I read Wounded by Jasinda Wilder without even reading the description. The cover is beautiful, so when Jasinda sent it to me, I got right on it. I have to tell you, realizing it was a book about the war scared me…I hate war stuff (written while I hear guns and bombs going off while my kid is playing Call of Duty). But do NOT let this scare you! Wounded was a unique, amazing, erotic romance between  2 very unlikely people that pulled me in and didn’t let me go right from page one.
“I hear it, the sound that will become my life: a belt jingling.”
“I know the answer when he speaks my true name: I do not want him to know Sabah, the prostitute. I want him to know Rania, the woman.”
“Men are pigs. I am not a woman, I am a thing. An object, a servant for their needs. Sex is a tool.”
“A kiss, a kiss, just a kiss. But god, so incredible. I’m electrified, wired, hardened by the taste of her, the feel of her. Intoxicated by her. I’m shaking all over from the effort to keep my hands to myself, to keep the kiss chaste. Its an impossible losing battle. Then her hand leaves her lap and touches my face… A simple, innocent touch, but so meaningful. This woman who sells touch, who much find men to be such nasty creatures, this woman who has seen the worst monsters that are men, she’s kissing and touching me.”
When they get intimate, holy hell, it goes on for like 8% of the book without intercourse, but it was HOT and beautiful at the same time. Though I must say, I was distracted by the lack of protection an American would use with a very poor prostitute in war-torn Iraq. But he loved her enough to risk it (implied).
“Hunter touches my cheek, kisses my chin. “I will always love you. You saved me, Rania.”
I shake my head. “No, you have saved me,”
“We have saved each other then,” he says.”
- The unique voice from both of them, told in a present tense, 1st person, almost journal-like.
- You were able to see the lack of education in her thoughts.
- You were transported to the war. I was able to see it all very well in my mind.
- The way they connected despite the language barrier.
- The sex and almost-sex was intense and hot without seeming dirty.
- The struggle between letting her do what she can so they can eat, and the alpha male who needs to stop it.
- A great epilogue.
- Unprotected oral sex.
- Sometimes her inner voice “slipped” and there would be some words she would think that could only be found in romance novels.
- The ending was a bit rushed.
- People don’t seem to stay dead.
“He fills me. My heart, my soul. He fills the horrible emptiness that has gaped inside me all my life. The moment that he slid into me, I knew. It has just taken me this long to understand the strange feeling flowing in my veins in place of blood: Happiness.”
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Becky says
So, I bought this book. I always love your book recs. I am sooooo torn now about if I’m going to read it because I detest the idea of reading about war. Soooo torn.
Ana's Attic says
Don’t be. I HATE war books. This was so much more about the love than the war. It think it was the contrast between the two that made it so special.
Tania says
I read this last week. The first chapter durning Rania POV I was thinking “oh oh, what did I just get myself into”. I wasn’t sure if I was up for a dark, haunting war read but I am so happy I continued! Heartbreaking because you know that this is the reality of some children in war torn countries that have lost everything with no family. I loved Hunter’s alpha maleness in wanting to protect her. His confliction over what she is doing but how it is providing the money to feed them and the medicine to heal him. The way their relationship develops is beautiful. I kind of had a WTH moment with the return of a few dead people but I loved this book!
Lorna Fletcher says
I put off reading it also but the reviews were so high I thought I would try it. Absolutely effing amazing. Only thing I had a minor problem with people not staying dead, plus their timing, and no explanation and I kept waiting for Abdul to burst in. But it was so beautifully written that the issues are easy to overlook
Shannon Vasquez says
Wounded is now on my TBR pile 🙂