Golden Hour features Lina Ragelis a US Army solider who relocates from New Jersey to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to spend the next year on a hospital lab assignment while also fixing up a house in her free time in exchange for rent. She needs time and space away from her past and unhealthy relationship temptations. However, she does miss her friends, teachers Caitlin Gregory and Mallory Walker. Caitlin and Mallory were featured in Across the Hall where Lina was Caitlin’s best friend.

As we work our way through Golden Hour, Kat Jackson writes about Lina’s life in present day Kitty Hawk, but also delves into Lina’s past in her US Army deployments as well as her past relationships and relationship issues.

Kat Jackson is quickly becoming a favorite author who excels at character development and developing a solid backstory for her characters. She also writes interesting secondary characters, like Caitlin, Mallory, and Keeley, who help move the story forward. Regan, as Lina’s eventual girlfriend, was also a great addition to this story. She really demonstrated her caring nature for Lina and what Lina was experiencing with PTSD. 4.25 stars

I received an ARC from Bella Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am coming to find that I really love books by Kat Jackson, she manages to pull me in on an emotional level and I enjoyed the pairing between Lina and Regan very much. The way Lina's PTSD was handled and described gave the book more depth than the average romance novel and when it's done in te way Jackson does it, it's very much lifting the book to a next level.
Golden Hour can be read as a stand alone, yet Lina was first introduced in an earlier book (Across the Hall) and that couple has a role in this one as Lina's best friends.
Highly recommended!

***Thanks to Bella Books and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book***

The mind is as beautiful as it is fragile and this book does a marvelous job showcasing its duality. The main characters take a bit to find their footing, but once they do the synergetic relationship is soul-renewing.

This author did a great job portraying a character with combat PTSD. From sweat-filled nightmares, to bouts of dissociation, to triggers known and unknown, to nights of insomnia, to the plaguing hyper-vigilance, even down to the daymares that haunt the main- they have woven in delicate truths about the disorder while keeping her human and strong.

It is a soul heavy read, but worth every heart clench. I was swept away by the effortless dialogue, the funny repartee, and the scenery depicted throughout each chapter. I was beyond grateful that this was not love at first sight. Instead, it's love through trial and tribulation. It's a friendship and a courting that allows growth and comfort and trust to develop organically. It's being real- going into a relationship that says this will be hard, but I see you, you matter to me, and I am here for it all.

I love the title of this book. I’ve spent the last several Christmas holidays on an east coast island and I love the how people come to the beach for the magic light as the sun is setting. Lina Ragelis is temporarily living at a beach house in Kitty Hawk, NC after getting her heart broken at home in NJ. She has been in the Army since she was 18, serving in three foreign tours working in medical labs. She continues her lab work now stateside. Lina’s previous relationships have not been healthy for her and her PTSD is flaring since coming to the beach. She feels that she is damaged and too much work for someone to take on. She meets Regan who is a nurse at the hospital where she is assigned. Regan is different from anyone she’s been attracted to in the past.

The PTSD is heart breaking and at times difficult to read. Lina does have best friends Caitlin and Mallory from Jackson's book Across The Hall. They care and try to help monitor her from NJ. Lina herself is in therapy and trying to be out with people but it is hard. Regan is understanding but has conditions she wants met. Some of the story is told in flashbacks to early times in the military. It made me appreciate how hard living with PTSD can be. I really liked Regan. She wants a relationship and even while she is patient with Lina she communicates her own needs and expectations.

This is a book that can be read on its own. But technically it is a sequel to Across The Hall. Lina is introduced as a side character in that story. It took looking at my reviews of previous books by the author before I made the connection. This was not an easy romance because of the emotional issues involved. But I believe in their potential HEA. Thank you to NetGalley and Bella Books for an ARC in exchange for a review. (3.5 stars)

Thought there might be more of the military side in this than there actually was. The flashbacks were good for telling the back story to Lina’s PTSD and on the whole the story was good. Just not quite what I was looking for.

Lina is struggling and she needs to put some space from her home, where she got her heart shattered. That’s not all Lina struggles with, she also has PTSD that keeps getting worse as she removed herself from her safe space and very low self worth. And then she meet Regan who is so different from what she’s known in the past, both physically and character wise. . Having been used by her former lover she struggles to accept Regan’s role in her life as someone who cares. A very compelling read, tackling some serious issues along with the romance. Best one yet from Kat Jackson for me, worth a read.
Free ARC provided by Bella Books via NetGalley.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Lina has survived a lot in her life she prefer to be alone she has a few friends in her life that won’t let her escape into herself. Lina meets Regan they hit off but there some bumps in the road for them to be able be together because this time Lina wants something real to last a lifetime and that’s something she didn’t think she deserves or needed. Overall Good Read.