Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Captivating Bridge by Michelle Mankin Series: Tempest #3
Published by Selfpublished on 22 May 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Pages: 342
Format: Kindle
Source: Kindle Purchase
Warren “War” Jinkins is that guy.
The bad one.
Tempest’s ex front man, an arrogant rock god.
The only thing larger than his ego is his capacity for self-destruction.
His bad attitude has cost him. His woman. His best friend. His band. Everything.
Shaina Bentley is that girl.
The good one.
Hollywood’s pink candy-coated sweetheart.
The star of Pinky Swear, television’s top rated teen show.
She’s been practically perfect since that horrible day. But she’s starting to crack under the strain of being everything to everyone.
He’s a one man island. She’s a fragile captive soul.
Is love a current too dangerous to cross or will it be the bridge that brings them together?
Captivating Bridge broke my heart into a thousand pieces, and it even did it more than once! War… so lost and sad and lonely, and Shaina, equally lost, but strong and full of love. The two of them together could have either completely tanked or become stronger than a diamond!
I started reading Captivating Bridge ready to hate War and not really enjoy his story all that much. He was volatile in the earlier stories in the Tempest series, and I thought he acted like a jerk more often than not – both with his band-mates and with his girlfriend and the groupies. In this story, though, he was ready to just let go and not try to fight another day. He was standing on a bridge when Shaina climbed up next to him, making him feel like he should save her… while she was actually doing what she could to save him.
Shaina and War was even more different than oil and water, it seemed impossible at the beginning that anything at all could develop between them. Shaina was sheltered to the extreme by her parents who doted on her even more ever since her sister had committed suicide. Now, she was a vessel for their grief, an actress playing a young teenager even if she was in her twenties now. They were both famous in their own right, but they didn’t seem to be aware that the other was in the limelight as well. That changed, though, after Shaina agreed to a weird deal with War, in order to make sure he wouldn’t do something as stupid as trying to jump off a bridge once more.
Their story started out quite sweet, but when things went wrong, they went horribly wrong! As War slowly climbed back up from the hole he’d made for himself, Shaina fell down into her own hole after leaving her smothering parents behind to get an acting career with more adult roles than she was used to. Because of some ugly misunderstandings, they were both hurt by the other, and it seemed impossible to salvage anything of their budding relationship in the aftermath.
Written in dual points of view from both Shaina and War’s perspective, I was quite impressed with how Mankin managed to get me to change my mind so completely about War. He could still be a jerk, of course, but at the same time, it also became easier to understand the reasons why he pushed people away first, rather than actually letting anyone close enough to hurt him.
“So you admit it.” Her voice held a sharp edge to it and projected loud enough to be heard over the roar of the rain swollen river raging beneath our feet. “You were trying to save me. That’s something good. Something worth preserving,” she muttered the last couple of words. She was wrong, but I heard her.
I was sic one. Most chicks had to crane their necks to look up at me. I had a good foot on her, yet she didn’t seem to be the least bit intimidated nor had she acted that way since the beginning of our bizarre little encounter. She also didn’t seem to have any fuckin’ idea who I was.
Well, we’d see about her list of stipulations when the time came. But there was one thing I could say for certain. Impossible as it seemed, the bitch had gotten my mind of my own shit.
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Gotta love books that are able to change your mind about certain characters! 🙂
I agree, that makes a story even stronger in many ways. This whole series is really, really good, Stephanie 🙂
This one was a favorite in the series for me, Lexxie. I was so looking forward to War’s story and Mankin didn’t disappoint me. War was something else and I wasn’t sure who’d be his match. Shaina clicked into place…eventually. But boy did that guy piss me off over and over! I’m happy you loved Shaina & War’s story too.
**BIG HUGS**
I was so happy she managed to make me change my mind about War, Brandee. I despised him in the first books, he was so selfish and didn’t really care about anything or anyone, and here, we got to know why he was acting that way.
*BIG HUGS*
Twitter: Mlsimmons
I haven’t tried any rock star romances. I could see where they could be dark though. I’m glad you really enjoyed this one, especially since you weren’t expecting to like it.
It’s always great to go into a book with some reservations, then just feel like everything falls into place, Melanie. And I have a soft spot for musicians, so rock star romances are definitely my thing 😀
Oh my….I am loving that cover! I love rock star stories and this one really sounds good. I am so glad that you loved it. Great review!
The cover is so yummy I almost want to lick it, Carole 😉 You should try this series if you’re a rock star romance fan 🙂
Sounds like an intense read, but that’s great you enjoyed it. I’m glad you found War easier to like in this one too. 🙂
Very intense, Lauren, and very well done 🙂
oh wow this story sounds pretty wonderful even if the hero is a jerk at times.
Sometimes, the hero being a jerk kind of makes the story more realistic. War was so used to women (and some men) throwing themselves at him for just a fragment of his attention, and he ended up thinking that was normal in many ways. He also had some very strong defence mechanisms in place.
Twitter: kbaby81
I’m sorry….I can’t see past that cover. Good God Almighty! I’m so glad that you love this. I’m gonna go add the first book to my Amz wish list, so that I don’t forget. Great review!
LOL Lekeisha 🙂 I think there’s a boxed set for the wholes series, too. *nudge, nudge* 😉