LEEANN'S REVIEW - 4.5 StarsGrace initially comes off as very sarcastic & highly condescending.. Until you learn what she has been through. It would be enough to send anyone over the edge.Logan is like a hard shell candy that is all soft & gooey in the middle, but when tragedy strikes and things get hard, he cannot deal with it. But when you learn what he has been through you will get it.I think this book will hit home with a lot of readers, this story touches on addiction, depression, self destruction, guilt, PTSD and the biggest emotion of them all, love.Grace & Logan both have tough backgrounds and are living each day coping as best they can. When they come together the decide to help each other get through day by day. This works well for them and their attraction turns into lust and then develops into love. But, then there is an accident & Logan just can’t deal with what has happened, so, he returns to his old habits.Charlie owns the bar Logan & Grace work in & he is truly a wise old man. He is a bit of a father figure to Logan & has seen pretty much everything life can possibly throw at anyone. He is protective of Logan & very concerned about his relationship with Grace.Then there is Joy.. Every girl needs someone like Joy in their lives. She sees that Grace is struggling & although she doesn’t want to intrude she makes sure she is always there when she is needed. Joy & Grace became the best of friends from the time they met and Joy is a bit protective of Grace where Logan is concerned.The sex between Logan & Grace is absolutely explosive & hot as sin. Grace learns a lot about herself through her relationship & sex life with Logan. It is really wonderful to watch their relationship grow & with it their sense of self worth. They really have a deep love for each other and even though Logan bailed on her when she needed him the most Grace knows they can survive it and move on, together, she just needs to find Logan and convince him that this is the case. She knows why he took off because she knows what he has been through. She knows he loves her more than anything & he would not just leave for no good reason. She has so much faith in him & their relationship that she is willing to fight for the both of them.Because his back story is told so well, I didn’t find myself thinking he was awful for leaving Grace when he did, I could understand where he was coming from & why he did what he did. I can also understand why Grace doesn’t just throw in the towel and walk away from him.Maya Cross has written a beautiful story about hope, love & looking to the future when you didn’t think you had one.She has taken a big risk with this book because she has given her characters some very explosive topics to deal with. And it had paid off.I think she has tastefully included the hard topics that people in Grace & Logan’s situation would have to deal with & you can see she has done her research on these before she wrote the book. The emotion & realism she has drawn from her characters is fantastic.I really enjoyed reading Grace For Drowning & if you like to experience the emotions as the characters are dealing with them & you love super hot sex scenes then you will love this book. CARMIE'S REVIEW - 5 StarsCarmie has a new favorite MMA book!Grace starts working at the bar Logan also works at. Grace thinks Logan looks familiar but can't quite place him. Logan reveals to her that he saw her a few months back when she was liquored up out of her mind and he told her back then that the liquor wouldn't help keep her ghosts at bay. Grace had turned to drinking when her world was torn upside down; Grace's fiancee committed suicide because he was in over his head in gambling debt. Grace was trying to find solace in the bottle and now she is close to being evicted if she doesn't turn things around - hence the bar-tending gig.Grace vaguely remembers meeting Logan that night long ago; she wonders what he saw that made him say what he said. A few weeks goes by and it looked like Grace had things going in the right direction until she starts drinking again. Logan intervenes and saves Grace's job with the promise that Logan will keep her on the straight and narrow path. Logan and Grace spend time together and ignore the blossoming attraction between them until it explodes in their faces.Grace and Logan are both scared spitless of their developing feelings for one another but can't resist the physical nature of their relationship either. Even though they are both better, they are both walking a fine line between re-lapse and recovery. What will it take to have Logan or Grace circling the drain again? Who will be saving who this time?I loved the fact that this was not your typical MMA fighter romance novel - this was real people having real problems. It is a tough subject matter for the author to have covered and Maya did it Justice. I really enjoyed the story of these two falling in love - their courtship dance seemed like a well-thought out dance to and fro. Kudos to Maya on a job well-done! This was a good book, but I think it could have been better. It was emotional, more so from Logan than Grace. I felt more connected to Logan than Grace because we get more from Logan's background and what he has been through. We only get bits and pieces of what Grace has delt with after it happened. I would have liked to see what is was like for her with Tom more, then maybe I would have felt more connected to her. This book had one of my pet peeves. It is set in the US, but a lot of the words and references are from the country where the author is from (which I believe is Australia). It drives me bonkers if I have to look up a words meaning or try to figure out what the character is saying. I wouldn't say that this story ended on a cliffhanger, but it did not end with any real closure. Not sure if I will read a second book if there is one.
What do You think about Grace For Drowning (2000)?
The story was great...it kept building and building...then...it ended...
—heyred1972
