Nova and Quinton: No Regrets by Jessica Sorensen

Posted 21 May, 2014 by Heather in Blog, Heather, Heather Book Review / 0 Comments

Nova and Quinton: No Regrets by Jessica SorensenNova and Quinton: No Regrets by Jessica Sorensen
Series: Nova #3
Published by Forever on April 15, 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Pages: 235
Format: eBook
Source: Bought
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4 Stars

Today is the first day of Quinton Carter's new life. The toxic guilt of his past left him in pieces-but one girl unexpectedly put him back together. Thanks to Nova Reed, Quinton can finally see the world with clear eyes. She's the reason his heart is still kicking behind the jagged scar on his chest. And he would love to have her in his arms every minute of the day . . . but he's not ready yet.

Playing drums in a band and living with her best friends are just some of the highlights of Nova's life. But the best new development? Talking to Quinton on the phone each night. She wishes she could touch him, kiss him, though she knows he needs time to heal. Yet shocking news is on the way-a reminder of life's dark side-and Nova will need Quinton like he once needed her. Is he strong enough to take the final leap out of his broken past . . . and into Nova's heart?

New Adultcontemporarylove

***Contains mild spoilers for books one and two, Breaking Nova and Saving Quinton***

My Thoughts:

This series has been a bit of an angsty, drug and alcohol fueled roller coaster ride. full of the will-they, won’t they relationship between two very broken and guilt-ridden people: Quinton and Nova. In the first book, Breaking Nova,  Nova deals with the sudden suicide of her boyfriend by finding herself in the company of marijuana, alcohol, and questionable people who call themselves friends. It’s how she meets the even more broken Quinton, who will never forgive himself for surviving a car wreck that took the lives of his girlfriend, his cousin, and his cousin’s boyfriend. He’s stoned and drunk most of the time to numb his emotional pain, and he loses himself in women and meaningless flings so he doesn’t have to feel any real connections. Until Nova crawls under his skin, but she doesn’t stay when she realizes that she’s going down a dark path, losing herself in the process.

In Saving Quinton, Nova has returned to college for another year, but she still thinks of Quinton. She wonders if he’s okay, if he’s even taking care of himself. She tracks him and her friends down in Las Vegas, where they’ve picked up and moved over the last year. Long story short: they are all deep into drugs and are dealing them pretty heavily now. Nova tries repeatedly to get Quinton to realize that he needs to stop doing drugs, that he’s just trying to kill himself. Finally, he agrees to go to rehab back home in Seattle.

This series deals with heavy issues: suicide, drug addiction, guilt. After two books full of intense, dark times and feelings, I expected a third book that was equal if not more than the previous ones. But Nova and Quinton: No Regrets  was a different book, and while it was very much about Quinton’s struggle with staying clean as he walked out of rehab and tried to reconnect with the father that kicked him out after the accident and Quinton began his downward spiral, there was also such a powerful healing undertone to this installment.

Quinton is afraid to leave the rehabilitation facility, scared to go back to the childhood home full of memories of his old life–one where his girlfriend’s picture covers his bedroom walls along with a few of his dead mother. He’s determined to stay away from drugs for not only himself, but also for Nova. He can’t stop thinking about her, but he hasn’t talked to her  or seen her since Vegas. Still, he’s not ready to be with her just yet, he needs to work on himself before he can think of a possible future with her. So Quinton keeps busy with his meetings, working on Habitat for Humanity houses with his sponsor, and reconnecting with Nova through text messages and phone calls.

Nova is miles away at college, living with her roommate from last year and Quinton’s cousin Tristan. She plays drums in a band, stays busy filming different projects for school and for personal things, and she’s the super supportive friend that everyone can rely on. While Tristan had lived in Las Vegas with Quinton and also had a drug habit, he’s now clean as well and attending school. Nova is a nurturer and helper by nature, so she’s constantly worrying and looking out for Tristan. But what Nova struggles the most with in this book is her lack of control over things. In the past she’d resort to counting things to cope, and being so far away from Quinton and not being able to be in his life is hard, but she has to learn to be patient. Nova and Quinton have to get to known one another again–without the haze of drugs or alcohol clouding either one of them.

I wavered between giving this one a 3.5 or a 4 out of 5. Nova and Quinton are apart for most of the book, and it does get a little frustrating waiting for them to finally come together. The writing is as emotional and heart wrenching as ever, but with a good chunk of their demons behind them, the struggles weren’t as angsty. This was really Quinton’s recovery book with the smaller story of Nova and Quinton finally reconnecting and coming together. While I enjoyed this installment, the angst and drama that I really enjoyed in the previous installments just wasn’t there in this one.

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Heather

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I'm a PhD chemist who loves sarcasm, music, and books-paranormal, mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, and romance. Most of my free time is spent at the martial arts studio these days--whether practicing Combat Hapkido or reading books while watching my son's Taekwondo classes, or even working up a sweat with Kickboxing for fun. Goodreads

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