Chelsea what did you do to me. I’m working my way through all of her stories and the Love and Repair series was one I had yet to tackle. It was a great series. The only thing I could have wanted was MORE. More of everything. I’m going to go through book by book and since this will be a long blog post because of the number of books, there won’t be a separate review section.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Crash and Burn
Welcome to the beginning of the Love & Repair series. It has some snippets that run along with the Hellions story line but you do NOT need to read her Hellions MC before this one. Here we meet Ryder briefly but also fall in love with Dina and Maggie. Dina is the main focus in the first book. She is a college student living with her best friend Maggie. We learn that Dina has had insurmountable loss and is desperately trying to find her new normal. Maggie is doing all she can, but it only touches into Dina’s psyche so far before it’s a lost cause. Brayden starts joining the picture as Maggie’s life continues on a normal path. Just when Dina has given up hope that she will move beyond all this, she meets Michael.
I liked how Dina and Maggie were portrayed well as college students. While they had ambitions, they were your typical young aged adults. Dina did have her world crashing down which changed her, but you could see they were taking the journey to becoming an adult. I couldn’t put this book down either as I read Dina’s downfall into the nightmare of the unsuspecting. She didn’t see it until it was too late and it broke my heart.
I messaged Chelsea because what do you say to an opening book like this. She totally wrecked me. There were no words I could put together that would make it okay. This first book is a knockout. I am so thankful I had this boxed set to find out what happens immediately because my heart hurt not knowing.
No spoilers, but this first story will have you yelling at your kindle and doubling over in a pile as you read Dina’s struggles.
Restore My Heart
Dina, Ryder, Maggie and Brayden are back. Once Dina has had years to come to terms with her devastating loss and nightmarish relationship with Michael, she begins to find herself again. Dina begins to feel again. Maggie and Dina are done with school. Having accomplished so much, they open their own business which was a dream of theirs for so long. Ryder is also working towards making his shop a successful one. All the while a beautiful woman is not far from his mind. He knew since the night he rescued Dina that she would be the endgame. Now he just needed to wait and be patient.
The title of this book is perfect IMO. Dina restores so much of her heart on her own. The small piece missing, she finds in Ryder. Chelsea captured the emotional roller coaster of Dina so well. She showed that even after years, some scars remain and take time, love, patience, and understanding to move on from. I was team Dina all the way in this story.
While Maggie and Brayden are present, this book revolves around Ryder and Dina finding love and strength together. They support each other professional and personally build one another up to be the best versions of themselves. You will want to bash Ryder’s head in at certain points (I know I did) but at the same time love his strength and patience when it comes to Dina.
Dina has grown so much since the tragic loss she suffered in book 1. Watching parts come full circle for her to a point where she can breathe in her new norm gives you big warm squishy feels. I loved every minute of her and Ryder’s romance as they became a couple that would last a lifetime.
Salvaged
All the while in the background of the first two books we see Maggie and Brayden come together and develop a relationship. They stood by their friends as they watched the unthinkable happen to Dina. They also helped Ryder and Dina have their happily ever after. But, what happens when their own happily ever after goes away. How will it be salvaged?
Maggie is so smart. I like how Chelsea made her character blinded by love for Brayden. I had no idea what was coming as their issue until she wanted me to know. I suspected some things, but honestly did not expect Brayden to have his struggles. While Dina’s issues were different from Maggie, I found myself saying bravo to Chelsea because she showed a struggle that had Maggie on a journey as well. You can feel the turmoil of do you give up on the one you love, stand by them, walk away for a time, and so many other questions.
Brayden I thought was an awesome guy. Then he fell, and fell hard. After the fall I thought he was bitter and damaged. Interjecting in this, I laughed (not a laughing matter) at Dina and how she basically said “F you and your excuses, this is what you’re doing.” She also didn’t put up with it. The tough love that came from her had me going “ouch.” In the end, it worked out well but Brayden had a long road of proving he was the original guy everyone loved.
We also get to meet Maggie’s family and visit the coastal town her parents and Dina’s are from. Harrison, her older brother, comes in to the story and we learn some about him. We also see what he will do to protect his sister.
This story is full of second chances and will have you mad, upset and disappointed with Brayden. But, by the end you will be proud, hopeful, and cheering him on as he works hard to his goals and dreams. Maggie will make your heart melt as she goes on this self discovering journey and ends up with all her dreams coming true.
Full Throttle
We meet Jake and Kenna in book 2 and 3 of this series. They start out as tertiary characters in my mind, move to secondary in the last story and now are in the spotlight. Chelsea gives them their chance to tell their story and maybe find some love in return.
These two have been together since they were in high school. It’s the romance that would withstand all time as they’ve survived deployments and other trials that came their way. What has them doubting their love? Engagement, marriage.
Kenna has a job she loves, a man she loves, and friends to make life worth while. She gets in her own head and slowly she feels the world around her falling on its axis. I really wish I had highlighted parts in their story. The journey Kenna goes on to find out what she’s known all along made my heart melt. It was a warm squishy melt too. When her Dad said why she could move in with him, I was like AAWWW 💖. Big squishy feels there.
Jake is letting all this wedding talk go to his head. He HATES marriage and is kind of a jerk about it. Harrison is still in the scene and tries to offer some wisdom to Jake. Not listening to any of it, Jake stays in his own mind thinking he knows best. He has some heavy soul-searching to do if he wants to stay with Kenna. He knows she’s his endgame but he lets the fear of not knowing keep him from pushing full throttle.
This story really had all the yummy feels. It was refreshing the issues they faced were more centered around their own perceptions of things and how everyone can get wedding fever. 😉 I liked Kenna and Jake and their romance story. It continued the series along so you got to their HEA point.
Beyond Repair
Harrison has been present since the beginning. He is the brother of Maggie, and the surrogate brother of Dina. Overprotective and a former Marine, he finds himself a bit lost in life. When Maggie is going through her journey, he decides to move to her area and be the big brother he is. When the past comes back in a shocking way, he has to decide if love is greater than hate.
I think this is my second favorite story out of the series. My first is Dina and Ryder, but this is a close second. I really enjoyed Harrison’s character and how he struggled with coming to terms over love, lust and hate.
Tiffany was different. I wasn’t sure what to make of her character when we first met her. Then Chelsea went and wrote her in such a way that had me wanting to reach in my kindle to hug Tiffany.
I’m not sure what made me love this story so much, but I felt like this second chance was one that was fought for on a level that bound Harrison and Tiffany together no matter what the odds were. I also enjoyed watching Tiffany grow as an adult and person. She found what she had always wanted. Maggie and Dina also gave her a friendship that meant as much as Harrison did.
Chelsea wrote this in a way that time passed seamlessly. We had some chunks of time and you didn’t feel lost. You felt like you were catching back up with your favorite people after being gone for a long time.
Stalled
Sophia gets her chance to have her stalled heart beat again. I am standing and applauding you Chelsea on how you handled her. I think if you had given her any other HEA I might not have enjoyed it as much. She got what she always wanted and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
We learn in Harrison’s story that Sophia can give a good time but her heart belongs to another. The BOMB, yeah it was a bomb, that Chelsea drops on you has you ripping out your heart and handing it over to her. OH the feels for Sophia.
This is a super short story but none less gut wrenching or sweet. It really gave you a HEA that was fitting for her.
That said, I would never turn down more, but the ending for Sophia was simply perfect.
Well there you have it my review and take on all 6 books. I hope you enjoyed this long post today. I also hope you check out Chelsea’s stories. She’s a unicorn author for me and I think I only have ONE book of hers left to read and I will be all caught up on my stalking.
Find Chelsea here:
http://www.authorchelseacamaron.com
Grab the boxed set:
