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Lexxie

Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

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★★★★★ Review: Surviving Ice

Surviving Ice: A Novel (The Burying Water Series) - K.A. Tucker

*I received a free ARC of Surviving Ice from Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange of an honest and unbiased review*


This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.
 
Surviving Ice by K. A. Tucker
Series: Burying Water #4
Published by Atria Books on 27 October, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Suspense
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley


Reading Challenges:
2015 New Release Challenge
5 Stars

Ivy, a talented tattoo artist who spent the early part of her twenties on the move, is finally looking for a place to call home. She thinks she might have found it in San Francisco, but all that changes when she witnesses a terrible crime. She’s ready to pack up her things yet again, when a random encounter with a stranger keeps her in the city, giving her reason to stay after all.

That is, until Ivy discovers that their encounter wasn’t random. Not at all…

Surviving Ice was fantastic! Suspense, romance, danger, a very cool tattoo artist and a former SEAL who didn’t know how far the company he was working for took some matters.

 

My Surviving Ice review:

Surviving Ice was so intense, especially because it started right in the middle of the action – Ivy witnessed her uncle being killed, and she had to hide underneath a desk in order to stay undetected herself! If you have read the prior stories in Tucker’s Burying Water series, you have already met Ivy – she comes across as distanced and quite abrasive, but there is a soft heart hiding deep inside of her. After her uncle’s death, she is ready to be on the move again, even if just days before she had started thinking about putting down roots in San Fransisco. Being the legal executor of Ned’s will makes sure she has to stay for a while, though, and when she meets Sebastian, she wonders if maybe San Fransisco isn’t an OK place after all.

 

What Ivy doesn’t know, though, is that Sebastian is basically made of secrets! And because Surviving Ice is written in dual points of views, with equal chapters from Ivy’s and from Sebastian’s points of views, the readers are privy to Sebastian’s inner thoughts, which made both their relationship and the budding romance even more interesting and tense. Ivy normally isn’t the girl to think about the future with a guy, though, she will get what she wants from him before moving on. However, there is something about Sebastian that makes her feel utterly safe – and she needs that now that her life has been turned completely upside-down.

 

I loved getting to know Ivy better in Surviving Ice, understanding why she was always so independent, and the reasoning behind her moving around so much. Even as a very successful tattoo artist, she didn’t feel the need to settle anywhere, and thanks to her personal web-site, clients always knew where to find her if they wanted a new tattoo, or an add-on to her prior work. Sebastian continued to intrigue me for a very long time, even if he shared his inner thoughts and doubts with me, there was still a layer of mystery surrounding him, and it was hard to see if he would ever be the man Ivy wanted and needed in her life.

 

Between the danger, the trashing of her house, and having to refurbish the Black Rabbit, Ivy didn’t have much time to wallow, or to actually grieve for her uncle. Surviving Ice still managed to show how hard it is to live with the sudden death of a loved one, though, and Ivy’s coping mechanisms made a lot of sense to me. The romance was definitely hot – with a lot of teasing both on Ivy’s and Sebastian’s parts. Written in in first person point of view, past tense, the story was quite fast-paced, and still managed to shift the mood from sad and frightened to one of hope and the need to build a secure life for the future. If you’re a Tucker fan, I’m sure you’re going to love Surviving Ice, and if you haven’t encountered her books yet, you could start with this – it can definitely be read as a stand-alone, and it will keep you interested for the whole story.

 

Some of my favorite Surviving Ice quotes:

He’d never take a dime of rent money from me, even if I tried to pay. And I have tried.

 

Ian chews the inside of his mouth. That’s one of a few signs that his father’s death has affected him emotionally. He hasn’t shed a single tear from what I’ve seen. Neither have I, though – and I?m devastated – so I guess crying is not a good indicator of pain.

 

I wonder exactly how much he keeps from her. I wonder if she’d be looking at me like that – and inviting me to sleep under her roof – if she knew the kinds of things I’ve done for her husband.

Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

Source: http://unconventionalbookviews.com/review-surviving-ice-k-a-tucker
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