Conviction (Salvation #4)

CONVICTION, the soul-shattering second book in The Consolation Duet, picks up right where the first book left off…with Natalie reeling from the sudden appearance of her philandering, presumed dead husband Aaron. Throughout this story, USA Today Bestselling author Corinne Michaels paints a sensitive portrayal of three lives torn asunder as they all deal with the aftershocks of Aaron’s sudden reemergence in their lives. To say Natalie’s stunned to see her husband alive is a MAJOR understatement. She’s buried Aaron, grieved bitterly for him and finally, finally found the strength to move on and rebuild her fractured life. Although she is overjoyed to discover that his death was grossly exaggerated, his reappearance puts a major crimp in the brand new relationship that she’s forged with hot, strappingly handsome Liam Dempsey. Aaron’s best friend. His brother in arms. There’s a code you don’t break among military comrades but all bets were off after Aaron supposedly perished in a covert military op gone terribly awry. But now he’s back. Angry and embittered…a former shell of the man he once was, wanting to pick up where he and his wife left off and take his rightful place as Aarabelle’s daddy.

But devastating revelations about his true character came to light during his long absence and Natalie has since moved on. With Liam. The kind, tenderhearted active duty Navy SEAL who healed her, made her whole, showed her the true meaning of love. But as proven in this book, life is messy, and the future you’d envisioned doesn’t necessarily work out the way you planned.

This novel, which tugs at the heartstrings and had me reaching for the tissues countless times, poignantly explores themes of love, forgiveness, and the incredible sacrifices military families must make to support the soldiers they love. Although I felt that the tone of this second book was even heavier in the angst than in the first installment, I was no less riveted. And I truly appreciated how the deftly talented Ms. Michaels didn’t paint these characters in broad strokes but rather in nuanced shades of gray, exploring the incredible toll that military service puts on families via the stress of brutally long deployments, uncertainty, paralyzing fear, even PTSD and infidelity.

But at the core of this story is the deeply touching love story of Liam Dempsey and Natalie Gilcher who fought a mighty battle on the Homefront to fulfill their romantic destiny–one another–while at the same time trying to wade through the emotional rubble of her messy past with Aaron. A man she’d once planned on spending forever with. Attaining peace and reconciliation does not prove easy nor does finding some sort of middle ground so Aaron can cope with his emotional trauma, acclimate back to civilian life and forge a role in his baby daughter’s life. Ms. Michaels definitely doesn’t make things easy on the characters–or us– hurling out some stunning plot curveballs and even drawing blood on occasion, but this book sure does pack an emotional wallop!

As expected, Dreamboat proves to be just as swoony this time around, lavishing Natalie and little Aarabelle with infinite amounts of love, affection and sweet tenderness. And the long-suffering Natalie reciprocates his love wholeheartedly, her conviction that they are destined for each other more steadfast than ever. What I really love about both books in The Consolation Duet is that despite all the seemingly insurmountable obstacles–all the pain and heartbreak, agonizing separations, guilt and recriminations–they remained a united front. They could have thrown the towel in when the going got tough–and boy did it ever! — given up on each other because it would have been the easier thing to do. But the heart wants what the heart wants. Their love tethers them together, infusing them with a fiery passion and strength and resilience that knows no bounds! Liam and Natalie just clicked–emotionally, physically, spiritually–and are forever soulmates.

In the end, the immensely talented Corinne Michaels penned a flawless conclusion to Liam and Lee’s timeless love story, fulfilling a romantic destiny that celebrates the remarkable power of true abiding love.

Just like part one of this “Duet”, once I opened this book & started reading, I simply couldn’t put it down. They say you are 85% the last book you read & ok, I’ll admit it… I was a hot, nail-biting ball of angst. It was so good!

So… Aaron is back (as we found out on the last page of the last book) & I absolutely HATED him with a passion like no other. What he went through the past year may have been awful but I just can’t excuse the whole infidelity issue. He was extremely selfish, pathetic & overall… an annoying pain in the a**. I can’t believe that he was really that dense! Sure, I’m glad that everyone recognized that he should be a part of Aarabelle’s life but man… I can’t stand big fat liars!!

Dreamboat aka Liam once again held that “Book Boyfriend Hall of Fame” status. He was so swoon-worthy, so adorably sweet with Aarabelle & so supportive of Natalie. *le sigh* And let me tell you, I loved the one “demand” he made of Natalie towards the end. The way he was able to exert his alpha traits without coming across as an overbearing a** was brilliant!

Would you believe it (c’mon, I know you would)… The b****-tastic Brittany is back! It wasn’t enough for her to rub salt in Natalie’s wounds in Consolation, she had to trot her selfish a** over to her house & do it AGAIN, in Conviction. And this time, Senor D***face aka Aaron was there with her & literally held Natalie in place, making her experience the hurt all over AGAIN! The shining moment in that scene? Natalie’s response to the both of them. So, so happy that she gave them both a piece of her mind! BOOM! B****-tastic Brittany goes down for the count!!

I was incredibly stoked when the Aaron crap settled down because I couldn’t get my FULL-ON Liam & Natalie HEA fast enough. They stayed as strong as they could be with Aaron coming home, through a deployment, some nerve-wracking but exciting news, a death in the family & a couple of awkward interactions in their everyday lives & I LOVED it! Their happily ever after was beautiful & they totally deserved every last bit of it!!

I’m definitely planning on checking out the rest of the books in this series, probably starting off by going back to Jackson’s story, Beloved (The Belonging Duet, #1). And then hopefully, we’ll get more details on this whole sabotage thing in future books because we were kinda left hanging where that was concerned!

This was SUCH a perfect conclusion to this duet. After that crazy cliffhanger, I needed this book, and jumped into it immediately after finishing the first part. I needed to see how Lee’s life was going to change when she realized Aaron was still alive, how she was going to deal with finding out about all of his indiscretions, and just where that left Liam.

This book picks up directly off where the last one left us, and I felt everything Lee was feeling when she saw Aaron: disbelief, love, happiness, anger, grief, berayal.. you name it. And then when she saw the look on Liam’s face.. oh gosh my heart was breaking on the very first few pages.

Dealing with the fact that Aaron has been a POW this entire time, and seeing their daughter for the very first time, Lee is torn. She knows her heart is Liam’s, but how can she convince him when he believes he’s standing in the way of her family? So much goes on in this book, and I really don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t read it yet, but goodness.. this duet will go down as my all time favorite books!!

And Aaron is literally the worst. That’s all I can say about that. Liam, however, was still so perfect and I was so happy they for their happy ending!!

Conviction (The Consolation Duet, #2) by Corinne Michaels
4 stars!!

Life is cruel. Love is a joke. And not even death is final.

Conviction is another great read from Corinne Michaels. After the ending of Consolation I was on high alert for a lot of emotion and a lot of angst and Corinne Michaels delivered on both counts. While this was not as emotional as Consolation, this book was more a journey, a journey for all three of them.

The one thing I loved the most in this book was Natalies CONVICTION, this woman knew what she wanted and didnt waver, she had her wobbles but right from the onset she knew who she wanted and she stuck to her guns. While the other man tried his best to get her to change her mind, Natalie was a force to be reckoned with and out of everybody in this book; it amazed me that she was the strong one. The men crumbled, Natalie remained strong and resilient, she was the cement, now she just needed her brick.

You have no idea how strong you are.

The fact that this was not the drawn out will she, wont she book that most probably all of us anticipated was refreshing. After a while that to and fro, back and forth can be soul crushing and I was glad that this was not prevalent in this book. As I said above, this book is a journey, still a long one, there was a lot of soul searching to be done by all parties and this was captured brilliantly within these pages.

He knows that was the end of any chance he had. He just lost me. Completely.

The growth in Natalies character was amazing, as I said above the change in her from Consolation was dramatic, in Consolation she was destroyed but we slowly saw Liam put her back together again, the emotional scars were still there, but she living and glad to be alive. In Conviction her strength was unparalleled, she was the driving force in this book, she called the shots, you couldnt help but stand back and admire her, after everything that she had been through, she was still standing and she was standing tall and proud.

Ignorance is a beautiful place sometimes, but I dont plan to live there anymore.

As much as I would love to go into my thoughts and opinions of the men involved in this book, to do that would be a huge disservice to those that havent read this book yet. Even the smallest of opinions would still be a spoiler so I am going to refrain. I think that after the end of Consolation we all had our favourite, I know I did. I wasnt at all disappointed, I totally understood and I loved the way that Corinne Michaels delivered this to us, the readers.

This was one great love story, I have cried, I have grieved, I have loved, I have had those emotional lows and then some amazing emotional highs throughout this series, this is testament to Corinnes writing because she really delivered a well thought out, emotional, gripping read. I was totally invested in this story, I had been itching for Convictions release and was so glad that we didnt have too long to wait, another plus side to this duet.

because if this plays out poorly, itll be my heart that never beats again.

I am a sucker for military romances too and you can tell that the author has first hand experience of what it is like to be the one left behind. I love that we get to see this side of a soldiers life. We are always hyper aware of what or how a soldier thinks and it is refreshing to see the other side. I was trying to look for an appropriate quote but I found an even better one instead Behind every strong soldier, there is an even stronger woman who stands behind him, supports him, ad loves him with all her heart. This is what this series shouts from the pages, these women are strong.

Military wives arent strong because they want to be. They have to be.

Although Consolation and Conviction are a duet, I highly recommend if you havent read the Beloved series yet that you read that too. Although this duet is Liams, Jackson and the crew all appear throughout and I personally think that you would get a better understanding of the dynamic between these characters. I understand that Mark is up next and I cannot wait to see what Corinne has in store for us with him. He is quite the enigma and I am sure that we are going to be surprised when his surfaces are scratched.

I have loved this series with a passion, true romances with a good ole dose of angst, with great underlying messages throughout. For all us romance junkies this is one series you will fall in love with, I cannot recommend them highly enough.

In my earnest opinion, this excellently written book is the best of the series, so far. There are so many twist and turns, doubts and hopes in the plot, you are certain to feel dizzy with excitement and anticipation.

Natalie has the embarrassing and unenviable dilemma of having Aaron back in her life (OMG!) after he went missing in action and then being pronounced officially dead. But her life has moved on. She now has Aarabelle, her daughter and is in a loving relationship with Liam, Aaron’s best friend.

Understandably, Aaron wants his wife back, and to experience the unconditional love of his daughter. They were all he thought about after being captured and interrogated. Unfortunately, in his absence, Natalie found out, very publicly that he had cheated on her and made another woman pregnant. Unable to accept his lack of faithfulness and his continuing dishonesty she chooses Liam. But is this the right decision? Find out by making time to read this powerful and illuminating book

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member