the feeling that they were relatable because of their backgrounds. I felt mostly for Lilah because of the abuse she was living in and how things evolved for her. The good thing is that this story had a happy ending.
The writing was well done and on point. I didn’t feel like there was too much talking of any particular topic, even when Lilah kept thinking of her situation and how things went. It can be annoying when a protagonist can’t get out of her own way, fortunately that didn’t happen here.
I would recommend this book but at the same time, I have to say this have some triggers when it comes to violence and drunkenness combined.
*I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review*
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a fantastic read that leads u thru military disabilies and verbal and phsical abuse. Both more common than u know. They both had struggles to go thru to be together. I’ve never been thru abuse but my mother has and witnessed most of it So this may be a trigger for some. I enjoyed this read very much and felt like I was there with them. Being in the military I saw a lot of amputees in my time.