Shattered Dreams by Natasha Madison is live!

An angsty, forbidden, enemies to lovers, small town romance where the MMC & FMC are both broken!
Don’t miss the first book in the new Dream series!

 

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Blurb

Charlie
It was supposed to be a regular day out.
Three couples celebrating the last days of summer.
When tragedy struck.
I thought I was going to marry her.
Instead, I was burying her.
I blamed the world for my pain.
I buried it all.
I became a man I didn’t even recognize.

Autumn
In a blink of an eye, everything changed.
My best friend was gone, and I was responsible for it.
I may not have been driving the truck, but I didn’t stop it.
Escaping the town was the only thing I could do to survive the guilt.
I thought I was strong enough to go back.
I was wrong.
One look from him and I knew I wasn’t welcome.
But this is my home, and I wanted to come back.
One night turned into more. But at the end of the day, I know he’ll never love me.
Besides, we all have shattered dreams.

 

 

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Review

2 stars

Ohhhhh, what do I say about this book? There were things I liked, there were things I didn’t like, but for what is set up to be an emotional read, I unfortunately didn’t feel much at all.

This is the first book in the Dream series, but ties in with Natasha Madison’s Southern series. Charlie is the son of Quinn and Willow from [book:Southern Heat|55926498], and there is some family tie-in with his parents, grandparents and sister all appearing, but you could read this as a standalone.

The story starts off full of intensity when six friends are involved in a horrific car accident that changes their lives forever. Charlie loses the love of his life, Autumn’s best friend, and Autumn’s boyfriend is also killed. I was completely captivated as we see it all happen in devastating detail, and couldn’t wait to see how the story all unfolded.

We then shift to eight years later, and Charlie is still a grief-shattered shell of a man, to an almost obsessive level, spending his nights moving between the grave of his lost love, to the place where she died. He’s never moved on and wallows in his loss, and has no intention of changing that.

I’m breathing through life and not actually living. In reality, I died eight years ago. My heart is the only thing that didn’t stop that night. Everything else did.

Autumn lost a lot that day as well, but she was also caught up in the aftermath, feeling responsible for the accident, and shunned by the people in her small home-town for her perceived role in it. She ran away for a fresh start, but a family emergency has called her back, and she’s now home again and finally facing up to her past.

From the moment Autumn is back in town, Charlie targets her. He’s furious, and wants her gone, and he holds nothing back in letting her know that. In short, the man is an asshole. He says truly horrendous things to her and treats her appallingly, and Autumn just takes it and does her best to look after her family and protect their struggling business.

“What do you want from me Charlie?” I ask him softly. “I literally can’t give you anything else, because I don’t have anything left to give.”

The dynamic between Charlie and Autumn shifts when they unexpectedly fall into bed together. They still hate each other but for some reason they can’t keep their hands off each other, and when Autumn reveals her long-held secrets, everything changes for Charlie who suddenly finds himself falling for Autumn, and he goes all alpha male ready to claim his woman.

We are both not ready for whatever it is that this is going to be.

Now, I’m all for angry hate sex, but there has to be some build up. This came right out of the blue. Charlie and Autumn haven’t seen each other or communicated in any way for eight years. They’ve hated each other for eight years. Like real, actual, soul-deep hate. They have two angry confrontations with no sign of any chemistry whatsoever, and suddenly they’re tearing each other’s clothes off! Why? It didn’t feel hot to me, I was just confused.

And then once Charlie realises that he has feelings for Autumn and that he wants more with her, he’s like a completely different person. It’s a complete 180 as he becomes this uber protective alpha male almost overnight. Instant forgiveness for all of the misplaced anger, his grief is forgotten, and he’s all about Autumn, and nothing but Autumn. Again, with very little build up. And it takes very little to bring her around as well, even though they never really talk about their feelings for each other.

As much as I wanted to, I just didn’t feel it, and though there were some sweet moments in the second part of the book where Charlie is trying to prove himself to Autumn, I wasn’t invested in them as a couple at all.

My other question – why was Autumn so hated in the town? There is a reason given, but again, the anger seems WAY misplaced, and I didn’t understand how she ended up being blamed for so much. But I did appreciate her journey to reclaim her life and her business, and find her confidence once again.

It’s a journey in extremes with very little build up, and I felt little emotion because of it. This couple went from “I hate you” to “I hate myself for having sex with you” to “you are the one for me” so quickly, and I just didn’t understand why.

The series will continue with a book for Autumn’s brother, Brady, but I’m more intrigued by the idea of a book for Brock, another survivor of the accident.

I’m sure a lot of readers will love this book, it’s just not for me.

2 stars.

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author for an honest review.

 

Dreams Series

 

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About the Author

When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…

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