Travis by Mia Sheridan. Amazing redemption story! I never imagined I would care for him! #review

Synopsis

Travis Hale has it all. An important role as the chief of police in the idyllic town of Pelion, Maine. Looks that regularly and consistently make women fall at his feet. Two nephews and a niece he adores, and a family who’s mostly forgiven him after a series of unfortunate decisions years before. Perhaps his past is riddled with regrets and misguided choices, but his future looks bright and limitless.Until the new guy in town crosses him in a way both shocking and indefensible.

A guy who, as it turns out, has a sister who may be equally as disastrous to Travis’s well-ordered plans, though in an altogether different manner. Not that there’s any real risk of him falling for the smoothie-making, birdseed-eating wild woman. She’s not even his type. A plant lady from California with a head of unruly curls and an equally messy past. More than that, she’s only in town for the summer, busy mooning over perfect-in-every-way Gage Buchanan.

And if Travis knows anything, it’s that he refuses to be second best. Ever again.

Haven Torres’s life fell apart. Or more to the point, it burned to the ground. At the time, it seemed like a solid idea to jump in her car, her brother a mostly-willing co-pilot, and embark on a cross-country adventure.

When they land jobs at an exclusive tennis and golf club in a picturesque lake town in Maine, Haven’s hopeful it might prove a summer to remember. Especially if she can catch the attention of the most eligible bachelor in town and her current crush. Even the kindest, most upstanding, perfect of men aren’t opposed to summer flings, right?

But when she meets the local police chief—all swagger and arrogance—and learns of her brother’s scandalous misdeed, she knows that Pelion is just another town where their stay is best . . . short-lived. Still, she and Travis strike up an unlikely friendship and Haven sees that the gorgeous lawman isn’t only easy on the eyes, but he has . . . layers. Not that she’s going to peel any of them. He’s only her friend. A friend willing to scratch her back, if she scratches his.

It seems simple enough. She’ll help him make her brother sweat a little. And he’ll help her win over Gage. But before either Travis or Haven knows it, simple turns complicated, friendship gets flipped on its ear, passion faces down perfection, and they both discover that sometimes you have to lose it all to find exactly what you need.

Review

5 stars

This is Mia Sheridan at her best! Travis was an amazing redemption story!

I just reread Archer’s Voice before reading Travis and I didn’t know how Mia could make me like Travis because, let’s face it, in Archer’s Voice he had been odious and manipulative.

Sure, he saved Bree and Archer and seems to feel really bad when he discovered what his mother had done but…well I didn’t like him.

If you are sceptic to read Travis for that reason, fear not! You’ll be in for a treat!

I can honestly say that Travis holds my heart now. Wew! What a journey!

Travis is a story about reinventing yourself, learning of past mistakes.

“We’ve all made mistakes, Travis,” she said. “We get to reinvent ourselves. And if the new version is even better, it means we’ve learned and we’ve grown.”

But it’s also a story about PTSD. About how dramatic events shape your future, your personality. And about how people all react differently.

Travis lost his father in dramatic circumstances.

Knowing that his father was leaving him with Archer and Archer’s mom, he had always felt like second best.

“Second best. Second best. You’re nothing but second best. And second best didn’t even deserve a goodbye.”

That will cut him deep. And with a manipulative mother, he’ll lash out on Archer. He was hurting so he hurt others.

Haven also lost her mother in horrible circumstances.

Heck, she had already lost her mother a long time before that dramatic day. She had never a mom to feed her, care for her or her little brother, to buy her clothes. No, she worked to feed her brother and mother. And when she found a new family, fate pulled the rug under her feet once more.

She too could have hurt others like Travis did but instead she chose to nurture and be kind.

“Haven Torres had been hurt and abandoned by the people who were supposed to care for and protect her. All her life. But instead of lashing out at others, she’d sought to be a protector, a rescuer.”

Travis and Haven were both hurt by life but couldn’t have been more different. Yet they’ll form a friendship that will help both to heal.

Haven will show Travis the way. Travis has matured and is tired. Tired of his past mistakes. Tired of his reputation. She will make him want to become better. To atone for what he’s done. To seek forgiveness. To do good. To stand tall.

Weren’t all of us a compilation of the versions of ourselves we’d once been? Maybe if we were lucky—and insightful—we learned how to extract the good, and leave the bad behind, the parts that hadn’t worked for us, and instead brought nothing but pain.

When Travis meets Haven she was so different from the women he dated!

“I dated prom queens. This girl was a plant lady. A plant lady with a penchant for pushing horrific things called wheat germ on me, an uncontrolled riot of haphazard curls that sometimes likened her to Medusa, and a lone family member—my now sworn enemy—who’d seduced my girlfriend and was apparently the best.”

Yet you could feel the attraction right from the beginning!

If you like slow burns, then it’s your story!

I honestly swooned, laughed but also cried.

I cried for Haven because she went through so much and didn’t deserve any of it! She deserved to have roots. To have her family. To find her place.

And at one point in the story, she and her brother will be kicked right in the face because of one of Travis’s action that had unexpected and awful repercussion. And God I wanted to cry and rage and hug Haven and Easton so hard!!!

Haven is a wonderful heroine.

She is the heroine Travis deserved.

What? He deserved something good? Hell yes!

When you see through Travis’s eyes you can’t help but understand and be sad for him. That’s why him growing up, owning his mistakes was so important to me. Because he deserved to find his HEA as Archer did.

This was a very moving story and a perfect sequel!

Now, I want Easton’s story! 😊

Thanks for reading.

Sophie