Breaking Travis by Jill Sanders

Travis is back in town but staying in Fairfax is definitely not on the agenda but little does he know that his father has put paid to his plans.

Grant has eventually managed to track Travis down following his father’s death and now the town’s proverbial black sheep is back, but he can’t wait to get the hell back out of town.

Rocking back up to his family home in the dead of night, Travis thinks nothing of heading to his old apartment above the garage and bunking down for the night, shame he hadn’t bargained on Holly being in residence while her store was being renovated – much like he wouldn’t have bargained for the thump that she landed on him when she thought he was an intruder.

Travis made an initial appearance in the book Taming Alex, having been involved with Alex in his younger days, he was a fool to think he could cheat on her and get away with it, but losing her wasn’t the half of it because he lost everything, his mother went completely batshit crazy and tried to kill Alex’s fiancé and Travis left town in an attempt to hide from what was now his reality.

Winding up in Vegas, he tried his hand at the tables but the money he had didn’t last long and when he tried to raise more cash, he fell in with a promoter in the underground fighting scene.

Travis made money but with his promoters cut it was never really going to be enough and buying himself out of the fight scene was never an option until now.

How his father as gone, he could sell the house and liquidate the assets, pay his debt and finally be at peace, because one thing that Travis does not have is peace.

Life has been hard and his career choice has been tough but it beats sleeping on the streets.

The morning after his run in with Holly, Travis visits her bookstore which is currently undergoing some much needed renovation, but it is Travis’s father that has instigated the work as the building owner and when Travis makes it clear that he has no intension of allowing the project or any other project for that matter to continue, both he and Holly end up standing in front of Grant ( Alex’s now husband and the man Travis’s mother shot) in his lawyer’s office waiting on the reading of the will.

Well, the contents of the will were a shock to everyone concerned but with renewed vigour Travis sets about honouring his father’s wishes, I mean why wouldn’t he, the sooner he can get the projects that are underway completed he can get them sold and move on out of Fairfax as planned.

One tiny problem in all that planning and that is the tiny hell cat with a feisty temper and a punch like a pro boxer!

Holly was a great character, she could fight her own battles – literally – I means she was more than capable of landing a punch or two when required. I suppose that is what you get when you grow up the daughter of a boxing champion.

They both had their crosses to bare, Holly was deeply affected by her father’s suicide and it had taken and close call with authorities for Travis to clean his act up.

But could this pair find a path to travel together, Hell would Travis stop running long enough to see what was staring him in the face?

Could Fairfax open its arms to Travis and could he forgive himself enough to let the town become his home again?

Well Jill Sanders weaves and heart-warming tale of this particular reformed bad boy and the woman who can make his heart sing.

I loved catching up with the characters from the previous books and the fact that they are intertwined thought the series. I appreciated the lessons that were being told through the narrative, the hint that tolerance has to be earnt, that forgiveness should be accepted when it is given and that fortitude and determination will hold much higher accord with your friend s and neighbours than pride and favour.

Travis shows that it sometimes takes reaching rock bottom to be able to swim your way back to the top of the barrel but with his little bookworm beside him, this lovely couple might just be able to forge their future.

The next book Roping Ryan is scheduled to be the last in the series and I will be sad to say goodbye to the folks of Fairfax. But I have to say that Jill Sanders has provided me with a great means of escape and a circle of characters that it is impossible not to love.