His life is chaos and confusion. It’s a storm of uncertainty and raging emotion. Sutton Warner is a mess. Everything in his life feels like it’s unraveling.He’s let a lot of people down lately, including his daughter. Sutton always promised his little girl he would never disappoint her and that he would always be there when she needed him. Until he wasn’t.The truth is, he’s used to disappointing … truth is, he’s used to disappointing the women in his life. First was his mother who couldn’t find a reason to stick around when he was growing up. Then there’s his ex. The woman who takes unbridled delight in making his life incredibly complicated. Luckily, his daughter is still young enough to believe her old man is some kind of hero. But, he knows the day is coming when she realizes the truth, which is, he’s just a man with some serious flaws and a list of ever-growing weaknesses.
Finally, there’s the woman he’s desperately trying to forget with every shot tossed back and each pill popped.
He more than disappointed Emrys…he almost got her killed.
Her love is steady and sure. It’s a shelter shaped by conviction and silent assurance.
Emrys Santos is lost. Everything in her life feels pointless and futile.
She’s been busy running away from her feelings and all the people who love her the most—including her best friend, the one person who knows exactly what she’s been through. They promised to always stick together and to lean on one another. It was a promise Em had to break so she could lick her wounds and figure out her next move. For once, there is no easy way out of the tangled web of emotions she’s caught up in, and right now, she recognizes that all roads lead back to Wyoming…and back to Sutton.
The man she nearly got killed.
Shelter is a standalone novel, the second book in the Getaway series, which features the hardheaded and brokenhearted Warner brothers and the women who dare to love them. These boys are very good at putting the wild in wilderness.
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Love Sutton
I absolutely loved Sutton even with his faults. He dug himself out of a dark place and came out with a happily ever after. Nothing better then a HEA.
Picking up where Retreat leaves off, Shelter is the second book in the Getaway series. It can be read as a stand alone, as it contains a summary of events from Retreat.
Shelter is the story of Sutton, the middle Warner brother, and Emrys. After facing a life-altering situation together in Retreat, Emrys is on a path to healing and finding herself, while Sutton is on a self-destructive path and spiraling out of control. Both harboring guilt and regret for what happened, they are each in need of forgiveness. What they find is that and so much more in one another.
There is a whole lot of heartache in this book, but there is also a lot of love and hope. The Warners are a spirited bunch that never back down and always protect what’s theirs – their family, their home, each other.
If you’re looking for a series with heart, action, suspense, romance, heat, and humor, this is the series for you!
When you discover a new to you author that just ROCKS with a story, so you then binge the rest of the their books?
Well, that’s exactly what I’m doing because hello, Ms. Crownover nailed this second book of The Getaway Series. In Retreat, Emrys and Sutton are introduced as secondary characters to Leo and Cyrus; however, their story begins in Retreat with the unimaginable happening to them both. We don’t know what that is until Shelter and WOW! I was on the edge of my seat when I read what they endured. I was taken with Sutton’s little girl, Daye. She was precious!!!
I know I mentioned the writing in my review of Retreat and I’m going to mention it again. The author has a way with taking words and making them flow into phrases that will tug at your heart:
“We weren’t simply a family walking into a difficult situation together, we were battalion ready to go to war…..”
Reviewed by: Dana D.
Sutton and Em are both in a bad place after book one. They have recovered from the worst of the physical wounds but the mental scars are deep. Sutton is drowning himself in booze and pills and Em has disappeared and no one knows where she is. Sutton feels like he has disappointed every female in his life and he blames himself for Em being hurt. Em is feeling responsible for Sutton being shot trying to save her. As if they had not been through enough someone is out to destroy Sutton’s life.
The author brought us some mystery and suspense and it was totally a surprise who was behind it. I loved the characters as we get to know them even more. Some of the secondary characters are back to help the Warner’s. Jay captivated me from the first page and kept me reading right to the end. Off to read Getaway #3 now.
Loved it !!!
These Warner boys just can’t stay from danger!
Sutton and Emrys saw an instant spark (back in Retreat) but their journey in the Wyoming wilderness resulted in horrific physical and emotional trauma. Sutton closed in on himself as he fought for his life and sent her away. He may have sent her away, but Em did what cane naturally and ran.
She reached a point where she ew ignites that healing means confronting and dealing with her trauma. So she’s returning to the ranch, Leo and Sutton.
Sutton is far more troubled than I saw in Retreat. An alcoholic ex-wife and a beautiful young daughter. But all he can see is how he let her down. Her…Emrys. He’s tortured and insecure and fast on his way to being an alcoholic and addict. He’s on a path to self-destruction. And then he sees her.
She won’t give up. She has to heal. She’s quiet and supportive. She’s a natural born fixer. But something changes and she no longer wants to fix. She wants him in all his damaged beauty. She’s accepted her own damaged beauty and found her purpose.
Danger finds them again and threatens their newfound peace and balance. It put their family in danger. He’s going down fighting and she’s going to fight at his side.
Family is everything but so is finding your place.
Ahhh, Sutton. So troubled. So willing to beat himself up for what he sees are his own failures. We pulled herself up and found her way back. That girl is a fighter; a woman with inner strength that can see beauty in the broken. Acceptance. That’s what word I feel fits these two damaged souls. Acceptance is beautiful for them, both individually, as a couple and as a family.
Now ok to Escape!
Everyone needs shelter to survive…a place of refuge…a place of protection, not only from the weather elements, but also from the chaos and devastation that life can bring to anyone’s door.
But when that shelter is no longer a safe haven and it becomes a place where nightmares, insecurities, guilt and grief run rampant, it’s so easy for the darkness to control every action…every thought and ultimately lead the scars and tortures of the past to dictate the present and perhaps even create a future that’s nothing but bad decisions and let downs.
There was no way that the trauma and pain that Sutton Warner and Emrys Santos endured in the wild was not going to redefine their entire lives. Not only are their external scars a constant reminder of everything they went through, but their internal abrasions force them to relive all that transpired, rethinking every misstep they took and reexamining every choice made.
And the only thing Sutton and Em have been able to is exist ever since Sutton sent Em away and she left without even putting up a fight. But it’s clear that there is unfinished business between them and now that Sutton has spiraled down just about as far as he can go due to excessive use of alcohol and dependence on pain pills, there’s only one person who can shelter him from himself and even though she’s just as messed up and tortured as Sutton is, Em is the only person that can prevent him from retreating and hopefully help him to find comfort and solace, once again, in the environment that holds an overwhelming amount of guilt and pain.
Sutton and Emrys are two battered and bruised souls…two people who have suffered indescribable loss and the outcome of that nightmarish event has redefined all aspects of their lives, leaving them only a fraction of who they once were. And, while it has led Sutton to drown himself in a bottle, neglecting his responsibilities and pissing off his family, it has also forced him to see beyond his own pain and start to deal with his less than stellar ways of trying to forget.
Em needs the closure just as much as Sutton does, and even though she’s been running ever since Sutton turned her away, she’s finally taking a stand and fighting for herself and the man who she can’t seem to get out of her head and out of her heart.
It was amazing being back out in the wild Wyoming setting with the Warner family – a group of people who will fight to the death to protect their own, and even though Sutton’s brothers, Cy and Lane, are beyond fed up with Sutton’s antics, they have his back and would move heaven and earth for him to find some peace in all of the chaos that surrounds him. And even though Sutton feels like he’s let everyone who loves him down, especially his daughter, Daye, he’s hellbent on proving to himself, the townspeople, and his brothers that he’ll always do right by his family because even though he got lost in the aftermath of almost dying, he’ll never allow ANYONE to take his daughter or his life away from him ever again!
Retreat is one hell of an emotional journey for everyone who loves Sutton and Em and the readers who find themselves as members of this amazing yet somewhat dysfunctional family. Sutton and Em have a lot of healing to do on their own, but it’s clear that they can’t do it by themselves because they get too lost in their head and find it difficult to come back from those feelings of inadequacy.
Sutton and Em’s story is both frustrating and encouraging…devastating and uplifting, which makes perfect sense to me because the ordeal that brought them together is the same thing that continues to tear them apart and because no one else experienced what Sutton and Em had to out in the wilderness and even when they were rescued, they are the only people who can heal their wounds, soothe their souls, and find a way to deal with all of their scars, especially the ones that no one can see.
4.5 Poison Apples
4 1/2 stars
This is the second book in the Getaway series, and main characters, Emrys and Sutton, got introduced in Retreat as a side characters, and with everything that happened, I was really intrigued as to see how their story would unfold. What I expected of their story was even better that I hoped: it was very intense, sad, but not hopeless, very wild, packed with raw emotions, physical desire, want of happiness and better life.
In the beginning of the book we see Sutton practically broken. He’s the man burdened with regret, especially that he couldn’t protect one woman that had shaken his defenses, and he’s walking on the edge of cliff that could bring him to the lowest low he’s ever been. He’s got a daughter to think about, his health, and disappointing his family – all the people that love him. Disappointing himself. He’s not yet broken, but feels like a tiny blow could make him fold. It was heartbreaking, his thoughts, internal dialog, the burdens – the regret – the hate he inflicted on himself, even when half of it isn’t his cross to bear. He makes poor decisions, but his intentions are always good. Emrys always had good intentions, and made good decisions, even if more often than not it was benefiting someone else more than her. She’s a “fixer”, but when all the things she endured become too much to handle, she runs: and thus realizes she has always focused on fixing everything and everyone but herself. In the beginning of the book, we see her coming back Wyoming wanting closure. We see her becoming stronger woman in front of our eyes. She learns to love herself… and maybe, in the meantime, one broken rancher as well.
“I wanted someplace safe, a shelter to hide away from the storm. I had no idea that Sutton was the storm and that I would gladly get swept away by him any day of the week.”
Their love story is made even more intense by the mysterious crime in the town. It adds a suspense to the story and action – and it could be fatal for our characters. I loved that part even though I pretty much assumed right away who was behind the crime – but I didn’t know the reason. Side characters are also amazing, and I loved seeing Cy and Leo’s relationship progress through this book.
Ultimately, this book tells a story of two bruised, but not completely broken, lost souls finding the solace, shelter in each other’s arms, allowing themselves to go on the quest to find themselves with the support of someone who’d already seen them at their worst. It’s a book that shows lots of ugly that’s in the world, but also reminds that love is omnipresent and the power of loving and being loved is astonishing. If you’re in for a wild, suspenseful ride with a woman who’s finally ready to fight for happiness and a cowboy who gets struck by love when he least expects it, I suggest you listen to my recommendation and believe you won’t be disappointed by this new book by Jay Crownover!
A traumatic event alters the lives of two people – one goes on a self destruct downward spiral and the other lost their confidence and struggled with their identity.
Sutton Warner and his brothers run a ranch and do Wilderness retreats. They each have some residual issues from their mother abandoning them when they were young. Sutton always wanted to find a local woman who loved the small town life like he did and wanted to raise a family. He married and had a beautiful daughter but the woman he married turned out to be an alcoholic who hid it well until she didn’t. Now divorced and with primary custody of his daughter he was enjoying life on the Ranch and taking clients out on Wilderness tours until on trip they stumbled upon a drug operation being run in the middle of that “Wilderness”. This resulted in him being shot while he also had to watch one of his clients being tortured with a knife. The guilt of not being able to prevent what happened to her turned him into a man he never thought he’d be – one that drank and popped pills 24/7. All the things he hated about his ex-wife – mainly the neglecting of their child due to her addition – he had become.
Emrys Santos was a fixer. She was a gorgeous strong independent woman (or so she presented herself to be). When her best friend was struggling after a breakup she drug her along to Wyoming for some outdoor time on a Wilderness retreat. She had no idea that by the end of that trip her friend would be the strong one and she would be the scared one both inside and out who chooses to run from everyone and thing in her life. Emrys wasn’t vein per se but she knew she was very pretty and now with scars marring her body she’s lost her identity. She too, also struggles with guilt over Sutton taking a bullet for her and almost losing his life over it. He has refused to talk to her since he woke up in the hospital and now 6 months later she knows for either of them to truly heal they need to talk about what happened to be able to start the healing process for them both so they could move on with their lives. Emrys is hoping that future includes a relationship – one that for the first time in her history of relationships with men – that she doesn’t run away from.
This was a very emotional journey for both Sutton and Emrys the author took us on – one that didn’t try to gloss over the realities of addition, child abandonment issues, divorce, self esteem issue and a host of other emotional things. The setup of the last book with the youngest Warner was very prominent throughout this book so you’re more than ready for Lane’s story by the end.
Sutton and Emrys experienced a life altering event together. This event changed each of them and tested them in difficult and varying ways. Both of these characters are flawed and struggling to heal. There journey to a happily ever after is full of guilt, mental and physical anguish, and patience. Shelter is a story with suspense, humor, love, healing, and passion. The Warners are a complex group of intriguing characters including the great state of Wyoming and a spitfire of a little girl named Daye. Read this book!
Sutton and Em are my favorite! But you know who really makes this book, Daye. I love that Jay wanted to pay homage to the romances that started it all for her and I could really feel that when reading. Also, while I loved Leo’s book I like the dual POV better, I like to know what both characters are thinking. This book is one with a lot of emotion and difficult situations happening but the end makes it all worth it. I have loved reading Jay since the day I found Rule on my library’s online site, I read it and every book of her’s I have been able to get my hands on since, I still have a few to read, but I am never disappointed when I pick one up. You will not be disappointed reading this, maybe a little teary eyed at parts, but not disappointed. I can’t wait to read Lane’s book!