I loved him before I knew what the word meant. From skinned knees to first dates and everything in between. But he was never mine to love. I settled for friendship, even though I always wanted more. That was before. Before he ripped my world apart and didn’t bother sticking around to help me pick up the pieces. I knit every last shred back together all on my own. And I’ve all but forgotten his …
And I’ve all but forgotten his name.
Now, he’s back, and everything is torn apart once more.
But he’s not the only one doing the tearing this time.
And there might be no stopping the person who has it out for us both.
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This first book in Catherine Cowles new series made me laugh, cry and wish for more. So many mistakes, so many wrong decisions, but in the end family is first. Not necessarily blood family, but family’s of the heart.
Isabelle, her sister Violet and Ford Hardy were pretty close to inseparable. Violet and Ford were seriously dating and getting ready to go off to college. Isabelle loved Ford, but knew it would go nowhere. Then tragedy changed everything.
It had been eleven years, Ford was owner of several very successful clubs in the L.A. area, and has never returned back to Anchor Island. Isabelle, now Bell works in the Hardy’s bar and grill The Catch. She has a circle of very special friends, and living a life she hadn’t expected, but is happy enough. She’s very close to Ford’s family, especially Hunter, his younger brother. She can never forget what happened, but realizes life goes on. That is, until Ford shows up at the bar, to help out while his dad is recovering from a stroke. He’d left her when she needed him the most, never a call or visit. She didn’t think she could ever forgive him for that. But, fate had other plans, again.
Small town, romance and just enough suspense to make this book very difficult to put down……can’t wait for the next.
Pat Fordyce
While reading Reckless Memories, I experienced this overflowing rush of emotion and a flutter of feelings I wasn’t expecting.
The prologue alone took a firm grip on my heart—the glimpse of a special friendship, a hint of forbidden feelings, and then the crushing moment lives were turned upside down. I was whole-heartedly invested and found myself reading a passage or a page, any chance I had.
I’m not going to dive into a bunch of detail because this book was such a welcome surprise, and I hope others have the same experience I did. But just know, Bell Kipton and Ford Hardy’s story was both beautifully devastating and heartwarming. The connection and love between these two was a quiet build until it was a force that couldn’t be ignored, and the touch of suspense woven into their story was addicting. I loved everything about this book and can’t wait to see what else comes from this series! Reckless Memories is definitely one of my favorite books of the year so far!
5 + “Trouble and Cupcake” stars
*ARC kindly provided by the author and I’m leaving an honest review*
Angsty
Passionate
Intense
Heartfelt
Emotional
All-consuming
Suspenseful
Small town
Friends to lovers
Unforgettable
Amazing love story
“Maybe you’ve just been missing the things that give life heart. It’s not always the big, glamorous accomplishments. Sometimes, it’s the everyday things that have meaning.”
Reckless Memories is the first book in a new series Wrecked by Catherine Cowles. This was completely brilliant, compelling, raw, breathtaking, at times heartbreaking story and such a wonderful read which I can’t express how much I loved. It is without a doubt one of my favorite books I have read this month and so far this year. Catherine has a real talent to pull your attention from the start, keep your interest and make you guessing what will happen next. It was written in first person, dual POV. What I loved about this story is that it wasn’t just a love story between Ford and Bell but also a road of self-discovery, self-doubting, forgiveness, loyalty, love, family and friendship. It was an enjoyable read with some twists, while delivering an intense, passionate romance and love story between Ford and Bell that I devoured in one sitting. The characters are brilliant, complex – layered and so likeable.
Ford and Bell! How much I loved and adored them. They were best friends growing up. So when tragedy strikes Bell loses the only person who believes in her – Ford. Ford Hardy left Anchor Island when he was eighteen years old. In all these years he never came back because memories haunted him and were too much for him. Bell attended college but then she came back to Anchor Island. She manages The Catch Bar & Restaurant for The Hardys. In some way Ford’s parents were more parents to her than her own. She respects them and has a wonderful relationship with them. Ford has a several bars which kept him occupied from the memories and bad thoughts. When Ford’s brother Hunter calls him and tells him it’s time for him to come back and help, Ford doesn’t have much choice but to confront his past.
“I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it’s these things I’d believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn’t all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything.”― F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bell and Ford aren’t the same people they once were. They are changed by what happened to them. Their friendship from the flashbacks was really amazing and adorable. They understood and supported each other. They were each other’s person. Now all they have left is betrayal, guilt, unresolved emotions and pain. They had a complicated, less than perfect do-over but after they got to know each other, they started to develop feelings and to see the real persons behind their mask and layers. They lit the pages with their chemistry, sassiness, banter and the way they called each other out. They are each other’s match, sinfully sexy and intense. Neither of them in the beginning is looking for a relationship, only to try to be friends again, but the feelings got involved / realization of the feelings that they might have for each other. Their timing might be a little off with everything that was happening but they clicked and simply understand each other. Their journey together isn’t easy. It is filled with a few obstacles and their past/memories were holding them back. I loved how they blossomed and thrived, got their chance at love and a new beginning. The ending was perfect for them.
INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL! It kept my attention at all times and I could not put it down. I completely adored Reckless Memories, Bell and Ford. It was addictive, angsty, slow burn, sinfully sexy and intense, suspenseful, emotional, heartbreaking, enthralling and raw with real characters and a lot of heart and heartbreak. With relatable, wonderful and marvelous primary and secondary characters, an effortless writing, awe-inspiring details and a journey of self-doubting, finding love again, secrets, second chances, mystery and suspense, the author takes us on an emotional and beautiful journey of the characters, their struggles and their self-discovery. It’s filled with so much love, heart and heat, effortless and poignant writing with compelling and gripping storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it. Can’t wait for Perfect Wreckage, Kenna and Crosby.
Catherine Cowles has mastered small town suspense romances!
Every time I read one of her books it makes me long for that small town experience. I love the closeness and importance of family one gets when they are in a small town so you know you’ll get that whenever you read anything by this author.
Reckless Memories is an unpredictable, heart-breaking, and passionate story about two characters, Ford and Bell who had an amazing friendship when they were younger but was then lost after a tragic accident that changed them and their friendship. 10 years pass by and Ford comes back to town only to find that Bell has changed–she’s not the same anymore and he learns that his feelings for her are much different now so Catherine takes you on a steamy, yet mysterious ride throughout the book keeping you on your toes.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I can’t wait for the next book in the series.
*Received an ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review*
Catherine Cowles has done it again. I give this book a 5+ heartwarming stars for Reckless Memories as it had my emotions in a tight hold as Ford and Isabelle reconnect and heal together from their shared past. This friends to estranged best friends to lovers romance will have you believing in second chances, the power of healing and love. The author has penned such a heartfelt romance that will have you fully invested in the journey the couple go through. They learn to mourn the loss of the past and the one they loved unconditionally. This is a book that you definitely need to read!
5 STARS
This is such a heartfelt story between two characters that are still mourning the loss of time and friendship due to losing someone they both loved. Bell and Ford’s story gave me all the feels and I’m glad that they get their second chance at something more than the platonic connection that they shared in their youth. Reckless Memories by Catherine Cowles is an EPIC read and will join the ranks of the BIBLIO-ARISTOCRACY!!!
Reckless Memories by Author Catherine Cowles is book one in the Wrecked Series. It is romantic suspense and can be read as a stand-alone.
Isabelle (Bell) is a young girl when we meet her. She lives in a house of high expectations and feels that she follows in the shadows of perfection. This well crafted story begins with her having a crush on and loving her older, off limits best friend. He is one of the only people in life that gets her and understands her perfectly.
When tragedy strikes your life and shreds it beyond recognition you have to mend it back together. Bell carefully and methodically stitches her life back together. She does it stitch by stitch and seam by seam creating a new landscape to her life. What happens when one of the reasons you had to recreate yourself returns and stretches the seams, pulls on the stitches to your heart and makes you question your sanity?
Ford is that best friend. He is the one that left, never to be seen again until all these years later. After he left, when tragedy struck, and stole so much, Bell was hurt and alone. Now she is just angry at him. When he returns she is spitting mad and doesn’t shy away from showing it!
Bell and Ford are constantly drawn together and fighting to ignore the magnetic pull that they have to each other. Through it all they experience and wade through longing, grief, redemption and forgiveness. They work their way through tension, what if’s and what nows. While they are doing this a person in the background is working to draw them apart, to sever the ties that bind and punish them both. The murderous intentions are around every corner, curve and never ending.
Author Cowles delivered a captivating story with Reckless Memories that is everything that I didn’t know that I needed. With the scary time we are living in and social distancing in place I have been very sad. This book took me on a journey and vacation to a magical place in an uncertain time. It was the exact escape that I needed. It filled my heart and nurtured my soul. Bravo and thank you.
Beautiful story about moving beyond unimaginable hurts to take a chance on love.
Catherine Cowles gets better and better
Reckless Memories by Catherine Cowles is yet another terrific book by Ms. Cowles. It’s the first book in a new series, but (*bonus*) has tie-ins to her previous books (if you haven’t read them, bump them up on your TBR).
Thank goodness I started to read this on a weekend. I don’t know how I would have imagined putting it down to work! I was drawn in immediately and found myself rooting for Bell and Ford from the start. Ms. Cowles knocked it out of the park with this one!
She artfully and creatively created realistic characters that immediately found a way in my heart. Ford is a man living with the guilt of a teen, needing redemption, but afraid to hope. Bell is living half a life, avoiding anything that might bring painful memories to life. She’s spent her adult life trying to avoid her hypercritical mother and distant father while letting Ford’s parents pull her in as an adoptive member of her family.
Reckless Memories is a beautiful story about moving beyond unimaginable heart wrecking pains of the past to take a chance on love. It’s got family, healing, revenge, second chance, and true-blue friends … with suspense, romance, and sigh-worthy witty dialogue and declarations of love that are heart stopping in their honesty.
This book gets 5 stars for me given that my re-read of favorite passages started immediately. I’ve been in a bit of a book hangover ever since I finished (all 8 times) and I know I’ll reach for it when I need to settle my mind again.
I hope Ms. Cowles is resting up and is soon to start book #2
I received an ARC. This is my honest review
Catherine Cowles
“It’s impossible for you to live in someone’s shadow, Iz. You shine way too damn bright. You’re both your own unique brand of perfect”
You can see why she was in love with him before she knew what that was. The story starts with a flashback to their high school days. Ford and Bell have known each other their whole lives and their relationship was unique. As children they were friends and Ford had been dating her sister Violet until an awful accident took her away from them. After the accident, Ford left and started a new life in Los Angeles, where we met him in Further to Fall. At the start of the book, Ford is asked to return home to help his family business on Anchor Island. Returning home can be a challenge but Ford has avoided it and Bell since the event that upended both their lives. Their journey to a new relationship was well crafted with both his guilt and her feelings of loss after the accident.
As they begin to rebuild their lives, there are several strange incidents that show even if they are working through the fallout from years ago, someone is still holding on to that pain and sense of betrayal. As the threats begin to escalate, Ford and Bell become stronger together and with their friends on Anchor Island they look to find out who is harassing them. This added the right amount of action and suspense to the story. I cannot wait to continue with the series, as there are some interesting secondary characters on Anchor Island.
As you might have figured, I am an enormous fan of this author and her books. I received this ARC directly from the author as part of her ARC team.
I really wasn’t sure when I started reading the reason that Belle and Ford would need a second chance., but I soon found out. This is the first book in a series, but readers of Catherine’s other series will have met Ford before. The story has an air of suspense as the story unfolds. Dual point of view. No cliffhanger.
This is book one in The Wrecked series. What a fantastic opening story! This is Ford and Bell’s journey. Falling in love with your childhood friend but never having the courage to express feelings. Experiencing the feeling of being literally torn apart and not having that friend to lean on to help you mend back together. You make it, you become whole again. Now he is back and you have shattered into pieces again but it is not why you think. This book absolutely floored me. I could not get over the feelings that I felt and shared along with the characters, I swear I was right there and even them at times. The suspense was amazing, just when I thought I knew what was going to happen…..yeah, nope, with a twist of the wrist, the author has you taking another road. A must read, enjoy!
I voluntarily read and reviewed this book as an ARC that I received from Hidden Gems.
While I was sad to see the end of Catherine Cowles’ Sutter Lake series, I was excited to jump into Reckless Memories. She writes great small town romance with protective heroes and strong heroines.
Ford and Bell were best friends when they were younger until he walked away when she needed him the most. When he returns to town years later they have to rebuild their relationship in order to have a second chance at something long lasting.
While they deal with all the issues in their past, they must also contend with someone else who is after them. I am not usually a fan of romantic suspense, but Catherine Cowles does it so well. It feels like the mystery is woven into the story and actually matters versus tacked on at the end.
Reckless Memories is an excellent start to the Wrecked series and I can’t wait to read the next book.
Thank you to the author for providing an ARC for an honest review.
Oh, man. This book has alot of tug and pull moments. However, I also think these moments woven together are what makes this book beautifully written. The smooth story line, the character’s chemistry and the endless devotion between family and friends gives you a different feel compared to your everyday romance. You will not be disappointed.
This is the first book in a new series of standalones, with glimpses of characters you know and love from Catherine Cowles’s other books. Catherine has quickly become a go to author for me as I always know I’m going to get a story that’s emotional, sweet, sexy, and steamy, with wonderful characters, amazing friendships, angst, laughter, witty banter, mystery and suspense…she hits every single mark for a must read romance!
They may have survived tragedy but drowning in grief and guilt, Isabelle (Bell) and Ford succumbed to loss, including the loss of their friendship.
When Ford returns home after more than a decade, only to discover that he no longer knows Bell because she’s grown up, changed, and so different than the young girl he left behind. What they once meant to each other appears to mean nothing, with the void between them seemingly insurmountable. Is it possible to get over all the hurt feelings without inflicting new hurt? Once they’re able to start their friendship over, it’s complicated by new feelings that run far deeper than friendship. Both believing they can never be more than friends, they hold back…once again, guilt from the past stands in the way.
They travel down a very bumpy and scary path while learning to trust again, but it leads to a second chance at a love that was meant to be!
I could not have been happier to find out which couple the next book in the series is going to be about!
Rate: 5 / 5 stars
I had been dying to finally dive into this one. I completely fell in love with Catherine Cowles early this year and quickly read her whole backlist, so I was super excited to start this new series. You guys know how much I love friends to lovers and emotional reads so put them together and we have my perfect book! And this one sure was perfect! It was Catherine at her best – small town romance, a beautiful love story, a touch of suspense, an amazing group of friends and some delicious angst and emotion mixed in!
Ford and Belle are childhood friends who lost touch for ten years after a tragic event that completely changed their lives. Getting to see these two see each other again after so long and living their emotions through them and the hurt that was still there over what happened and the next ten years of silence that followed wow talk about emotional. Their pain was so alive, you could feel it in the pages whenever they were together. It was amazing to see them work through all that pain and misery surrounding them, watching them let go of the guilt and hurt they caused each other, watching them get back their friendship and evolve into more like they were always meant to way back then. It was just a beautiful story about second chances, family, grief and a love that was written across the stars!
Catherine Cowles never fails to steal my heart with her heroes and heroines. Her small town romances always hit the spot, they are everything I look for in a book – sweet, emotional and just plain fantastic! Reckless Memories was an amazing start to a new series and as always I’m already dying to see where it takes us next! I already fell in love with the secondary characters so I’m super excited for all the books to come. Next up is an enemies to lovers and from the bits we already got of them in this book, it’s bound to be such a fun one!
Reckless Memories kicks off a brand new series, and if this first book is any indication it is going to be incredible.
Bell and Ford’s story is told over decades, starting as teenagers before tragedy rips them apart for 11 years. From friendship to love and every emotion in between, their story is heartbreaking and beautiful, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
I adored these characters! Bell is so unbelievably strong, facing the worst kind of heartbreak head-on & embracing every scar it left. I loved how she stood her ground, and never let others sway her beliefs and tear her down. And Ford was the epitome of the tortured hero, leaving his home & family behind in an attempt to punish himself for sins that weren’t his. These characters had undeniable chemistry, and I loved the will they or won’t they factor as they both came to terms with their past, present & future.
There is one element of this story I didn’t love, but it’s a completely personal preference. And even with that as a factor, this story is still basically perfect in my opinion. I loved the characters and the writing, and I couldn’t put it down. I could have read another 100 pages and still begged for more!
I only discovered Catherine Cowles a few months ago, but she has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I can’t wait to read what’s next!
There really aren’t words to describe this book and Ms. Cowles’s words. Each book I read I love more and more and this book is no different. I have to admit I was sad to leave Sutter Lake but man, now I want to move to Anchor Island and I’m ok being in a new place with new characters. And boy these characters. Bell and Ford, yes Ford. I remember him from the beginning and I love that we got his story! Anyways, their life. From the very beginning of this book I was hooked and my heart was pretty much bleeding. But what Ms. Cowles’ does best is putting your heart back together when reading. And she did that and then some. I adore the crap out of these two and their friends. And I can’t wait for more. Maybe they’ll be a little easier on the heart. But then again, a book where I can cry and laugh at the same time is one I’ll never regret reading. It means it’s one of the good ones. One that can get multiple emotions from me is one I will never forget. Ford and Bell are stuck in my heart and I will love them and this book always! And I really want to take a trip to Anchor Island!!!
I received a copy of this arc for my honest review.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about this book at first. Isabelle has loved Ford since she was a teenager, but he was dating her sister. After a tragic accident Ford disappears for many years only to come back to help with the family business and run into Isabelle who has been working there. Isabelle can’t forgive him for leaving her when she needed him most. Too many memories have them both finding each other’s friendship again and when they find out the truth about the past, will they be able to hold onto each other?
I thought this book was going to be predictable. Boy was I ever wrong. CC does it again with another fantastic read!
Reckless Memories is a story of second chances and living life to the fullest. This small town romance starts off with tragedy for young friends Ford and Bell. Years later, when brought back together, they must learn to navigate this new way of life together. This book also had some mystery thrown in when scary things start to happen in the normally quiet town. Catherine Cowles wrote their situation in a beautiful way and I’m looking forward to the next book in this series!
This is my first book by this author but now it won’t be my last. I am so glad I started with this one because it took me somewhere else while also keeping me grounded and full of emotions. Ford and Bell are everything but life has a way of bringing you down when you least expect it. I felt everything with them as they found themselves getting to know each other again while letting go of past hurts. What a page turner!