If You Leave: The Beautifully Broken Series: Book 2 (Beautifully Broken, #2)

by Courtney Cole

The second book in the Beautifully Broken series.
Ex-army soldier Gabriel Vincent is a badass hero. Or he used to be. Home from Afghanistan, Gabe can't stop thinking about that one horrible night on the battlefield, a night that changed his life for ever. He knows he's messed up, but with the help of a little beer and a lot more women, he's keeping it together. Until he meets Madison Hill.
Madison is happily single - or so she thinks. After the tragic death of her parents, she took on the responsibility of running the family restaurant, and that's all she has time to worry about. Until she meets Gabriel.
Though they don't know realise it at first, Gabe and Maddy will soon develop a weakness: each other. They need to be together to be whole, but can they find a way to heal the past . . . before they lose each other?

• ISBN10: 1455582263
• ISBN13: 9781455582266
• Publish Date: 6 August 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[whisperingchapters]

I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

IF YOU LEAVE tells the story of Gabriel, an ex Army Ranger and Madison. Madison appears in IF YOU STAY, seeing as she is Mila's sister. Gabriel pulls out of the army because of something that happened while being away and it is something that keeps tormenting him still. He tries to live a normal life but he has night terrors—terrors that are so vivid that can take a toll on him while he sleeps and affects others around him and even led to almost killing Madison.

Madison is a sweet and funny woman. Madison is the owner of her parent's restaurant. She has an employee, Jacey, who takes Madison to a club to meet her brother but Jacey disappears with her boyfriend and Madison is left alone until she meets Gabriel. Madison catches a small glimpse of how terrified Gabriel is, how messed up he got from the Army. At the time, she didn't know why he was acting like that until he almost killed her.

Madison and Gabriel's story is sweet yet intense—not only in the sex tense but also in general. It was a great story to read. I ended up crying a little a few times because it was heart wrenching the experience Gabriel had to go through. I really fell in love with him because of who he is: a guy that really cares about everyone, even if he doesn't fully know them.
The characters are funny and quirky. The story is beautiful. It gives just a small insight on how terrifying experiences in the Army can be and what can cause in your life.

[Rowena]

This is the follow up book to Courtney Cole’s If You Stay. It follows the sister of the heroine from the first book, Madison Hill.

Madison is the older sister to Mila Hill and she’s running the family business and living in their parent’s old house. When her parents died, she was living in New York and working as a model. But guilt and grief brought her home, giving up the life she had in New York and taking over the life that belonged to her parents. She took care of her younger sister, Mila and now that Mila is an adult and married, Maddy is free to do what she wants but the guilt she feels over not being around when her parents were alive keeps her locked in at the family restaurant that she co-owns with her sister. And it also keeps her from packing up her parents things and not moving into their bigger room. She’s got a lot of emotional baggage and getting to see all of that, made for a great reading experience.

When she meets Gabriel Vincent, she wasn’t expecting to ever see him again. It was a one night stand gone wrong and even though she never got to the happy ending she was looking forward to, she was glad to be rid of him because it was apparent that he had even more baggage than she did and she couldn’t deal with her baggage, let alone some complete strangers. But when Gabe turns out to be her best friend’s brother that never showed at the club the other night, Maddy deals with his presence in her life in the only way she knows how…by starting to date someone completely wrong for her in hopes of forgetting Gabe.

But Gabe’s not going away and he’s very persistent in his quest to finish what they started on that first night they met.

Gabe just got home from overseas and he’s suffering from a huge case of PTSD. He’s dealing with it in the only way that he knows how…by pretending it doesn’t exist and hoping like hell that he doesn’t hurt anyone in the process. Seeing him come into his own and finally get the help that he needed, felt rewarding. I enjoyed getting to know him and I’ve got to hand it to Courtney Cole. Her characters are completely broken when we first meet them, they’re so imperfect and so in need of someone to help them with their burdens and to see each character find the other and help each other heal was pretty damned great.

I enjoyed getting to know both Gabe and Maddy. I liked the way that they came together. The chemistry was strong between them and seeing them battle wits until they figure out their feelings for each other made for an interesting read. I think I liked this book better than the first book and I cannot wait to read the next book. I was hoping that Gabe’s sister would end up with Gabe’s best friend but I guess he’s got his own happy ending in some other story (fingers crossed). This was an enjoyable book. One that I couldn’t read fast enough to suit my greedy eyes. Well done, Ms. Cole.