Surviving Raine (Surviving Raine, #1)

by Shay Savage

[Caitiebelle]

I absolutely LOVED this book. I could not put it down.

This author is rather new to me. I first read [b:Transcendence|20504754|Transcendence (Transcendence, #1)|Shay Savage|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391320052s/20504754.jpg|34802286] because it kept being recommended in one of my online reader groups, and like so many others, I absolutely fell in love with that book.

I decided to give another book a try by the same author and so 'Surviving Raine' was the next choice.

This book reminded me slightly of [b:Transcendence|20504754|Transcendence (Transcendence, #1)|Shay Savage|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391320052s/20504754.jpg|34802286] because it follows the main antihero 'Bastian's point of view, and also because of most of the book? They are on a liferaft. Yup, you heard me! How he and Raine end up on said liferaft I can't tell you, because that would ruin the surprise - but safe to say that for a book where the majority of the content is in one specific place (and a tiny one at that) the Author still manages to amaze me.

The book is sarcastic, Bastian has a bit of a sarcastic asshole type of thing going on, but I did laugh quite a lot throughout the book. He's not all bad. Please give him a chance, because as the book progresses - so does he, and he really does deserve to have his story explained. :) It all makes sense in the end.

Raine is an orphan who just wanted to get away from tragic events of her past, so she booked a trip on a private cruise. It so happens that the ship is Bastian's and all though they have never spoken whilst on the ship, they do hit it off rather well, though poor Raine has to put up with some major shit...

The book has romance in spades, and no it's not Stockholm syndrome. It's two people who need to use every skill in the books to be able to survive the next day, just one more day.
It has drama, it has delicious sex, it has 101 Survival and some really nifty ways to fish! I think I might have learned something from this book...you know...in case I end up...I don't know...on a liferaft in the middle of the blue sea? :p


Bastian's back story is told in pieces and I ached for the childhood he didn't have and for the choices he had to make in order to just survive. I ached for his naivete in his tender youth, and I cried for his desperate choices made at such a young age.

But I also laughed, smiled and enjoyed their story. And I am on to read the sequel because you just can't get enough Bastian!