Wrecked is the story of Ana and Cash and its part second chance, part secret identity. Ana was abducted and tortured as a teen. In this event, her mother was killed, and her brother Asher became a killer. Now, many years later, Ana helps find missing people and hunts killers. Before joining LOST, Ana was a bounty hunter and crossed paths with Cash. Their path crossing involved a 1 night stand. 2 years later, Cash needs Ana's help with a case. She agrees on the condition that their past stay in the past and that there is no recurrence of the event. (Yeah...we know how that goes!)

Ana is so guarded because of her past. She doesn't let people into her world often. When she met Cash, she thought he was a good guy; she got the sense he was a 'by the book' cop. Guys like that didn't belong in her darkness. But, Cash has secrets too and those secrets could crush Ana. They have undeniable chemistry but both are so scarred that having a relationship might be unattainable. And through it all, they are on the hunt for a killer. A seriously smart and devious killer who is attacking people who have done terrible things. This killer is also obsessed with Ana. The romance between Ana and Cash is smoking hot and when mixed with the danger this unique killer poses, I flew through Wrecked in record time. I couldn't stop myself!

If you have ever seen the movie Primal Fear, Wrecked with resonate with you. While not really alike in any way on the face, the killer bore a haunting similarity to the way Aaron Stampler made me feel in Primal Fear. It made this story haunting in my mind!

 

• POV: 3rd


• Tears: no


• Trope: second chance, secret identity, serial killer


• Triggers: [spoiler]Ana and Asher were tortured by a killer years ago and their story is somewhat detailed in flashbacks[/spoiler]


• Series/Standalone: stand alone within an interconnected series


• Cliffhanger: [spoiler]no[/spoiler]


• HEA: [spoiler]yes; while there is an epilogue, it has nothing to do with the couple.[/spoiler]

[rating stars="four-half-stars"][icon-tags]


Lethal Game by Katie Reus, Deep Dark by Laura Griffin, Cold Secrets by Toni Anderson...then you will probably like Wrecked!



Wrecked





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Oh my word--I can't even imagine what Ana and Asher went through as teens--and to have the two of them turn out ok and willingly want to help other families who have questions on what happened to their loved ones . . . It's hard for me to fathom anyone wanting to put themselves into darkness (though the times that you find someone alive and can return them is gratifying, there are also the times when you can only provide the closure that the person they've been seeking is dead.)

We also get to see two people who suffered something similar who didn't come out of it as together as Ana and Asher--though one is a bit questionable as to how much he knew what he was doing and manipulated his partner to do the dirty work.

For whatever reason, Ana and Cash are drawn to each other. There's a big plot twist involving the two of them that surprised me. They both have secrets that they keep from others. That part was drawn on a bit too often--I either wanted to know the secret just so they'd stop hinting at it in their thoughts or have them move on. I understand Ana's trust issues more than I understood Cash's reasoning. I'm not sure if that's just a gender thing or if it is a characterization issue.

I like Ana and Cash together, but I don't approve of all the choices they made. I also thought their relationship went in circles. They'd like each other, get together, one or the other would get scared or have second thoughts and go away, but they'd miss each other or life would throw them back together again and the cycle would start all over. By the third time through, I was tired of it and hoping for some change.

Ana (and Sarah) remind me a bit of "Criminal Minds" and its portrayal of the BAU. Ana seems to have a way of connecting the dots on the why behind what the bad guy is doing. ( )