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Review

4 stars

This is the third book in the Bleeding Stars series, and OMG, my poor heart!!! This is a chemistry-filled, angsty (yet swoony) love story between two incredibly damaged people – both of them hiding their true selves, and the source of all of their pain – but they find something amazing together. It’s heartbreaking and raw, but wow, it’s a beautiful story.

Tamar King has been through hell. She’s on the run from her real life and for four years she has been hiding out in Savannah, slinging drinks in Charlie’s bar, concealing her true identity. To protect herself, she has erected walls, trying her best to keep people at arm’s length, and has created a mask that is not the real her, but it’s how she keeps herself together. But one broody, bad boy rocker is threatening to tear all of that to shreds.

Lyrik West is the lead guitarist for rock band, Sunder. From the moment he and Tamar laid eyes on each other there has been a simmering chemistry between them, but Lyrik is just as damaged as Tamar is. He keeps his wounds private but they cut deep, and he is bitter, cold and closed off because of it. But there’s something about Tamar that calls to him, and he can’t help but push her.

“Loving someone was like volunteering for heartache and sorrow and a lifetime of bullshit. But I wanted one. I wanted her. Tamar King. We had a love/ hate relationship. I loved messing with her and she loved to hate me for it.”

The sexual tension between Lyrik and Tamar is fantastic. The antagonism between them sizzles with more, and you can feel how much they want each other. Lyrik initially handles the situation badly (more about that later), so they take a while to get on the same page, but once they do, everything changes.

“Give me one night. Show me who you are. Show me that anger. Show me why. Fight it out with me and that hot little body”.

I loved the way this relationship develops. Absolutely loved it! Lyrik is only in town for two months, so they promise each other sex and only sex until he has to leave. But from their very first night together their plans fall completely apart. They see so much more in each other than they ever imagined, and it changes the dynamic between them incredibly! And as they continue spending time together, the depth of their connection and the intensity of the emotion that grows between becomes unstoppable, and wow, it’s beautifully written!

“You are everything I never expected. Never anticipated. Everything I never knew I’d need.”

“I can’t stop thinking that maybe you might need me just as bad as I need you.”

But underneath the passionate emotion that they find together, both are still suffering with the torment of their pasts. There is pain and vulnerability, and some push and pull, and the book gets quite angsty as they sort through their feelings and try to find their way forward. It’s definitely not an easy read, and my heart was torn out more than once, but I couldn’t put it down.

“If my heart was mine to give, I’d give it to you.”

AL Jackson has given us a beautifully written book that is full of raw emotion, and an amazing relationship, but as much as I loved it, I struggled with some of Lyrik’s assholish behaviour. Because W.T.F???

When we FINALLY got his backstory my heart shattered for him. I read with tears streaming down my face and finally realised why he was the way he was, and I got it. I so totally got it. I still think he treated Tamar badly and there was no need for him to behave the way he did, but I could understand his pain, and oh God, it hurt!

And that’s after we’ve already read Tamar’s backstory which is about as bad as it gets. What she went through was horrific, and I admired her strength for allowing Lyrik to get close to her, and the way he is there for her, and the way she blossoms for him was absolutely gorgeous!

“I didn’t mean to fall in love with Lyrik West. I’d run from it. Fought it. All the while he’d been the one to fight for me.”

But all of that suffering leads in to a wonderful ending (with a gorgeous epilogue) and I finished this book with a happy heart and a huge smile on my face.

“You sing my soul”

So yes, I have mixed feelings about this one. I wanted to love Lyrik more than I did, but he just pissed me off too much, and though I could appreciate his relationship with Tamar, that feeling wasn’t there for me. But having said that, I loved the story, loved the way Jackson wrote the relationship, and the character growth of both Tamar and Lyrik made this story really special.

4 stars.

The Bleeding Stars series