SYNOPSIS:
So when Charlie finds out she's moving back to her home town, she hopes things will finally be different. She has learned the hard way not to let anyone in. People always let her down, and it wasn’t easy to trust anyone new. That was until Sam Greyson walks into her life and threatens to knock down every wall she’d ever built to protect herself.
With Sam in the picture, Charlie decides to take one last shot and open herself up. With Sam’s help, she is finally able to let someone see the real, bruised and damaged girl inside. That is until she is forced to make a decision between her own happiness and ruining Sam’s life to be with him. If giving him up meant he could have a normal life…She would do it, in a broken heartbeat.
MEL's REVIEW:
*I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an Honest Review
I do not even know where to start with this book except to say EMOTIONS, EMOTIONS, and EMOTIONS!!! Heartless by Vanessa Marie is a journey you do not want to take UNLESS you have a big box of Kleenex with you. My emotions were all over the place on this read. One minute I was laughing so hard with all the sarcasm and banter between the characters and the next minute, I was crying like a baby.
Charlie is a tough, smart -mouthed girl that keeps everyone at a distance, with good reason, except for her Dad, her best friend, Jules, and his Mom, Callie. That is until she meets gorgeous, stud muffin, Sam. Then Charlie is faced with letting her walls crumble a little and being exposed to this man that walks into her life or staying hidden away. There is so much LIFE that happens to these characters.
This is a crazy read. I loved Charlie and it was the first time, in a long time that I loved a female character. Vanessa Marie writes Charlie as more of a true to life character with all the internal dialogue and talks about the truth of life’s messy details. This is a tough, strong, sassy woman that thinks maybe too much and I really related and liked her. In fact, I liked all the characters.
The characters and their relationships made this book for me. At times the story dragged a little but I had to keep reading to find out if the character was ok.
HEARTLESS by Vanessa Marie receives 4 out of 5 Platypires
TEXAS HUGS AND HAPPY READING!!!
DREAM CAST AND EXCERPT:
She dove in the water and swam a couple of laps. All she could think about was Sam wanting to talk. What the hell would I even say? She couldn’t tell him the truth, but she didn’t want to lie to him anymore. It tore her apart inside.
As she swam lap after lap, she tried to play things out in her head. Unable to clear her mind, she couldn’t get herself into the headspace she usually did when she swam. There was no way to avoid what she needed to do any longer.
Charlie got out of the pool and wrapped her towel around herself. She rang her hair out and tossed it into a messy bun on top of her head. She walked down to his room and knocked on his sliding door. Oh shit, what did I just do? With her nerves a mess all of a sudden, she turned to run back to her room, but it was too late. He opened the door. All he had on was a pair of shorts and everything in her head disappeared as she stood there with a blank stare on her face.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked, his eyes full of concern. Charlie just shrugged, how the hell was she supposed to concentrate when he looked like that? She regretted knocking on his door and had no idea what she was going to say.
“Come in before someone sees you,” he said, and stepped aside to let her in. She walked past him and he slid the door shut. Crossing the room, she leaned on the table against the wall as he sat on the coffee table across from her. The Civil Wars “The One That Got Away” was playing on his iPod Radio. She’d listened to that song so many times since she’d broken things off she couldn’t keep count. They held each other’s gaze but neither of them said a word.
He leaned forward with his forearms on his knees. “Why’d you come here?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged.
“Are you ready to talk to me?”
“I don’t know what you want to talk about?”
“Us, what’s going on with you for starters.”
“Nothing’s going on with me,” she said, and re-wrapped her towel around herself.
“Cut the crap Charlie. You haven’t been the same since your surgery. You totally shut me out.”
“You’ll never understand what I’ve been through.”
“You’re right I don’t, but I can be there for you, if you let me. And yet you won’t.”
“I’m just better off alone. I’ve always been on my own. I don’t know how to be any other way.”
Sam stood and walked toward her. “Bullshit. We were great together. You let your guard down and you let me in. You can’t sit here and tell me that you being alone is better than that.”
She looked at her feet and her heart raced faster the closer he got. She couldn’t argue with him. He was right. The only time she’d ever felt whole was when they were together. Sam lifted her chin with his finger and his bare chest was just inches from her. Glancing up, she met his gaze. With the urge to reach out and touch him, she held onto her towel even tighter.
“Look me in the eye and tell me you’re better off alone,” he said, as he cupped her cheek and tears streamed down her face. Wiping them away, he leaned against her, supporting his weight with each hand firmly planted on either side of her on the table. Just inches from her face, she stayed silent, but her eyes said it all.