Salvation by Noelle Adams

 You get to the point where you can just say it. There was never anything special about me, except my father is rich and important. That's why it happened.

It was just a normal Tuesday afternoon. I was twenty-three and thinking about my new designer boots. They kidnapped me for ransom. They raped me before I was rescued. My therapist says that talking about it means I'm starting to heal.

I don't really think I am.

It's even harder to talk about Gideon. He couldn’t save me when it really mattered, so he keeps trying to save me now. He refuses to give up on me, and I can’t make him understand. There are some things you just can’t be saved from.

Warning: Salvation is a love story that follows a difficult path of healing after sexual assault. It is a true contemporary romance, but it addresses very hard issues, including rape and attempted suicide. Please consider whether this book is for you.

I must say this review comes with a warning.  If you are easily triggered by rape or the recovery from rape, you need to brace yourself before you go any farther or not read this book.

With that said this was one of the hardest books I have read and writing this review will be even harder.  Noelle Adams did a fantastic job at taking the emotions of women who have suffered rape and gave those emotions words that many survivors would never be able to find on their own.  Her story is raw and very real; it will stir emotions in you, increase the panic and fear you have while reading the story of Gideon and Diana.

Diana was your normal young woman whose rich father was absent most of the time.  She had her own career and while walking down the street thinking about the boots she was wearing found herself kidnapped by the Albanian organized crime. Being thrown in a dark and cold basement she came face to face with a man who instantly terrified her.  As she soon discovered she was meeting an undercover cop for the FBI named Gideon who was just waiting for the boss to show up so he would be killed.

Reading about the things that happen to both of them while being held hostage was enough to break my heart. Torment, fear, physical pain and rape were what they had to survive till the FBI could find them.  Once they were free the nightmare for Diana had just begun. 

Ms. Adams takes us on the journey of recover for her, through the depression and dark days that lead Diana to want to die, we watched Gideon become more determined to save her from herself.  His guilt that he couldn’t protect her is what fueled his need to be her hero at first, but then he began to fall in love with her and just needed her to heal.

Diana dealt with the demons from that event, she sought ways to punish herself for being so stupid to let it happen.  She lived with fear that it could happen again and most of all she fought off the feelings she was having with Gideon because there was no way he could love a broken and damaged woman such as herself.  She was certain she was just a project for him to fix, that was all he would ever see when he looked at her. 

While the book is over 200 pages, I didn’t feel like I had enough time with these characters.  I was so invested in wanting each of them to be able to overcome what they had endured; I felt a loss when I was done with the book.  The author took great care in making sure this book delivered a message not to be lost in the hype of the sex scenes nor the actual rape.  She let the emotions of the characters do the talking instead of having to create an overly dramatic detailed description of the actions and I really appreciated that. 

I look forward to reading more of Ms. Adams books.  I will be actively seeking out her work because she writes with a respect not only for her characters but for the readers in allowing us to feel the emotion and interpret the scenes as we need to.  That is a rare quality in writing these days I feel.  Make sure you get your copy of Salvation, “because the truth is just this…sometimes no one can save us, but salvation might come anyway.”