Surviving Raine by Shay Savage

So for me this book was a touch of On The Island, mixed with a smidgen of Remy, and a pinch of The Hunger Games. Intrigued yet?

The best part of this story was Bastian. Surviving Rain is told entirely from his POV and it makes for an interesting story. He's an alcoholic that has never felt wanted or loved by anyone. His parents abandoned him in a bar when he was a toddler and he spent his childhood being shuffled from one foster home to another. Never making any connections.

He meets a sort of father figure, who trains him to be a fighter. Not just your normal run of the mill fighter though, this is where The Hunger Games aspect comes in. The result.....he's extremely damaged. He's seen and done things he would rather forget. The only way to avoid the nightmares and cope is to search for the bottom of the bottle....non-stop.

He takes his winnings and buys a boat. He's a captain, but hates interacting with the passengers and spends his days drinking, smoking and looking for his next lay. One night he wakes up to find the boat capsizing and manages to get on a life raft. He sees a passenger drowning and is able to pull her to safety. Raine is twenty, gorgeous and seriously naive.

Now it's just the two of them floating along in the middle of the Caribbean with no land in sight. It becomes a battle to survive for Raine and Bastian. Both physically and emotionally. Bastian is a crude, angry, violent, man-whore that is downright mean. You have to cut him some slack when he starts going through withdrawals on the raft though. Somehow, Raine is able to uncover his redeeming qualities and it's impossible not to fall for him. He's a total alpha and so sweet, when he wants to be. They truly needed each other to survive.

"No matter what actual words come out of my mouth - every time I think of you, every time I touch you, and every time I speak to you - I am making love to you."

Did I enjoy this book....yes. Was it my favorite ever...no. There were so many different aspects to the story, that at some point it just felt like overload. I think the story could have done without Raine's dad. It was too unbelievable to me that her dad and Bastian would have a connection and then she would end up on his boat. With that said, I'm excited to read the next book. I'm dying to see how Bastian deals with their relationship in a real world setting.

4/5 Fangs
MrsNorthman