By Freya Barker
Synopsis
Violence corroded her…
Obedience defiled her…
Fear kept her chained…
Freedom is hard to embrace when she’s never learned to trust. Yet in the span of a second, she grabs a single opportunity and runs toward it. Straight into the sanctuary of a pub at the end of a wharf.
She doesn’t understand the concept of friendship. She’s never felt the connection of a relationship. She’s as innocent as the driven snow and yet tainted with corruption. Still, she finds herself surrounded by people who accept her, without even knowing the first thing about her. But one of them is determined to dig deeper.
He treasures his friends, yet he’s steered clear of committed relationships. He likes his life comfortably predictable and entirely controlled. Until it isn’t. For months he’s avoided interacting with The Skipper’s newest addition. Perhaps realizing that once he looked deeply into those liquid brown eyes, he wouldn’t be able to turn away.
When his present and her past puts them both on the brink of change, they are forged through fire as one.
Review
Through Fire has been the hardest of this series so far for me to read. I now have to try and attempt to explain how I feel about Ruby & Tim. There was always something about Tim that made me want a story on him as he was so closed off and at times aloof in the first two books of this series. Tim definitely acted as a Batchelor and was very set in his ways and of course it was going to take an exceptional woman for him to break down that barrier as even Viv could not do that. Now Ruby or as Tim calls her “Boop” – which I adored by the way – is another strong woman but also has her soul and heart that needs filling with the love and security of a strong man and Tim for me did that perfectly. Their journey is not easy and there are some detours so be prepared as Ruby needs to fight her way through so many barriers to trust Tim.
When Ruby asks Tim to teach her to “make love” well I had to put my book down and take a moment to realise how much has been taken from this woman.
Ruby’s story is really hard to stomach and my heart hurt for this woman who has had half of her life stolen from her at the hands of barbaric men. Without giving too much away there were two scenes that stand out for me and cement the fact these two characters have a hard road ahead. When Ruby falls to her knees in the kitchen at Tim’s and then also when she first locks herself in the bathroom, these were pivotal moments and I still think of them now.
Through Fire is not all dark and gloomy though, the author introduces Tim’s family, his parents provide such great moments of humour with strong bonds of the love of a great family, they gave not only Ruby hope but myself too for a HEA. When Nina came into the story I could not turn those pages fast enough as I needed to know if my dream would come true and it did and it brought tears to my eyes and I was pretty happy for Tim’s brother with the doctor.
The ending is just perfect, it gives you a glimpse into the future and it makes all the darkness worthwhile and we of course get to see more of all the gang from the Skipper and it gives us a glimpse into the life that is Dino – his story is next!
Through Fire (Portland ME #3)
My Rating: 
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