STANDALONE second book in the LAMBDA nominated Rented Heart series.Recovering addict Jamie Yorke has returned to England from California. With no home or family to speak of, he sticks a pin in a map and finds a small town in the Derbyshire Peak District. Matlock Bath is a quiet place—he just needs to get there, keep his head down, and stay clean. Simple, right? Until a chance meeting on the … on the flight home alters the course of his so-called life forever.
Ex-Army medic Marc Ramsey is recovering from life-changing combat injuries while pulling nights as a trauma specialist at the local hospital. Keeping busy is a habit he can’t quit, but when Jamie—so wild and beautiful—bursts into his life, working himself into the ground isn’t as compelling as it used to be.
Marc falls hard, but chaos lurks behind Jamie’s fragile facade. He’s winning his battle against addiction, but another old foe is slowly consuming him. Both men have weathered many storms, but the path to the peace they deserve might prove the roughest ride yet.
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Two Battered Souls Find Each Other (an audio review)
This is the second book in the Rented Heart series, and I think I loved it even more than the first. Jamie was in the first book, and I’d seen he was a good soul, even if he was an addict. When the time came, he did the right thing. And doing the right thing led him into the life of someone who could help him. Someone who bundled him off to California where he could start a new life.
And he did.
But he also missed home. Although not ready to see his friends, he is ready to start again, this time with the comforts of England. His friends set him up with a flat, and he has some savings, but it won’t last long. He needs a job.
Marc was a medic in the army. Battle-weary, he’s in the States to receive specialized medical treatment. During a turbulent flight, he comforts the man next to him. He never expects to see the exceptional young man again, but is shocked to find they are in the same small town. Marc is drawn to Jamie who doesn’t care about the prosthesis. He sees the real Marc. Wanting to help, Marc offers Jamie a job. Jamie is leery, of course. He’s a former rent boy and drug addict, so why would someone trust him enough to offer him a job? But Marc’s offer is too temping, and Jamie wants to spend time with the gruff older man.
Now, Ms. Leigh’s books always interconnect, even if they are from different series. Marc has appeared before, and several of his friends whose stories have already been told appear in this book. I like those little gems. And Marc treats a young man named Ludo. I’m like…yeah, I remember Ludo. His book gutted me but was freaking brilliant. Again, small but potent connections.
I really enjoyed this book. It moved me. It made me think. It made me cheer. It left me planning to seek out more of Ms. Leigh’s books. Finally, I’ll mention Dan Calley. I think he did a great job with this book and I hope the duo keep working together.
Hell Yes !!!
Meet Jamie who is addicted to drugs , he is Zac’s best friend from the previous book Rented Heart.
After getting clean he meets such a wonderful guy Marc , who is a doctor was ex military .
GL writes so well that I am always drawn in every chapter .
How she wrote these men their struggles , their lives and then their love is amazing .
Both Rented Heart and Soul to Keep are stored in my heart ready to re-read….
Audiobook review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 4
Story – 5
I loved Jamie’s story.
This book can be read as a standalone but I am really glad that I listened to Rented Heart first. That book is where we first meet Jamie and learn all about his problems with addiction. After I listened to Rented Heart I couldn’t wait to listen to Soul to Keep but life had other plans so it’s taken me a few weeks to get to it.
Jamie has changed a lot from how he was in Rented Heart. He’s spent the last year or so in California rehabbing from his drug addiction but we don’t get any real details about that in Soul to Keep. It’s a year later and Jamie’s now returning back to England to make a fresh start. He meets Marc on the flight back and Marc helps him curb his fear when the plane runs into some turbulence. They have a friendly conversation during the trip but Jamie never expects to see Marc again.
Marc and Jamie are both shocked when they run into each other outside the hospital where Marc works. This is the beginning of their friendship that eventually turns into more.
Dan Calley’s voice is so nice and mellow and very easy to listen to. I did have just a bit of trouble differentiating between Jamie and Marc’s voices with this one but the way the dialogue was written it wasn’t difficult to know who was speaking.
The story gets really hot once Marc and Jamie start getting it on but it takes several chapters for that to happen so there’s a nice build up to the sexy time.
While Jamie is doing great at fighting his addiction, we learn that he has another problem he must overcome. Marc loves him and wants to see him get better and he is so patient with Jamie.
While this book wasn’t as heartbreaking or angsty as Rented Heart I still enjoyed it very much. I spent a lovely evening listening to it straight through. And I loved the Epilogue where Jamie is visiting with Zac (from Rented Heart).
A copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***
I absolutely adored this book, I loved Rented Heart and after listening to the audio couldn’t wait to get my hands on Jamie’s story and it was sooooo good. My favourite GL book to date 🙂
Soul to Keep is one of those books I completely bypassed reading the blurb because of who the author is: Garrett Leigh. I was introduced to her stories last year and now every book of hers that comes out I will automatically read. So here I am with the next book in the Rented Heart series in one hand and tissues in the other. Time to get my read on.
Jamie? Jamie? Oh yeah…now I remember. I completely blipped out that he was in the first book of the series. I really didn’t care for him. He was a burden to Zac then, but now, now he’s mended his body. However, his soul and self-worth are both in need of some work. That brings me to Marc. Ex-Army medic now he works as a trauma specialist. He has issues of his own although unlike Jamie, his aren’t self-inflicted. His comes from a run in with an IED which resulted in him losing his lower leg. The two first meet as they are flying home from California. Marc from having surgery and Jamie from rehab. The flight is riddled with turbulence that has Jamie on edge. Marc, thanks to the military, is a seasoned traveler and helps calm the younger man down.
I like this story. It was very smooth from start to finish. Not a lot of turmoil or excessive drama. Just two guys meeting, getting to know each other, dealing with life has settled on them and ending with a HEA. *Drums fingers on desk* Sigh. I got addicted reading Ms. Leigh’s books because of how they tug at my heartstrings, break my heart and give me that ultimate ugly cry. I didn’t get that with Soul to Keep. It’s not to say there weren’t some emotional moments. It’s just that those moments weren’t as gut-wrenching tearjerkers that I have come to expect. Instead, the dramas played out, coming to reasonable conclusions and moved on to the next storyline.
I really did like this story. I’m just not in love with it.
I received this book from The JeepDiva with the express purpose of an honest review. The opinions, contents, and rating of this review are solely mine
Stars – 3.5, Flames – 3
Garrett Leigh is an author recommended to me within the past year and I owe a debt of gratitude for the endorsement. Her writing is compelling and passionate, delivering well-developed stories dealing with sensitive topics including addiction, mental illness, prostitution, physical and emotional injury. The Rented Heart series has become a new favorite of mine; two exceptional moving stories of recovery and metaphorical resurrection. Soul to Keep is the gripping and haunting story of the complex, damaged characters on an emotional journey to find and perhaps create a shared new normal. The reader participates, feeling many competing emotions, love and hate, hope and horror, sympathy and above all strong affection between and for the characters both primary and secondary.
Opposites may attract but just because two men are opposites in appearance, they may be much less different inside as we discover with Marc and Jamie. Jamie was difficult to like in book 1 of this series as his behavior led to an almost fatal attack on his best friend. Jamie’s addiction had him by the throat and recovery from his addiction and the associated mental health issues seemed an impossibility.
In Book 2, Jamie has achieved a year of sobriety but still feels a fraud and undeserving of anything good. Self-hate is his overriding emotion although he continues to try to work his way out of the pit of despair. He returns to England hoping to find some sort of familiarity and a new beginning. Heading home to Great Britain, Jamie had more than a bit of a panic attack when the plane hit turbulence and his seatmate’s calm, untroubled narration of what was happening was the only thing keeping him from full-blown hysteria. Trauma surgeon Marc is returning from yet another surgery of his own in the U.S. His days as an Army medic were cut short by an IED that also took his lower leg. When they each went on with their separate journeys, there was a sense of loss and missed opportunity.
Another chance meeting outside the hospital where Marc works was the beginning of the incredible journey of self-discovery, self-acceptance and a mutual bond based on need, attraction and caring. There are certainly passionate times but sex is not the focal point of this story. Loosening the strings of past mistakes, loss, traumatic events and even missed opportunities is a painstaking process for both men but one that must be well on its way before there can be anything more.
I highly recommend this thought-provoking and emotionally-fulfilling story.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Erica –
Soul to Keep is the second installment of the Rented Heart series and can easily be read as a standalone. It’s been a long while since I read the first in the series, and I barely remembered the finer points. I do recommend if you did read it, perhaps check out the synopsis or a few reviews to refresh your mind. It’s not contingent on your enjoyment, but the emotional connection created with Jamie would be stronger.
A head’s up, while this is the sequel to Rented Heart (Jamie), I do believe it’s also the continuation from another book, Between Ghosts (Marc) which I have not read. I did notice the focus on Marc’s friends and wondered if they had had a book by Garrett Leigh. There is a larger focus on the world built in that particular book than in Rented Heart, so those who read Between Ghosts would gain a higher emotional payoff from Soul to Keep, and the seeding of future books seem to come from that universe created as well, not from Rented Heart. The tie to Rented Heart is only Jamie and a half-page interaction with Zac.
Jamie is struggling with addiction and mental illness, but he’s struggling the worst with the ultra-positive, sunshiny vibe of California and the way his friends are watching him like he’s a ticking time-bomb readying to blow. Missing the mood England gives off, the one that is more befitting of Jamie’s personality, he digs up his roots and leaves his friends behind.
Marc is a civilian doctor now, but he was in the military and it cost him his leg and many friends. He’s shut himself up in a hoard-filled manor left to him by his mother and doesn’t allow many friends into his life.
With two cross-path meetings, both Marc and Jamie are struggling in differing ways. Garrett Leigh created a balance between the main characters, both caring, giving, and self-sacrificing, after living very different lives.
Soul to Keep is a slow-burn romance that felt realistic as it organically unfolded. The plot surrounded Marc and Jamie, and a very small cast of characters who were mentioned more off-scene than shown on-scene. This kept the focus solely on the emotional, mental, and personal growth of the characters, while they grew closer together romantically. The plot’s focus was definitely on the after-effects of addiction and mental illness, as well as dealing with the reality of living with a disability.
I applaud the realism paid to the darker aspects of the human condition, while creating a world that was sympathetic and compassionate, without shame or blame.
I do have one con: Maybe it was a plot-hole or an inconsistency not picked up during editing. Marc mentioned a few times that he had his own demons with addiction – this was early on in the novel and it disappeared by the halfway point. I assumed it was with alcoholism. However, Marc went to pubs with friends, and mentioned he was a lightweight when it came to alcohol in a conversation dealing with past events with his two friends (Between Ghosts). This thread just dangled, fizzled out, and then contradicted itself, only with a bottle hidden in a passageway tying it back in much later in the novel.
The plot for the next in the series was seeded, and I look forward to reading it. Fingers crossed the protagonists are who I believe they will be. (My guess, this character is also in Between Ghosts.) I definitely recommend this book and the previous one, especially to those who enjoy a more realistic read, featuring personal growth as the driving force.
Sarah –
4.5 stars
In Rented Heart, Jamie was impossible to like. As an addict, he was selfish, destructive, and his friendship with Zac was all sorts of toxic. This story sees him returning to England after a year of rehab in LA. He has changed – but he doesn’t yet trust the changes.
The transition from army medic to NHS doctor hasn’t been easy for Marc. Adjusting to life as an amputee has made Marc’s new life even more difficult. I went into this book skeptical about Jamie, but I already loved Marc.
Marc and Jamie find each other quickly but for different reasons, both Marc and Jamie are surviving rather than living and neither man is ready to even think about a relationship. I really enjoyed the slow, quiet chemistry between these two. Remembering what Zac went through with Jamie, I started out wanting to protect Marc. But Jamie won me over with the care he gives Marc. The care is practical and awkward at first, but Jamie’s intervention slowly brings Marc back to life.
There is heat in this story, but it isn’t one of Garrett Leigh’s kinkier books. It is a gentler book than Rented Heart. If Zac was in the middle of his storm when he met Liam, Jamie meets Marc on the other side. Marc and Jamie explore their life experiences together but the grit and angst from the first book is replaced by quiet reflection and feelings of guilt and shame. Marc and Jamie give each other a chance at friendship and they offer each other a fresh start.
From the start, I knew that Jamie’s story follows on from Rented Heart, but I was delighted to discover that Marc’s story links back to Between Ghosts which is another personal favourite. We actually see more of the characters from Between Ghosts than we do of Zac and Liam from Rented Heart. I’m fairly certain this could be read as a standalone but I really enjoyed the glimpses of characters from the earlier books.
Angela –
Considering how much I enjoy Garrett Leigh’s writing in general and Rented Heart specifically, I couldn’t wait to begin reading Soul to Keep. When I first queued it up on my Kindle, I expected to devour it in less than a day; however, when I began Jamie’s journey, I quickly realized that I wanted to spend time with him and Marc. I wanted to get to know Jamie (and Marc). I wanted to see Jamie’s struggles and battles and watch him overcome them – worrying the whole time that he might not, yet counting on Leigh to create a partner in Marc who could and would help Jamie succeed. I wanted to see Jamie discover the man within, the man who Zac still wanted to be friends with, the man who Marc saw and fell for, the man who he could be if only he would stop punishing himself for his past mistakes.
While the author gave me all of this and more, I found myself reading the book over the course of three weeks. The reason I didn’t devour it in a day was not because I couldn’t get into Jamie’s story or that the subject matter was too distressing (and it’s some pretty tough reading), but rather that I wanted to savor the story, limiting myself to only a chapter a night, and not every night at that. I needed to give myself time to process all that happened and prepare myself for what might be coming next. You see, Jamie isn’t merely a recovering addict, he has far more going on in that head of his, things that were likely worsened by the drugs and some of which may have been caused or triggered by his addiction. Because of his mental health issues, quite a bit of Jamie’s angst within the story is internalized – feelings of worthlessness, fear of abandonment, loss of control, feeling that he deserved every bad thing that had ever happened to him, and feeling that he is undeserving of love – and it occurs on a rapid and constantly playing loop in his traitorous mind. But it’s because Marc’s able to disrupt that loop and give Jamie that feeling of safety and peaceful comfort that makes Jamie take a chance… eventually. Thankfully, Marc’s own past and issues give him some much needed insight into what Jamie is dealing with at times, thus enabling him to know when to push Jamie and when to back off. The two men complement each other better than one would expect when looking at them from the outside.
I actually loved that both men had big issues that had to be dealt with in order for a relationship to work. Even better was that Leigh never approaches their romance as if love will heal all that ails them. While we don’t see a fraction of the help and treatment that Jamie undergoes to… not get better but… learn to cope and function within the world more effectively, we know through conversations and inner monologues that it happens. We get to see him come out on the other side, better for it. Because of the changes we see in his relationship with Marc in the epilogue, Leigh gives the reader hope for their future. Love was not a cure for Jamie or for Marc. What love was, was something to fight for, it was a future to live for, and a partner to care for who returned that care exponentially. And for Jamie, love was a mirror that finally let him see himself for the man who Marc fell in love with and who deserves every bit of the happiness that awaits him.
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
Soul to Keep is the second in the Rented Heart series. I really enjoyed the first book where we initially meet Jamie, one of this story’s heroes and was excited to read his full story. Although he was a secondary character in Rented Heart, that title included enough details about Jaime’s life before he went to rehab in California to make me think Soul to Keep reads better after finishing Rented Heart than strictly as a standalone. Honestly, when I started this book, I was expecting a different sort of story than it contained- maybe more grit and rough-hewn edges. Despite getting a different sort of story than I expected, I really enjoyed Soul to Keep.
Soul to Keep picks up a year after Jamie gets clean and he decides to move back to England. I liked both main characters a lot and I was pleasantly surprised the other hero-Marc- is a secondary character whom I loved from Miss Leigh’s military romance, Between Ghosts (complete with cameos of the couple from that book). The initial meeting between Jamie and Marc was perfect. I liked how that immediate connection steadily built into something more and respected the understanding and patience the men afforded one another. Overall, I’d consider Soul to Keep a quieter May-December romance, especially when compared to this author’s other works, but it wasn’t boring and kept my attention all the way through. Instead, the lack of major angst and conflicts to disrupt Jamie and Marc’s relationship allowed plenty of time for both characters to grow and develop, individually and as a couple.
The rhythm and writing of Soul to Keep was smooth and thoughtful, making for an easy, enjoyable read. If you’re a fan of seeing characters work through personal issues, finding themselves and love along the way, I’d definitely recommend this book and series.