Review: Out of the Ashes by Hailey Turner
SYNOPSIS:
War never leaves a soldier behind.
Staff Sergeant Alexei Dvorkin is still healing from his brief stint as a prisoner of war. While his physical wounds have mended, the emotional scars left behind are slow to disappear. Eager to prove his resilience in the face of lingering trauma, Alexei is determined to complete his first mission in three months and get back into the field—but he’s not forging ahead without his lover.
Nightmares will always linger.
Agent Sean Delaney’s recovery from trauma is more slow going than he would like, but he pushes through in order to return to active duty and not be left behind. But every decision he makes leaves him feeling like he’s gone two steps forward and one step back when it comes to Alexei. The guilt Sean feels from what they both endured still colors his interactions with the man he loves. Trying to overcome it is difficult and exhausting, making Sean question his place in Alexei’s heart.
Holding on is the hardest thing to do.
The ties between Alexei and Sean were frayed by the enemy’s hand. Mending what’s been broken between them will require a depth of honesty neither man is ready to face just yet. But if they don’t, they risk losing a future together neither wants to let go.
REVIEW:
This novella was such a delightful read. While Alexei and Sean are both fighting to overcome their demons, they are sent on a mission together. I love that we see both men get closure and start to heal but this mission was playful, chaotic, and fun. And the end of the story shows Sean finally beginning to heal and Alexei being the steadfast constant I knew he was.
The mission itself isn’t anything unique, sneaking into a party, as they have done a time or two already. They go as Liam’s guests, tensions flair, old bad guys appear, fire and bullets rain and the action was endless. The banter between Alexei and Liam had me smiling, even in tense situations, these two had me laughing. Liam is a secondary character I have been eying for a while now and I really hope we get a story for him because he is just as charismatic as Jamie. It was just a perfect little novella to take a break with before diving back into the main story line.
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