Melissa Novicio's Reviews > Wounded

OMG! Wow! That was unexpected! Reading the synopsis of this book I'm thinking this is a love story of a girl struggling to get by meets a military guy dealing with the demands of being in the war... Boy was I ever wrong!! I was hating this book & loving this book at the same time! Hating it because my heart went out to Rania and what she had to endure from the early age of 12. From losing both her parents, her uncle and then her aunt to deaths. Then her little brother leaves her to join the war but he he is a child himself. The story takes place on the first Gulf War, Iraq in 1991. Rania now left alone has to find a way to survive, she has no one to take care of her, no one will hire her for she is only a child. She finally finds something to get her enough food to get her by when a older lady hires her to do her laundry and clean up after her, until that lady passes away. Rania is once again has to look for a way to get food to live. Sometimes you have to do what is necessary even if its selling yourself, for survival... My heart aches for her, it was so hard to read sometimes, I had to stop and give myself a break before picking it up again.

Then we meet Hunter Lee, he's A US Marine home on leave but he's about to be deployed into the 2nd Iraqi War. He's at home with his best friend Derek that he's known since he was in 2nd grade. They've been through and done everything together even enlist together and even ended up in the same unit. Hunter has no one, he's an only child, lost his parents to a car crash. All he has is Derek and his high school sweetheart Lani, but he loses her when he finds her in bed with someone else before he has to be deployed!

Then when out on a Routine Cp with his unit, including Derek is when we are finally introduced to Rania & Hunter's story. Of course it doesn't come without a price. They are thrusted together, two souls who lost so much, even lost themselves... Can they help heal one another? Can Rania heal Hunter not only of his battle wounds but of his broken heart? Can Hunter help heal Rania, this broken girl, who sees herself worthless only as a body and nothing more?

I love how Jassinda switches back and forth from Rania & Hunter's POV, it helps you understand & learn more about each characters. Never once in a book I've read where I've felt so much for the heroine of the story. Usually I am hating the girl or thinking how weak she is... This is not the case at all with Rania, all I felt for her was sadness. I just wanted someone to come find her and take her away from it all & love her!! That's why Hunter was PERFECTION!! He was so sweet with Rania, even with their language barrier. He never judged her even after he learned of what she did. He instead wanted to protect her & take care of her, remove her from this life. I loved the development of their relationship, how they established trust, how they tried to learn each other's languages.

One of the BEST scenes in the book is when Hunter although he's injured goes at any length to protect Rania...

"I'm in battle mode. Shut down. Hard. I'm not Hunter anymore. I'm Lance Corporal Lee, USMC. Semper Fi, bitches!"

Geez, I think this is the longest review I've ever written! What else can say but this a dark but beautiful story... It was beyond amazing! I didn't want it to end, I hope that Jassinda somehow writes another book to continue with Rania & Hunter's story because I'd like to know where this journey will take them... If you haven't yet, go out and READ IT!!!