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Review

“Do you believe in soul mates…?”
“How could I not? I met mine when I was fourteen.”

4.5 achingly beautiful stars!

Wow, what a beautiful book! An emotional, heartfelt story that made me feel everything as a man fights for redemption, and two soulmates search for their way back to each other. It’s a gorgeously slow-burning second-chance-romance that is sweet, passionate and functional with ALL the feels, and I loved every moment of it.

Connor and Ava were introduced in the first book of this series, Beneath Your Beautiful, and though you can read this as a standalone be aware that there are things that happen in the first book that lead in to this one, and you may find yourself a little bit confused at times, but it all becomes clear so you should be able to get by.

Connor is the younger brother of Killian, hero from Beneath Your Beautiful. The two boys grew up together with a drunken, abusive father and without their mother after she ran off with another man when they were young. At 14, Connor met Ava. Though they were from completely different backgrounds, they needed each other and they formed a strong friendship that eventually shifted into first love, and they became everything to each other. They were true soulmates who dreamed of a future together, but then Connor lost himself to drugs, and in doing so he lost everything. He lived a solitary and dangerous life for years, but now he’s back, clean and sober, desperate to make amends to the people he loves, and desperate to reclaim the love that he so thoughtlessly through away.

She’d always been my girl. It didn’t matter who she was with or how long we were separated by time or distance, Ava would always be mine. I knew in my heart that nobody could ever love her the way I do. It simply wasn’t possible.

Ava Christensen had been the best thing in my life but I ruined us.

Oh, how I love Connor! He has made mistakes, he knows he has hurt the people that love him, but he is determined to stay clean and get his life back, and that comes through so clearly. We can feel his remorse, his embarrassment and his devastation at the chaos that he caused, and the longing that he feels to rebuild the relationships that he destroyed. His battle feels real, and my heart ached for him as he tried so hard to do the right thing.

I didn’t want to be broken anymore. I didn’t want her to be left to pick up the pieces. She deserved better than that.

And Ava is such a kickass heroine. Strong, sassy and confident, she has always loved Connor and she knows that deep down she still does, and though she’s done her best to be there for him in the past, she’s also shown that she’s not prepared to put up with the lifestyle that he chose. She has tried to move on, but when Connor makes it clear that he wants her back, all of those old feelings she has tried to forget about come roaring back, despite her fears of what it all means and the confusion that it causes.

Maybe you couldn’t choose the person you fell in love with. Over the years, I’d tried so many times to steel my heart against Connor, but he always came in like a wrecking ball. He knocked down all the walls, destroyed the foundation, and left me with the rubble. Our brand of love would never made an after-school special. It was ugly and gritty and soul-destroying. Connor and I…there had been so many obstacles in our way.
But for a while, our love had been beautiful, and it had been everything.
How could you hate someone and love them at the same time?

We see pieces of Connor and Ava’s past together which shows their strong connection, which is still very clear in their interactions in the present. Their strong friendship is the base of everything between them, and they easily fall back into their familiar patterns, but through every moment the chemistry of heir attraction sizzles, and as they begin spending time together once again and Connor shows Ava how much he has changed, she begins to see glimpses of the boy she once loved. Though she is understandably reluctant to trust her heart to him again.

How many times could I let him break my heart? At nineteen, he destroyed me. At twenty-four, I was still picking up the pieces.

This is such a beautiful love story. There is SO much love between Connor and Ava, but there are very real obstacles standing in their way. They have a lot to sort through in order to find their way back to each other, and they do that realistically and functionally, and I could feel everything building between them as they opened up and poured their hearts out to each other.

“When I lost you, I not only lost a boyfriend, I lost my best friend.”
He closed his eyes. “Ava…”
“I’ve missed you,” I said, being more honest than I’d been in a long time. “So much.”

And as they found their way back to each other, I was so consumed by this romance. It’s beautifully emotional, passionate and sexy, and you can feel the connection between the two of them through every heartachingly beautiful moment.

My heart has been broken by you so many times…so many times, Connor.”
I pulled her into my arms and held her. She leaned into me, her cheek pressed against my chest. “Baby, please…I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work. Anything.”
“Anything?” she asked, her voice muffled.
“Anything that doesn’t require letting you go. Because I don’t know how to do that. I’ve never found a way.”

But Connor’s struggle with sobriety is a constant thing, and the pressures on him as he tries to reclaim his life are a challenge. And he’s still keeping one secret close to his chest, one that has the potential to derail the trust that he has fought so hard to reclaim.

This is just as much the story of Connor reclaiming his life after all he’s been through, as it is a second-chance-romance, and the two elements are woven together perfectly to create a character-driven story that has depth and emotion, and it completely captured my heart.

I loved it! 4.5 stars.

An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Beautiful Series