Saving Mercy- Abbie Roads

About this book: 

First in a chilling new paranormal romantic suspense series from award-winning author Abbie Roads

He’s found her at last

Cain Killion knows himself to be a damaged man, his only saving grace the extrasensory connection to blood that he uses to catch murderers. His latest case takes a macabre turn when he discovers a familiar and haunting symbol linking the crime to his own horrific past-and only one woman could know what it means.

Only to lose her to a nightmare

Mercy Ledger is brave, resilient, beautiful-and in terrible danger. The moment he sees Mercy, Cain knows he’s the one who can save her. He also knows he’s beyond redemption. But the lines between good and evil blur and the only thing clear to Cain and Mercy is that they belong together. Love is the antidote for blood-but is their bond strong enough to overcome the evil that stalks them?

Release Date: 4th April

What I think?

Oh hell yes!

This book was ah-may-zing! And that is me saying a lot, considering it had insta-love.

Oh but oh!

It also had a two completely psychotic men- one of them being a serial killer and the other completely obsessed with the serial-killer’s only survived victim, an emotionally fucked up guy who is also psychic and smears the blood of murder victims all over himself to get into the minds of their killer, and said survived victim who also happens to have slightly psychic powers, and is the love/obsession interest of aforementioned emotionally fucked up guy.

Do I have your attention yet?

Because holy god on a popsicle, if someone had told me earlier that it had psychologically fucked up characters and an amazing writing, I think I would have jumped on this book the moment it arrived on my kindle!

Can I just say that this book was awesome? Because fuck yeah this book was effing awesome! And honestly I can’t stress that enough. It has been quite some time since a book got my blood burning like this one did.

To the story (I’ll try and not add any spoilers for you)-

Cain is a 30 year old FBI consultant. Basically the FBI call him to murder scenes to create the killer’s profile because no one can create a more accurate one. Oh that may be because he can literally get into the killers minds via the blood of his victims. That may also be because he’s the Triple K aka Killer Killion’s Kid. Yeah, that is the only amusing thing in this entire book. Laugh it out bitches.

Being his father’s son is not easy, because not only does the entire world expect him to snap any moment and follow in his father’s footsteps, but so does he. He was in ways, every bit an image of his father, and in ways, every bit different. I honestly couldn’t decide until the end which way I was leaning on. But when in dilemma, all you need to read is this gold-

“Blood did that to him, was a pleasure and a pain. A gift and a a curse. He had a complicated relationship with blood. He hated it. He loved it.”

Mercy Ledger. A B-ward psychiatric patient. A sane woman. The only survivor of the serial killer Adam Killion.

When her head psychologist- Dr. Payne’s obsession with her increases, Mercy is rescued by an unlikely ally- the son of the very man that destroyed her entire life. But Cain wasn’t acting hero when he came to her rescue- no, he was following the clues to a murder that led straight to her.

But she wasn’t the murderer.

So that could mean only one thing-

He was still out there.

Oh man! The development of the tension in this book was epic. Once I started this book, I just couldn’t put it down. Cain and Mercy’s connection was so palpable from the very beginning. This was one story where I didn’t mind the very rushed development of feelings, because in ways, they had known each other almost all their lives as the only surviving victims of his father.

And the climax- it was fucking explosive! I have to say, that I did not one see that coming. Loved it. Simply that. Can’t and won’t add any more words to it.

The writing was-

It was so gripping, the language so bloody good, the pace perfect, and the entire plot of the story was just effing awesome that it naturally resulted in a brilliant book. And I can’t stress on that enough. Roads has written one hell of a psychological romance/suspense- the very pages of this book bleeds with the raw dark genius of the authors mind. I cannot wait for the next book. I needed it like yesterday!

This was my first book by this author, and I can already tell that I’m going to be after her books like a dog with a bone.

“If he’d been given a stop-time button, this was the moment he would’ve used it. Here, holding her, the gentle lullaby of rain playing in the background, was the only perfect moment of his entire life.”

—Get this book—

—Giveaway—

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—Excerpt—

The rain came down gray and thick as a shroud, blurring his vision of the world. He flipped on the wipers and pulled out of the hospital parking lot onto the road. Fat blobs of smacked the windshield loud as marbles being tossed against the glass. Was that hail? As if it mattered. His car was trashed.

Cain had covered the passenger seat and all Mac’s blood with a blanket he kept in the trunk. Even though his view of all that crimson was blocked, his mind knew it was there and his eyes kept wandering to the blanket, calling up the image of the dark stickiness coating the seat and the floor. All that blood was playing touchy-feely with his sanity. And he wasn’t in the mood for games.

He drove past a gas station, a fast food restaurant, a person walking alongside the road. His foot hit the brake before his brain had a chance to talk him out of it.

Mercy.

Her hair was slicked to her skull, her clothes—his clothes—were sucked to her body, doing a shitty job of hiding her curves. At least the T-shirt she wore was black, not white. He pulled over to the berm and watched her in the rearview mirror.

She stopped walking, stared at the car—knew it was him—but didn’t move. Could he blame her for not wanting to be around him after what he’d said to her? Not really. And yet, he couldn’t leave her alone and walking in the rain with Payne still out there. Not to mention that she didn’t have anyone or anywhere to go.

She still hadn’t moved from her spot. He left the car running, opened his door and got out. The rain slapped him—frigid, bordering on icy, soaking his clothes and dripping in his eyes. The pressure of it hitting the wounds in his bicep and shoulder made him wince. But that was all the attention he’d give to the pain.

“Get in the car.” The words came out harsher than he’d intended.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, lifted her head, and somehow managed to stare down her nose at him even though she was almost a foot shorter. “No.” She said the word as if it didn’t matter that they were standing in the middle of a downpour.

“Get in the goddamned car.” This time the words came out loud and angry sounding. Like that was going to win her over. What was his problem?

“Fuck you.” She looked miserable—all wet and shivery and yet feisty and taking none of his crap.

He should soften his tone. He should try to be nicer. He should, but his inner asshole seemed attracted to her inner bitch. “Where are you going? No where. You don’t have anywhere to go. You don’t have any money. You don’t have friends.” His voice softened and filled with some emotion he couldn’t name. “You don’t have anyone looking out for you, caring for you, able to help you in a pinch. You got no one.” He sucked in a breath and when he spoke next his voice was soft and pleading. “Except me.”

The moment he finished speaking he wanted to retract every goddamned one of those words he’d spoken. “I’m…Shit…” He ran a hand through his soaking hair. “Goddamn it. I’m a dick. Okay?” He softened his tone. “Now will you please get in the car?”

Her shoulders straightened, her chin lifted, and she walked forward without looking at him. He expecting her to stomp past the car, but she yanked open the passenger door and got in. Seconds passed where he just stood here, getting even more wet, and staring at the back of her head poking above the headrest.

“Now what?” He asked himself. Just what was he going to do with her? Drop her on Dolan? Yes. No. Yes. No. No. No. The last time he tried dropping her on someone she’d almost gotten hurt. If Mac hadn’t been able to keep her safe, he sure as shit wasn’t going to trust Dolan with her.

He got back in car. Every inch of him soaked. He brushed his hair back off his face and wiped the water from his eyes.

She stared out the passenger window, refusing to look at him. He reached over and touched her shoulder. Underneath his hand, her body tensed, then trembled. Shit. Was he scaring her?

He wrenched his hand off her and wanted to use the damned thing to slap himself around a little. Maybe then he’d get it through his stupid brain that she was fucking frightened of him. Too many words flooded his mind and he didn’t know which ones to say. The I’m-sorry ones. The I-won’t-hurt-you ones. The I’m-an-asshole ones. The I-don’t-know-what-to-do ones.

She turned to him. Rain slicked her cheeks. Or was that tears? Her beautiful eyes were the color of tropical waters—deep and fathomless. He held up his hands in a show of surrender and she flew across the console at him.

He closed his eyes, braced for the blows, but none came.

Instead, slender arms wrapped around him, her hair, cold and wet dripped against his chest, but her cheek over his heart was warm—so warm.

Maybe he’d had a stroke or something because this felt like she was hugging him. And that couldn’t be. Could it? He opened his eyes and looked down at her.

Yep. She was wound tight around the front of him. And suddenly his brain let him feel the total sensation of it. Of being held tight as if he mattered to her. He let his arms fall around her and squeezed, pressing her tighter to him. Damn, this felt good. She felt good. It was oddly comforting to have her clinging on to him so tight.

He closed his eyes and memorized the pressure of her arms around him and the way her hands pressed into his back. The way she felt in his arms, the subtle ripple of her spine and ribs underneath his fingers, the way her skin felt warm against his when every other part of him was cold.

If he’d been given a Stop Time button. This was the moment he would’ve used it. Here, holding her—the gentle lullaby of rain playing in the background—was the only perfect moment of his entire life.

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About the author:

1.  She loves Snicker Parfaits. Gotta start with what’s most important, right?

2. She writes dark emotional books featuring damaged characters, but always gives her hero and heroine a happy ending… after torturing them for three hundred pages.

3. By day she’s a mental health counselor known for her blunt, honest style of therapy. At night she burns up the keyboard. Well… Burn might be too strong a word. She at least sits with her hands poised over the keyboard, waiting for inspiration to strike. And when it does—the keyboard might get a little warm.

4.  She can’t stand it when people drive slowly in the passing lane. Just saying. That’s major annoying. Right?

5.  She loves taking pictures of things she thinks are pretty.