Review by Ksharmilla -- Heartaches 2 by H.M. Irwing

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Ksharmilla
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Review by Ksharmilla -- Heartaches 2 by H.M. Irwing

Post by Ksharmilla »

[Following is a volunteer review of "Heartaches 2" by H.M. Irwing.]
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2 out of 4 stars
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I love romance novels and even more when I discover it is a series. It was a pleasure to realize that Heartaches: Bad Boy Vibes is a trilogy and a really good one too. When Heartaches 2 showed up on the list of books to be reviewed, I jumped at the opportunity. Having tremendously enjoyed the first book I wanted to see what happened in the second book.

Heartaches 2 picks up where the first book left off. Rafe and Anna are together, and they are continuing the fight that was started at the end of the first book. As ever, their love is strong. It is easy to see that they cannot be apart for long. Anna’s worry for Rafe is evident and ever present now that his abuser is back. Rafe is even more over-protective of Anna. The story takes a surprising twist when Rafe’s past is revealed. What was a strong, unbreakable bond teeters on the edge of shattering. The past has caught up to the present and now the fight has intensified. As always, the good side is left picking up the pieces while the dark, evil rears its head undefeated. Hopefully, Rafe and Anna are strong enough to overcome whatever fate has in store for them next. Interwoven with Rafe and Anna’s relationship, is the development of the character of Pat Cash, Anna’s friend. Pat’s fate also takes a surprising twist from when he was first introduced.

I loved this second novel just as much as the first. It has all the elements of surprise, love, loyalty and darkness interwoven in its pages. Anna has matured so much from the first novel. She has grown from a scared, helpless girl to a strong woman who stands up for herself and others. She has become an amazingly loyal friend and girlfriend. As ever, her determination to protect those she loves stands out. We also see that Rafe is also subject to his fears, despite him being so strong. I think this is the beauty of the novel. Even with all of Rafe’s physical strength, he needs Anna to help him deal with his emotions and his brutal past. It shows us that even the strongest of us can be crippled by demons.

However, this was a rather short novel; only one hundred and fifty-two pages. It took me a few hours to complete this book. There were some misuse or misspelling of words. On two occasions, the writer uses the word “peace” where it should have been “piece.” Another error was confusing Anna with Suzi, a newly introduced character in the novel. As with the first novel, I felt the ending was abrupt. I know it is a series. However, even books within series have their own clear ending which brings all the events together. Some sort of closure is given at the end of that particular book for all the goings-on within the story. I did not feel like there was that kind of ending. It simply ended in the middle of an event, to be concluded in the third and final book. For these reasons, I would rate the book at 2 out of 4 stars. I also felt that the presence of Pat and his issues were irrelevant to the story and was a distraction that I could have done without. I feel like the author tried to do too much in this novel. If it was a bit longer, with more depth to a good plot, it would have been excellent.

I would recommend this book to romance novel lovers out there. Since it is a series, you would have to read the first book and then if you want to see what happens next, the third book. If you prefer romance novels that are stand-alone, or the ones that are part of a series but can be read on its own, then I would not recommend you read this book. I am of the opinion if you start a novel series, you should finish it. I do look forward to reading the final book in this series.

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Heartaches 2
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Post by Alice Heritage »

I was interested to read your review as I have also read and reviewed some books from this series. I would say that the division into a trilogy is artificial and essentially a cynical ploy to sell more books. In that connection, having learned that subtitles help books to be found in searches, I think the inclusion of "bad boy" is an obvious ploy. Of course, the characters that are bad are horrid, but one-dimensional. Rafe doesn't seem like a villain. And you're right, the character of Pat essentially contributes zero. He's some sort of foil to Anna, but a pretty tokenistic one.
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