Never Let You Go
a m o d e r n f a i r y t a l e
Katy Regnery
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Date of Publication: 6.12.15
Number of pages: 450
Book Description:
Regret,
betrayal, kidnapping, loss, madness, abuse, passion, love.
In this modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel, thirteen-year-old
foster children Griselda and Holden escape from their abductor after three
years of brutal captivity, and try to cross the Shenandoah River on foot.
Tragically, one of them makes it to safety, but the other is left behind.
Ten years later, Griselda’s boyfriend
drags her to a fight club grudge match, and her world is turned upside down
when she watches Holden step into the ring.
Though the connection between them is
fierce, bitter regret, simmering rage, and a tangle of physical and emotional
scars lie between them, just as dangerous as the white water of the Shenandoah.
Never
Let You Go is a story of fear and hope, defeat and survival, and
two people—once profoundly broken—who discover that love is the only thing that can make them whole
again.
Excerpt
from Never Let You Go
This girl.
Everything about this girl made him want, made him long, made him yearn to change his life, start his life, finally live
his life after a decade of going through the motions. He wanted to get a better
job to take care of her. He wanted to stop fighting because she disapproved of
it. He wanted enough money to have every tally mark lasered from his arm. He
wanted some sort of guarantee that she’d never, ever leave him again. And he
wanted all of it now. Yesterday. Ten years ago, and every day since.
Standing up
slowly, he let his body settle into an upright position before taking his time
crossing the hall to the bathroom and then heading out into the common room.
She stood at the
stove with her back to him, her feet bare, her hair in a ponytail, the
mouthwatering smell of fried chicken filling the entire cabin with goodness.
Holden leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest, a grin taking
over his face as he watched her.
“It’s just the
thought of you—the very thought of you, my love,” she sang, using a fork to
transfer a golden leg to a paper towel–covered plate.
As she reached
forward to turn off the stove, some of the leftover grease in the frying pan
spat up at her and burned her wrist.
“Ow!” she yelped.
“Damn it!”
With a sudden rush
of adrenaline, Holden crossed the kitchen in two strides. He turned on the
faucet and grabbed her arm to thrust her wrist under the cold stream. He held
it there, wincing at the red blotch developing on her white skin. When he
lifted his eyes to hers, she was staring at him with a surprised, curious
expression.
“It’s just a
little burn.”
He shrugged, still
holding her arm, staring down at the burn.
“You were asleep,”
she said.
“You were
singing.”
“Too loud?”
“No.”
“You remember that
song?”
“I remember.”
He slid his palm
down her arm to cradle her wrist from below.
“The stove’s still
on,” she said.
Without dropping
her hand, he took a step closer to her, reached around her waist with his free
hand, and flicked the burner off.
“I made fried
chicken,” she said softly, her cheeks flushed.
“I can smell it.”
“You like fried
chicken. I mean . . . you must have mentioned it to me a hundred times when we
were—”
“It’s still my
favorite.”
They were both
silent for a few seconds, and Holden knew he should drop her hand and step away
from her, but he couldn’t. She’d hurt herself doing something kind for him, and
it just about shredded his heart.
Just
another moment, he told himself. A
few more seconds touching her and then I’ll move away.
“Sorry about the
singing,” she whispered, unmoving, her breath kissing his throat.
He jerked his neck
to face her, his thumb curling into her palm, his eyes searching hers for
mercy.
“I loved it,” he
murmured.
She stepped
forward, closing the distance between them, her lips parting, her breasts
grazing his chest through his T-shirt as she stared up at him.
“Holden, I . . .”
Every breath she
took seemed to draw him closer to her, as if she was breathing him, not air. He
leaned forward, into her, his free hand reaching for hers.
“Griselda . . .”
Her eyes, dark
blue and churning, flicked to his lips, lingered there, then slid back up his
face and seized his.
His self-control
snapped.
After all, he was
only human.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
“She loved him
in a way that was necessary, not luxurious.
She loved him like the tide loves the sand – trapped together, one lost
without the other, pushed and pulled, but never ripped apart. She loved him in a deep and singular way,
almost as though God had crafted one heart in heaven, then spilt it between
Holden’s body and hers, fating her to a never-ending longing to be with him, or
a fractional life without him.”
“I love you,
and when I say that, I mean that you’re my reason for breathing, for eating,
for drinking, for sleeping, for living. I will never
hurt you. I will never leave you. I will always protect you. There is no one more important to me that
you, and as long as I live, there never w-will
be.”
“It’s a
strange thing to feel your heart break.
Cartoons would have you believe it’s like breaking a cracker. It snaps in half, with red crumbs falling to
the ground, leaving two jagged halves sitting side by side. All you’d have to do is shove them together
and they’d look like one again.”
“She tasted
like tea and honey, heat and home, and every part of her fit into every part of
him, like a puzzle piece, like the missing half of his soul.”
“For all my
life – all my life – you have been my
beating heart, the woman of my dreams.”
“I fell in
love with you when I was ten years old because you were pretty and you weren’t
mean. And I would’ve died so many times
in this life if it hadn’t been for you… my angel, my friend, my family, my
hope, my joy, my love.”
My Review:
I have had a girl
crush on Katy Regnery since reading my first English Brother novel, quite some
time ago. Her enchanting romances are
sweet and adorable, so I was totally unprepared for the devastation she was to
bring me with Never Let You Go. Make no mistake, Katy Regnery has major
writing chops – and the proof being that I am, and was, a total wreck while enthralled
with her latest tome. Throughout the
reading of this masterful work, Ms. Regnery turned me inside out, and did so
several times. I felt a thousand snakes squirming under my
skin, yet I could not stop reading. I was
anxious, uncomfortable, heartbroken, desperate, sobbing… yet I could not stop
reading. I was essentially striped raw
by her powerful and dynamic narrative, which alternated from sorrow to delight,
all while being achingly emotional throughout.
Yet even at the lowest of times, there were echoes and whispers of hope,
and her magic words tapped every emotion to my very core. Ms. Regnery’s writing is crafty and
insightful, and she skillfully captured the confusing and contradictory relationships
that can occur between abusers and their victims, and the years of warped thinking
and feelings of worthlessness that can result.
The tale contained a teeter-totter of happiness and despair back and
forth in the story, past and present, with dual POV, but when their reunions swung
to the positive end - it was earth shatteringly marvelous for both. And the
sensual scenes – oh my - they sizzled off the page, and often left me
breathless and in need of a cool beverage.
But what touched me most, was the sweetness and courage of a small boy
driven to repeatedly protect and shield his beloved friend from the cruelty of a
madman, despite their misfortune being her fault… and in later years, the
tenderness, of the boy now a man, in how he continued to treat and adore her,
despite the harshness of their intervening lives. This was not an easy read, but one that is well-written,
finely-crafted and expertly hewn. I have
a feeling these characters are going to be occupying my head space for quite
some time.
Empress DJ
About
the Author:
Award-winning and Amazon bestselling author Katy
Regnery started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in
January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract for a winter
romance entitled By Proxy.
Now a hybrid author who publishes both independently
and traditionally, Katy claims authorship of the six-book Heart of Montana series, the six-book English Brothers series, and a Kindle Worlds novella entitled Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Date.
Katy’s short story “The Long Way Home” appears in the first Romance Writers of
America anthology, Premiere, and she
has published two stand-alone novels, Playing
for Love at Deep Haven and the Amazon bestseller The Vixen and the Vet, which is book one in Katy’s a m o d e r n f
a i r y t a l e collection. The Vixen and
the Vet was nominated for a RITA® Award in 2015.
Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield
County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her
husband, two young children, and two dogs create just enough cheerful chaos to
remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.
Upcoming (2015) Projects:
The Winslow Brothers (Books #1-4)
Ginger’s Heart, a modern fairytale
Connect with Katy:
Katy LOVES connecting
with her readers and answers every e-mail, message, tweet, and post personally!
Click below to connect with Katy!
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