Review: Surviving Ice by K.A. Tucker

25110836Surviving Ice
(Burying Water, #1)
By: K.A. Tucker
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: Oct. 27, 2015
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:
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Goodreads

Ivy, a talented tattoo artist who spent the early part of her twenties on the move, is finally looking for a place to call home. She thinks she might have found it in San Francisco, but all that changes when she witnesses a terrible crime. She’s ready to pack up her things yet again, when a random encounter with a stranger keeps her in the city, giving her reason to stay after all.

That is, until Ivy discovers that their encounter wasn’t random. Not at all…

 

 

1thoughtsIvy is a prickly character. She may be short but she definitely makes up for it with her fierceness. She’s also someone who never stays tethered to a location for long. She likes a change of scenery every handful of months. However, she’s found herself settling down in San Fransisco with her uncle. He allows her to live at his place, and work at his tattoo parlor without expecting her to stick around or do anything. Which is probably why Ivy hasn’t moved on yet. That all changes when someone brutally murders her uncle… while she’s in the back room. Now, with no ties left to the area, she’s ready to get the tattoo parlor fixed up to sell and move on to her next destination. The only problem is, a very sexy, very protective guy named Sebastian just showed up asking for a tattoo and while she doesn’t know much about him, he makes her feel safe. Except, what she doesn’t know is that Sebastian was sent there to observe her and kill her if she knows the truth behind her uncle’s murder.

We’ve met Ivy previously in the series and she’s definitely one of those tough as nails chicks. She’s not afraid of someone just because they are bigger than her. However, in Surviving Ice we see that that’s just a mask that she wears. The one thing I loved about Ivy was that she wasn’t a broken character. She didn’t come from a dysfunctional family, she wasn’t abused, and she doesn’t have any mental conditions. Ivy just is who she is with no rhyme or reasoning behind it. I loved that the author didn’t try to put her in a labeled box. And kudos for whoever came up with that cover. It is absolutely perfect for Ivy! Perfect!

Sebastian was really hard to like. I mean, the guy is a mercenary. He gets an assignment to trail Ivy, find out if she knows anything about why her uncle was murdered, and dispatch her. He tries to befriend her at the parlor by asking if she can do a tattoo for him even though she’s clearly tearing the place down. Afterwards, he breaks into her/her uncle’s house in hopes of finding this infamous tape that has some information on it that his boss doesn’t want leaked. While searching through her things he handles her vibrator, sniffs her perfume, goes through everything of hers with a predators mindset. Then, Ivy catches him unaware and shows up to the house while he’s still in her room. So he hides in her closet and watches her get naked like some sort of pervert. It was really hard to get behind his character. I think it took me almost until three quarters of the way through to finally start liking him. I mean, it’s just so hard to like someone who’s always thinking about whether or not they are going to kill the other person who just so happens to be their love interest.

“But I’m not here to be her shrink or her confidant.
And if she knows anything about the videotape, then I’m about to become her worst nightmare.”

I will say that I am a huge fan of this series though. I’ve only read two (so far) and I love that the at least one of the main characters have a sketchy life. They aren’t necessarily the bad guys but they are also not fully good either. It’s a tough balance that the author was able to pull off. It’s refreshing to not have your typical bad-boy and good-girl, or characters that have some predisposed condition that makes them behave the way that they do so that readers will have sympathy and understand them better. Nope. These characters make no excuses for themselves. They just are the way that they and I love it. Unfortunately, this is apparently the last book in the series and I’m sad to see it end. I suppose that means I have time to read the first two books before the author comes out with another series. I’m starting to learn that I will enjoy anything the author writes. So far she hasn’t let me down.

 

1favequote“There are no medals or commendations for a successful assignment. No words of encouragement or pats on the shoulder. What I’m doing, no one will ever know about it. No one will ever talk about it. In many ways, I am a ghost.”

 

Previous reviews from Burying Water
Chasing River

7 Thoughts on “Review: Surviving Ice by K.A. Tucker

  1. Sounds like a fun idea for a story. The guy does sound a bit creepy but if handled right it might not be so bad.

    • At the beginning I was like, “there is no way she’s going to be able to pull this off”, but she did. It took a long time for the guy to redeem himself for me but he managed to pull through. Which is probably why I liked the story so much.

  2. Oh my, I’m glad you were able to start liking Sebastian. I can see how it would be difficult!

    • Yeah, it was. It wasn’t until about three quarters of the way through that he started to redeem himself. I think that with having his POV included into the story really helped you understand him more. So, it wasn’t so hard to like him in the end because you lived through his internal struggle of right and wrong with him.

  3. Gah! Okay. I’m gonna have to try these out. And LOL yeah that would be hard to get past that little, erm, relationship blip?

    • Wooo, girl. It was not easy and I wasn’t confident that the author was going to be able to pull it of–but she did! That right there made me enjoy the story so much more because the entire time I was like, “nope. nope. nope”, and then I found myself saying, “awww <3". That was when I realized that the author got me. LoL

  4. It took me a very long time to get on board with Sebastian as well. He won me over in the end but I had such a hard time seeing how Ivy would ever forgive him. But it was a good read and KA Tucker delivered again. Great review!

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