Review: Damaged Desires by LJ Evans

A heartfelt ride that I hadn’t quite prepared myself for. Dani and Nash both have some difficult pasts and their ability to allow themselves to be close to someone is a hard hurdle for them both. But the attraction is there and has been for a long time. Friends via other friends and family members, Dani and Nash have had plenty of interactions at friends and family events but they’ve never acted on them.

Dani is an incredibly strong and damaged individual after a terrifying experience where her job had her at the mercy of a corrupted Senator who tried to take advantage of her while her boyfriend was returning to his ex. She has closed her heart off from people and has quit her job. Leaving her in a very vulnerable rut.

Nash is a Navy SEAL who lost his closest friends in battle and blames himself for their losses. He has committed his life to caring for his best friends wife and child by being a “stand-in” husband to her. She would rather he just leave and quit reminding her of what she’s lost.

One night brings Nash and Dani together and the chemistry they’ve been fighting against for a long time is more intense than either of them expected. But both of them are going to have to face some very serious demons in their pasts to be able to move forward.

I loved Dani so much because of her ability to try and stay brave even when she’s had some of the most traumatic experiences women can endure. It’s not easy to keep your confidence or move forward after something like that happens, but she is surrounded by so many great and inspiring people that help her keep her head up.

Nash on the other hand was a struggle to handle in the first quarter of the book. His misery of losing his friends runs so deep that he says and does things that are damaging to others without even realizing it. Even though he’s attending therapy and working on improving himself and his PTSD, it takes him a long time to realize the damage he’s doing to others in the process.

This isn’t your standard love story and both characters have a lot of self reflection to endure to find their happy ending. But all the pain is worth it in the end. You’ll love this new release from LJ Evans just like all of her other amazing books!

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ABOUT LJ EVANS:

Award winning author, LJ Evans, lives in the California Central Valley with her husband, daughter, and the terrors called cats. She’s been writing, almost as a compulsion, since she was a little girl and will often pull the car over to write when a song lyric strikes her. A former first grade teacher, she now spends her days reading and writing, as well as binge-watching original shows like The Crown, The Great, Veronica Mars, and Stranger Things.

If you ask her the one thing she won’t do, it’s pretty much anything that involves dirt—sports, gardening, or otherwise. But she loves to write about all of those things, and her first published heroine was pretty much involved with dirt on a daily basis, which is exactly why LJ loves fiction novels—the characters can be everything you’re not and still make their way into your heart.

Her debut novel, MY LIFE AS A COUNTRY ALBUM, was the Independent Author Network’s 2017 YA Book of the Year, and the debut series has won multiple awards including Romance Audiobook of the Year in the Indie Audiobook Awards.