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Review
“The best kind of happiness is the kind you unexpectedly find.”
After reading Ten Below Zero, I knew I needed to get my hands on more of Whitney Barbetti’s books. Into the Tomorrows, the first book in her new Bleeding Hearts series, follows Trista’s life after a heartbreaking loss. It’s about love, trying to move on, and the path to finding yourself.
Trista’s mother was wounded by the man she loved when he left her after hearing about the pregnancy. Broken hearted, her mother blamed Trista for her failed relationship and believes that in the end, love isn’t worth it. Growing up Trista has only heard negative things about love and it has been drilled into her head that love will never be permanent.
“Love isn’t worth the heartache it leaves behind. Don’t fall in love. You’ll lose all your happiness.”
Trista did not have an easy life. She grew up in a trailer park with very little, and had a mom constantly reminding her that she ruined her happiness. She was raised in a house without much love and constantly had sadness surrounding her.
“The sadness, it’s probably your destiny. You’re like me, you’ll lose everyone you love.”
Despite her upbringing, she had a good thing going on in Wyoming with school, her friends, and the boy she loves. Then, a tragedy occurs that changes the course of her life. Try as she may, she can not move one. She separates herself from everyone, including her boyfriend, Colin.
Colin is wealthy, smart, popular, and lives in Colorado. He has wanted Trista to move to Colorado for years and finally she gives in to his request. Their relationship has been strained ever since the death of their best friend and they decide to take this opportunity to try to fix what is broken between them.
I wanted to love him the way I had after he’d stopped me in a hallway in high school, the deep, clawing feeling of a first love. I wanted a love that had permanence; love had grown once between us and maybe it was still there, dormant, waiting for us to nourish it with time.
When she moves to Colorado, Trista finds herself going through the motions without feeling the things she should, and even feeling some she shouldn’t. Colin and Trista are completely different and find that they are not the same people they were when they first started dating while trying to get back to the way things were. Unfortunately, it isn’t easy when Colin’s hot roommate, Jude, is in the picture.
Jude looks forward to the future. He is smart, sexy, outgoing, and confident. He knows who he is and what he wants. Trista finds him easy to talk to and begins opening up to him more than she would like. There is just something about Jude that draws her to him. We see a connection forming between the two as her relationship with Colin seems to crumble even more.
Can Trista find herself, find love, and move on?
I really enjoyed Into the Tomorrows. It’s a beautifully written story that touches on some serious themes that will have your emotions all over the place. I felt love, pain, loneliness, heartache, anger, and sadness.
I liked Trista but did not love her. Throughout the book she knew what she should do about her relationship but refused to do it. I wish she would have been strong enough to make decisions that she knew would be best for everyone. She went through so much and my heart broke for her, but I think that making different choices could have save her a lot of heartache.
Colin frustrated me almost from the beginning. He was so adamant about fixing things between them, but showed very little emotion when he and Trista were together. I didn’t know where his mind was and wasn’t surprised with the way things turned out.
And Jude…I really liked him. He was wonderful from very first time we meet him. He was a great listener and was there for her when she needed someone to lean on. You could feel the sexual tension between the two of them and knew it was only time before they couldn’t fight it any longer. He was just what Trista needed and I loved that he truly understood her.
“I can feel your loneliness, Trista.” He was watching me, the moon reflecting off of his face. “It’s in your eyes, that hunger for something that digs past the superficial. You want someone to know you, but you’re afraid too. And you’re consoling yourself with someone who doesn’t want to know you because you know it’s safe.” He let out a breath, like he was absolving himself of some kind of demon. “And fuck me if it doesn’t make me want to give you what you need. You’re hungry—you’re starving. And I wish you didn’t make me want to feed you.”
I liked Jude and Trista together so much more than when Colin and Trista were a pair. Jude brings out the best in Trista and pushes her to try things to discover what makes her happy. I really want them to get their HEA, but can they have a future together?
There were twists in this book that I did not see coming, as well as one that I figured out early on. I liked the story line but I felt that it was a bit repetitive at times. That being said, I definitely want to get my hands on Back to Yesterday. The first chapter of the second book was included at the end of Into the Tomorrows….and OMG! I need to know what happens!
“I think you need to love yourself more—and place that above all the other love that anyone can give you.”
