Heartbreak Hill

Book reviews

6 Apr

Written By Anzhelika Li

Their story isn’t a fairytale, more like a Shakespearean tragedy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

1. TELL ME PRETTY LIES by Charleigh Rose

SYNOPSIS

Three things my mother acquired when she became engaged:

1. A brand new Tiffany’s ring.
2. A lavish home on Heartbreak Hill.
3. Three privileged stepsons.

The last thing I expected was to fall for one of them, least of all Thayer Ames. Beautiful, brooding, and untouchable. I knew it was a bad idea. He warned me himself. But he was a thunderstorm, and I never could resist the rain. It was perfect… Until it wasn’t. One night was all it took for our world to crumble, leaving only secrets and lies between us. Now, I have to face him again, but the boy I used to know has become the man who loves to hate me.

BOOK REVIEW

Charleigh Rose never fails to amaze me with her ability to create the most captivating connections between her emotionally unique characters. I find it really hard to put into words how much I loved this one of a kind book. It was everything I only wish for my romances to be: beautifully written, torturously angsty, insanely hot, and so much more.

“They don’t know this side of you,” he continues, grinding into me at the same time. “So innocent. So pure. But they don’t know what you like to do with your stepbrother in the dark.”

Shayne was such a complex character. She was a bundle of angelic innocence and raging fire. She was gentle and extremely vulnerable, but also fierce and stoic. Shayne was kind and clever and confident with a taking-no-shit-from-anybody kind of attitude (well, except Thayer who she had a soft spot for no matter what), an impressive resolve to not go down without a fight, and an inspiring determination to find herself amidst the chaotic storm. Despite the enormous weight of her own problems, she resiliently stayed a beacon of light and strength for hurt and broken and angry Thayer.

“It’s getting harder to stay away from her. It’s like a compulsion. Getting under her skin, igniting that temper, feeling her hot little breaths on my skin when I make her some. It’s an addiction. A sick, toxic addiction.”

Thayer was one of the best light-bully anti-heroes I have ever read. He was a tangle of painful guilt and sinful pleasure. He was rough around the edges, brooding, and intimidatingly unpredictable. But soul-grippingly beautiful and vulnerable behind the emotional fortress Thayer had built in order to save the remains of his damaged seemingly beyond repair heart.

“Finding a love like ours is like catching lightning in a bottle. And I’m never letting go.”

The chemistry between Shayne and Thayer was dangerously explosive. I absolutely loved the natural development of their emotional connection alongside the physical aspect of their complicated relationship. All the small touches, and secret glances, and ravaging kisses were truly swoon-worthy. And soothingly tender. And scorchingly hot!

Anyway, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this incredible book about two people struggling to get their shit together after a devastating loss. Two kindred spirits fighting for a chance to love despite the difficulty to reconnect with the new reality, as well as the choking thirst for answers and revenge.

Also, on a side note:

Lichtenberg Figures

Lichtenberg figures are fern-like branching structures formed from an electrical discharge on or inside of an insulator. Like snowflakes, every Lichtenberg figure is unique – an intricate and beautiful natural work of art.

Lichtenberg figures form naturally, sometimes in the skin of lightning strike victims, in lightning strikes into sand (fulgurites), and potentially from pretty much any high-voltage electrical discharge into an insulator.

The structures take their name from Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, the physicist who discovered and studied them.

1. BREAK YOUR LITTLE HEART by Charleigh Rose

SYNOPSIS

He thinks he can break my heart, but you have to have a heart in order for it to break…

It was supposed to be a one-time thing. Nothing more than a momentary lapse in sanity with my best friend’s stepbrother that we agreed to never speak of again. Simple. Or at least it should’ve been, considering we didn’t even like each other. But the universe has a sick sense of humor, because after avoiding Holden for the better part of a year, we both end up at Hadley University. To make matters worse, he lives right across the hall from me.

He’s everything I shouldn’t want. Arrogant. Reckless. Crude. An obnoxious playboy who only wants what he can’t have. And worst of all? He wants to finish what we started a year ago. Unfortunately for me, time has done nothing to dull my inconvenient attraction to him.

What’s the worst that could happen? I’m heartless and he’s empty. But the more time we spend together, I realize there’s more to him hidden beneath all that debauchery. Loyal. Protective. Broken. Maybe we’re not so different after all. And just maybe he is capable of breaking my heart. If the ghosts of our pasts don’t destroy us first.