First off, let me say if you haven’t read High Tide (which I am sure you will have) then you really need to put down Island Side and start at the beginning. High Tide is a must…don’t waste your time trying to decipher any of this without the history that the first book gives you.

From the end of the last book, this one just totally takes off. Hollie is spiralling her life seemingly getting ever more crazy but can she really find some rest bite? Away from all the push and pull around her?

I wanted her to be strong and to stand her ground, but I also understood that she was being swamped by angst, her sister meant well much of the time but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t more than most would have been able to deal with. Would time out of the situation be the right thing to do…I didn’t know but the decision was hers to make and to complicate matters she had to deal with the fact that as much as she knew Diesel would be able to keep her safe…did she really want him with her?

Now, I liked that in this book Diesel was uncovered so to speak, the author exposed a little more of why he was the way he was, and she started to chip away at the protective shell that he seemed to like to keep himself hidden away behind. He was what he was, in many respects he was a simple soul, he called things as he saw them and hid from nothing and I liked that about him. I got that he was every inch the rock star and behaved accordingly when necessary but what I really liked was that when he stopped hiding behind the image and we got to see the real man, he was exceptional…a real star.

Overall, I thought that Hollie showed signs of being the woman that not only I wanted her to be but that I think she wanted to be too, she grew as the story progressed and in some respects found a backbone, the ability to show her mettle and flex a little muscle when it came to being and doing what she wanted to do. It wasn’t always each but then the things that matter rarely are but secrets aside, this was everything the blurb intimated it would be, an angsty ride that was the perfect conclusion.