The Scars I Bare

This book was a guilty pleasure for me. I read it in one day, Just the thing I needed to get through my day... some sappy romance, Do stories like that really exist... ? I don'T think so, but just for a day, i got caugt up in it .

This is the second book in the series and I HIGHLY recommend you read book 1 first. You might be able to read this as standalone, but I think you would be missing out on too much from the first book. This is MY second book by this author and it did not disappoint!
Dean lost his arm on a ferry ride to the island where he lives…. Cora was his nurse three years ago. He felt an instant attraction to her, but sadly, she was married with a daughter. This book takes place three years later… Cora is now divorced from her abusive husband and has taken a job as the only nurse on the island where Dean lives. These two quickly see each other and start dating. I loved how Dean treated her daughter, Lizzie. Made me like him even more then I already did from the previous book. Both of these two damaged souls become healed and find love. This was a very sweet read.

After reading about Molly and Jake's happy ending in The Choices I've made, I was really looking forward to Dean getting his own happy ending. In the first book, we can read how Dean tragically loses his right arm during the ferry accident. And how Dean goes into a depression while lying in the hospital.
And we meet Cora, the nurse, who makes Dean smile again. But then, in The Scars I Bare, we can read how Cora was already married. So, Dean is back to being his miserable self again, until suddenly Cora reappears on the island as the new nurse in Jake's practice. Cora is only a ghost of the happy and outgoing girl Dean met in the hospital three years ago. So, what has happened to her? Is she as broken as Dean is? And can two broken people heal each other?
Find out for yourself in this wonderful story about love, self esteem and family bonds. Five out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

I read this story after reading the 1st book in the series and enjoyed it just as much. This is the second book I’ve read by J L Berg without putting it down. I will be looking for more work by J L Berg, the standard of writing, story-line and depth of characters entice the reader to keep reading, and I will definitely be doing so in future books.

I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who thinks the blurb sounds interesting, along with those readers who enjoy an emotional ride into romance – Wonderful!

I don’t know what to say that will convey how much I have enjoyed The Scars I Bare by J.L. Berg. The first book in the series, The Choices I’ve Made gives the reader a close up look at the tragedy that happened to Dean. It also gives a brief glimpse of Cora as Dean’s nurse. This book is their story from the hospital stay to three years later when they meet again. First of all, I was extremely glad that this is not a cheating story when it could easily have become one. Kudos to the author for that.

I feel lucky to have found this author who writes a great story with real, genuine characters that you love, in a setting that you can envision in your mind. If Dean and Cora were not enough there is Cora’s adorable daughter, Lizzie, too. It is a tear-jerking story but also a feel-good, heart-warming love story too.

Don’t let the underdressed man on the cheesy cover make you think this is a run of the mill romance. It has substance and depth. Highly recommend.

This was a light, enjoyable read with two broken main characters. Despite their physical and psychological scars, Dean and Cora easily reconnect and get together with a lack of angst and conflict that somehow left me surprised. I enjoyed more the first part of the story and even liked the first person dual point of view but then I thought the story got a bit cheesy in some moments, the dialogue often felt forced and the resolution of some issues lacked depth and substance.
Dean is a great hero, tortured, broken, yet strong, caring and protective. The one-armed rugged fisherman carrying his woman and writing his journal (what a neat handwriting for someone who is learning to write with his non-dominant hand) is very alluring: yet, I thought there was too much telling about how he’s broken, rather than showing. But the strength mixed with the shyness and awkwardness is appealing.
I didn’t understand the way Cora dealt with her parents and her ex-husband, I thought she was childish. And her daughter… what an annoying little girl! I can’t believe even a very precocious, smart child would speak and think like that. Anyway, I found Lizzie ‘maturity’ really irritating for her age, and that mail exchange with Dean was so sappy… I just wished the author would have given her less space in the story or created a real child and not a phony prodigy.

The Scars I Bare is a whirlwind hard core rollercoaster ride. I was sucked in right from the first chapter.
Dean the main character has been thru hell and back and he does not feel like he can ever get thru the darkness. When Cora comes in he knows he has to fight to see the light and get leave the darkness behind.

The intensity each character has in this book is phenomenal J.L. Berg wrote an amazing story!

The Scars I Bare is a beautifully written sequel to The Choices I’ve Made, and every bit as emotionally raw and gut wrenching in its message.

Dean is no stranger to tragedy and he captured my heart in book one; so I was definitely hoping he would get his very own story. It wasn’t surprising that the author chose Cora as Dean’s love interest, as she had a profound effect on his healing after his accident. But with so much baggage between them both, the path to happiness is fraught with many challenges and some serious soul searching about what’s really important in life.

The stories in the By the Bay series are meant to rip your heart out, drain you emotionally and build hope at the very end; this story accomplishes that and more.

Dean, we see him in the first book and I would definitely recommend that you read that book first to see what happens to Drew and why it happens. There is a time jump between the first book and this book.

Drew is a tortured soul who has not quite recovered from his trauma and the loss of the woman he was growing close to when the incident happened, so when his best friend hires that woman, things change.

Cora has her own past and she’s running from it. I like the contrast between these two, they’re opposites in many different ways but I enjoyed it because it makes the story more engaging for me.

5 stars

Dean sometimes has to reel his woman in, "I squeezed her ***, causing her to squeal. “Cora, focus. Your body is so fucking hot and I am currently experiencing the biggest hard-on of my life , so if we don’t figure this out soon, I might pass out right here, in this watering hole. And I really don’t think you want to explain that to your parents.” I liked this book, I loved Dean the man had a big heart.

Such a beautifully heartwarming story about two star crossed people with a second chance at love.

Cora was Dean's rehab nurse. His crush on her is unrequited when he finds out she is married. Now years later, Dean is still floundering after a terrible incident causes him to wallow in self pity instead of trying to move on. Cora, meanwhile, is moving on with her life by escaping her ex-husband. Now living in the same town, Cora and Dean try to fight the attraction they feel for each other.

This story is filled with sad moments followed by wonderful moments. I love how Cora's daughter Lizzie is her mom's matchmaker. So sweet. This story is part of a series but it could be read as a standalone.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.