Shattered Sea (The Tattered & Torn Series Book 4)

This book tugs at all the heartstrings. From the opening prologue, you can feel that this book is going to pack a punch and it delivers.One element of this book that struck me was the portrayal of raw emotion, even years after the tragedy and how each character was dealing (or not dealing) afterwards. Catherine did a beautiful job writing this dynamic and I felt for Laiken as I read her journey.Boden was a pleasure to get to know. He had his own trauma and issues coming to Wolf Gap. I loved watching the characters develop and this book delivered.Several side characters jumped off the pages and helped add in personality and comic relief. It was exciting to see the continuation of previous couples and their families and hints of the future.Lastly, this would not be a Catherine Cowles story without some suspense and the plot twist packed a punch. Each book in the Tattered and Torn series gets better and better and I cannot wait for the next story!!

One of my greatest pleasures as a reader is watching an author grow in her craft. Following Cowles' writing journey is pure delight and makes my romantic heart ridiculously happy. With each new book she sets the bar higher, and I know beyond any doubt her romances will be an amazing, satisfying reading experience. With writing this good, it's hard to believe it can get any better, but I have no doubt the best is yet to come, and I can’t wait to see what this gifted storyteller brings us next.The small town of Wolf Gap was struck by tragedy a decade ago and many lives were forever changed, Laiken Montgomery's perhaps most significantly. She lives with emotional scars and physical pain as a constant reminder, yet she finds her happiness in her friends and her job managing an art gallery. Her heart bears the scars of her grief, and she has little left of it to offer to any kind of romantic relationship.Boden Cavanaugh may be one of the most famous actors in Hollywood, but he's no stranger to loss. As a public figure, he's had little choice but to work through his grief in the public eye, with hungry vultures constantly hovering in hopes of a sound bite or candid shot intended only to satisfy rabid fans by preying on a vulnerability.Boden's visit to Wolf Gap is twofold. Escape the cameras being shoved in his face and do extensive research for an upcoming movie project. He plans to fly under the radar and have little interaction with people in town. But plans have a way of changing, and Boden's do when he sees something through the window that compels him to step inside the gallery where Laiken works. Two broken hearts recognize the pain in the other, and a cautious friendship begins to bloom.Oh my heart, y’all, this story! Returning to these characters is like coming home to family and finding unwavering support, unmitigated acceptance, and unconditional love. Somehow two lost souls find healing, courage, and a chance at love they both believed was gone forever. Cowles then adds the perfect amount of drama and suspense guaranteed to keep you reading long into the night.There's an unguarded authenticity and sage understanding in these pages that comes only from first-hand knowledge of loss, grief and sorrow, and while my mind was enthralled by the storytelling, my heart beat in sympathy for everything these characters endured. Although it's fiction, there's an abundance of wisdom to be found that can serve each of us at different points of life's journey.Although readers will see themselves in Laiken and Boden's romance, even more profoundly, their story will make the reader feel seen. Balanced with the tragedy, grief and pain are healing, forgiveness and second chances. Your heart may itself feel shattered, but then it will unfurl its wings and soar. Poignant, heartfelt, and uplifting, this exquisite, extraordinary romance is one of my favorite, most special reads this year and one you absolutely won’t want to miss.

Catherine Cowles latest novel, Shattered Sea, is a breathtaking account of loss and pain, but also learning to love and forgive.Laiken has spent the last decade mourning the loss of her childhood sweetheart in a deadly car accident. She deals with not only emotional pain, but also physical pain from injuries sustained in the crash. Boden is a popular actor seeking a quiet retreat in Wolf Gap under the guise of researching for a new role. He has also lost someone recently and is dealing with pain and guilt, not to mention trying to hide from a narcissistic brother. Laiken and Boden can't help but be drawn together and lean on each other to help heal the wounds of loss and sorrow.What to say about this book....I liked it, a lot, but the ending kind of ruined it for me. The plot started out well enough. In fact, it seemed much more raw than any other book I think I've ever read. It's very obvious that there was a lot of empathetic emotion poured into the writing of this story. Everything was beautifully written (as if Catherine would ever write anything bad). The subject matters dealt with were described in such perfect detail that I felt as if I were experiencing them myself. As someone who lives with chronic pain, I've never seen an author detail so perfectly and clearly the difficulty of living with the discomfort that I experience every day. You can tell she has been through that sort of pain before and it came through clearly in her writing. Another theme that is prevalent throughout the story is the emotional pain from the loss of loved ones and the guilt people feel when they survive a tragedy. I felt every single character's pain so clearly that I was on the verge of tears a few times. The whole story was the perfect example of how one person's decision can affect so many people in so many ways.As for the end...I got a little frustrated. I understand you want the main antagonist to be a bit of a surprise, but I hate that the person literally goes from 100% normally to psychopathic killer with no visible transition. That is so unrealistic. Unless you're dealing with someone who has Dissociative Identity Disorder (which is so incredibly rare) a person isn't going to bounce back and forth between sweet, kind, and caring to raging murderer, at least not with the type of psychopathy described in the book. I would have liked to have seen some more subtle hints at the killer's downward spiral throughout the book. To show that they were slightly off earlier on would have led into a more realistic reveal of who it was and why they chose to do what they did, not to mention their decline in mental state. I'm sorry, but you just don't go from completely normal to completely crazy like that. It takes time. And speaking of timing, that was another issue I had. Everything seemed to progress so quickly, and it was kind of hard to keep track of what was happening when. One day sort of bled into another and overall the whole plot seemed to occur in just a matter of days. A little spacing would have been preferred (just my opinion).That being said, this was still an amazing story. I'm blown away by the author's ability to write the most fantastic tales and to pour such emotion into a plot with the simplest words. I'll be reading it again and again, like I do with all of Catherine's novels, and I hope you do too.

A fantastic slow burn, small town romance in the Tattered and Torn series and Laiken’s story in Shattered Sea will break your heart with the prologue when her life is devastated. The years pass and, on the surface it appears that she is getting on with her life but its obvious that she’s merely existing until movie star Boden Cavanagh comes to Wolf Gap ostensibly to research his latest film but also to try and get over a tragic loss of his own.This story is so beautifully written as two people who have both gone through tragic losses find one another, first as friends before their relationship slowly deepening into love. Boden and Lake are perfect together. While initially she is reluctant to rely on anyone, Boden is more than happy to take things at her pace and just be there with her. With the previous books in this series, Catherine Cowles has proven she’s an amazing romance author but with Shattered Sea she’s also shown she can write suspense with the best of them. I know there has been an element of thriller in the previous books but its always been clear who the bad guy was and it was more a case of proving it but here it’s a classic whodunnit. I would’ve liked a little more build up in the tension but I was still totally shocked when the villain was exposed and I doubt anyone even considered this person as a suspect.

|| 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 📝          𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Shattered Sea   𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Catherine Cowles    𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Romance           𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:     I was excited for Laikens story after reading and loving her character in previous books. Her and Boden had a deep undeniable connection from the get go and it was wonderful to read how that connection turned into something beautiful.  The suspense element kept me guessing till the very end and I'm happy to report, I had no idea who was behind everything so it was a shock when the big reveal happened. I did not see that coming, which is a credit to the author writing.  I enjoyed these two together and the book flowed nicely throughout. The storyline was well thought out and kept me turning the page but I will be honest, I didn't enjoy it as much as I did with the first three books in the series or others by the author. There were times when it just fell a little flat for me.  Yes I enjoyed my time between the pages and I would definitely recommend but it didn't give me those goosebump feelings or book hang over I experienced with the other books. For some reason the emotions were missing for me and the passion for one another seemed lost. But as I say, I love the authors writing and I am very much looking forward to the next book in the series.  𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞:  “𝘋𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳.”     𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐎𝐟:    • Contemporary Romance   • Steamy Reads  • Romantic Suspense  • Celebrity Romance  • Found Family       𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:      𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘖𝘧 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️    𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘖𝘧 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 𝘗𝘭𝘰𝘵: ⭐️⭐️⭐️    𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️    ***************************     𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thoroughly enjoyed this story.We had a prologue that set the scene for the tale that was to unfold.Laiken was seriously hurt in a car crash. It changed her life completely. Pain became her daily companion.She worked in an art gallery, a job she loved. But she had a secret. Her love of photography. Her employer is desperate to know who has taken the photos...these are the photos that let Laiken express herself. Show her fight.When Boden comes to town to learn about a man who works wonders with horses, he happens to enter the gallery and see a photo of Laiken but the artist is unknown.So beings a mutual attraction and so much more between Laiken and Boden. It's lovely to watch it blossoming.But there are dark times ahead as things start happening and threats are made.Fabulous romantic tale with tons of suspense and drama thrown in!Happy reading and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

There are very few authors that I will preorder books and paperbacks before I even read the blurb. However with every book of Catherine’s I don't even need to know the book name but I will have every copy pre ordered. Every book she writes just hits that sweet spot every single time. The perfect combination of small town romance and suspense. I am also going to start calling Catherine the Queen of Prologues. If you have read it then you know exactly why.I always love how Catherine links her characters so I knew in Hidden Waters after meeting Laiken that I was going to love her story. I love how relatable she is and finds her happiness while dealing with her emotional and physical pain.Boden is everything!! My heart broke for him and everything he had to deal with. I loved how he would do anything to keep Laiken safe from the danger that is lurking in Wolf Gap.Also that ending… absolutely did not see coming at all.As sad as I will be for the Tattered & Torn series to be over I cannot wait to read Shiloh’s story.

I loved Laiken and Boden’s story and the continuation of the lives of the Wolf Gap family. This story like the others in the series had so much, murder, suspense, heartbreak, angst, love. Lots of twists and turns and shock at who the killer actually was. I definitely didn’t see that coming! Will Laiken and Boden get their HEA? You will have to read it to find out. For me this is another 5 star read from Catherine Cowles.