Audiobook Review - Reckless Memories by Catherine Cowles • Ana's Attic Book Blog

Reckless Memories: The Wrecked Series Book 1 by Catherine Cowles

Narrated by Andi Arndt and Joe Arden

1st Standalone in a Related Series. Contemporary Romance.

Reckless Memories was my first Catherine Cowles book, and you can be sure it won’t be my last! I am so glad I took a chance on a new-to-me author even while I am having trouble connecting with books. Luckily, I had no trouble at all with Reckless Memories.

When we meet Isabelle, she is a young girl whose parents treat her very different from her ‘perfect’ sibling. Luckily she had one person she could always turn to, her best friend Ford. But when tragedy strikes them all, guilt, fear and hurt drive Ford away for 10 years. In those 10 years, Bell’s schoolgirl crush has turned into anger at being left by the one person she needed most in the world.

“I see you, Bell. And everything about you is beautiful.”

After 10 years away building a restaurant empire in L.A., Ford is asked to come home to help the family’s failing bar in their small town. For the first time, he’s running into his old friend Bell, who is till holding a lot of resentment…and something else, old feelings.

“Ford Hardy terrified me. He was the tallest cliff I could jump off of, the greatest rush and worst potential for injury.”

As much as she tried to resist, Ford was everything she had been missing. And he needed her even more.

“Hearing her laugh earlier had been the best kind of pain, full of the sweetest memories and the deepest longing for a time that was gone forever.”

They couldn’t be more forbidden. But that childhood friendship is blossoming into more, especially as danger seems to be following Bell, and the threats are getting bolder. I loved that there was some action, mystery and suspense in what was a pretty emotional book, and it kept me listening well into the night.

Likes:

I love a friends to enemies to lovers book!
Slow burn, and for a while, you aren’t sure how it could ever work.
Kept me truly engaged the whole time and I didn’t want to stop listening.
Lots of side characters I hope to read more about.
The seamless switching from past to present, I never felt lost.
I really loved Bell’s character.
‘Trouble’ and ‘Cupcake’ nicknames.
Ford and Bell had such a strong, rich connection and background, that they just easily worked together.

Dislikes:

I was a little disappointed at how the mystery ended up.

The Narration:

You can never go wrong with Joe Arden & Andi Arndt. They absolutely added to my enjoyment of this audiobook.

The Down & Dirty:

This was my first book by Catherine Cowles, but certainly not my last. What could have been a bit too emotional for me was balanced out by a little mystery which kept me listening way past my bedtime. I loved Bell, which to me is key for me loving a book, but I also loved Ford and all of the side characters. I am so glad I took a chance on a new author for me, and I can’t wait to revisit Anchor Island for the next book in the series.