Review: Crushed by Katherine Gabera
Title: Crushed, Sons of San Clemente #1 
Author: Katherine Gabera
Publisher: Holiday Books, Tule Publishing
Published: September 22nd, 2015
Rating: 4.5/5
Take the daughter of of one of the most dangerous drug lords, add in a turf war between the mobsters, put her in the middle of it and add an ex-Navy SEAL who wants to protect her. Life is never going to be easy in the middle of this drama but will they survive the perils to give their love a chance?
Preach is the nickname of a fantastic ex-preacher who has befriended and acted as a true caring father figure for many youngsters struggling to cope with life on the streets of San Clemente. He and his wife have helped turn around so many young lives, they’re inspirational, treating the youngsters as beloved offspring even when their grown up, helping them where necessary and always having their backs.
One of those helped by Preach is Heath Connelly – Con. Despite Con’s traumatic upbringing, Preach helped him turn his life around. Con is now back in town after three stints in the Middle East with the Navy SEALs. He’s been chilling, surfing, when he bumps into his teenage dream girl, Mia Santos. Mia was always out of reach as far as Con was concerned, a princess daughter of one of the most feared drug lords, but there’s definitely an attraction between them. Now he’s spotted that she’s been beaten up and that is like a red rag to a bull for Con. He’s determined to protect her but they haven’t seen each other for many years and both have secrets that could easily tear them apart.
This is a powerful story of gangland disagreements, danger, gun fights, people getting beaten up, surfing and romance. It is fast paced with a complete range of complex characters and scenarios making it an enthralling, difficult to put down, read. The tumultuous up bringing of both Con and Mia, their battles to escape the past and move on to a more secure future all add to the fantastic saga. The camaraderie of the young people created into a family by the love and care of Preach and his wife is crucial to the outcome of the turf wars and demonstrates the impact of inspirational folk like them on communities which may otherwise be at war with each other.
This is another sizzling story from Katherine Grabera with a feisty frightened heroine, a hot heroic male lead and a magnificent team working together to protect themselves and other vulnerable folk from the machinations of mobsters. A brilliant start to the new series, I’m looking forward to reading subsequent stories in future!
Thanks to the publishers for kindly sending me a paperback ARC of this fantastic book in exchange for an honest review.
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