Long Live the Beautiful Hearts - Review

Long Live the Beautiful Hearts (Beautiful Hearts Duet, # 2)

By: Emma Scott

Publication: October 14th 2018 by Amazon Digital Services

286 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Retellings

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Never again would I allow my heart to become the plaything of someone else.
Never again would I let a man (or men) come between me and my goals.
Never again would I love without feeling the fullness of that love in return.
Not until I knew it was real. And if that took me a lifetime to find, so be it.

Those were my vows, and after all that had happened with Connor and Weston, I was determined to keep them. To protect my heart.
And then he came home, and my vows became his promises.

He held my heart in his hands with reverence and care.
He helped me find my soul’s greatest purpose in life.
He loved me with a love so pure and vibrant, I knew I’d never feel anything like it in a hundred lifetimes.
It was real.

Until it wasn’t.
Until it all came crashing down when I discovered the deep love I thought I’d found was nestled in a web of lies—so soft and silken I hadn’t noticed it was there.
Until it was too late.

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Long Live the Beautiful Hearts is the emotional, heart-wrenching conclusion to the Beautiful Hearts Duet by bestselling author, Emma Scott, and is inspired by the classic tale, Cyrano de Bergerac. (Roxanne) THIS IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL LOVE TRIANGLE #confusedhearts #notamenage THIS BOOK IS NOT A STANDALONE. It should not be read without first reading Bring Down the Stars

Man you guys, I BLEW through this book and the previous one (Bring Down the Stars) in two days. This is unheard of for me at this point in my life. I just don't usually have the time available to dedicate to reading so much in a row. But I read about 6 hours in one day as we took a day trip to a wedding three hours away. But I couldn't stop reading this book. From the cliffhanger from book 1 to the beginning of this one.

It's almost impossible to discuss this book without getting into the land of spoilers. I'll do my best. I mean the description is so vague that you don't know who even came back from war. So...how do I even discuss this book?

Where I struggled with knowing inevitable conflict was coming in Bring Down the Stars, I felt like I was passed the hardest part because the damage had already been done. Now it was just about unraveling the lies in time and seeing how Autumn would handle them. Yet in so many ways, the struggles were only just beginning by the time we start Long Live the Beautiful Hearts. If there's one thing I wish I could change about this book it would be that Autumn had discovered (or been told) the truth sooner and that she would have had time throughout the book to recover from the lies in a slower manner. While I wasn't entirely unsatisfied with how everything was handled, the resolution and forgiveness did feel a bit like a switch was flipped and she changed from sad and hurt to happy and forgiving a bit too jarringly to feel realistic.

I was so impressed with the poetry actually featured in Bring Down the Stars. Specifically, the last/main poem of the book. And so for that to be the case, I found myself a little disappointed with the poems included in Long Live the Beautiful Hearts. They weren't bad, but I just didn't find them as striking.

What was striking though was the difference in the Before versus the After--especially when considering the real-life events that Emma Scott was dealing with. She lost her daughter, Isabel, in between books to a massive heart attack due to a rare complication she'd had since birth. These two books being one complete, thought-out story with every piece being perfectly executed and planned from the beginning makes the Before and After of the books mirroring Emma Scott's own Before and After poetic and heartbreaking. Real life imitates art imitating real life. As a mother, my heart breaks for Emma Scott and what she's gone through even more than these beautiful characters that she's written about in this story.

I honestly had mixed thoughts about the disability pieces of the story-line. On the one hand, it was so refreshing. I can say I've probably read only other book with a main character that had a similar disability. I imagine Emma Scott researched tons about these types of disabilities before making any decisions for her character, but I don't have that luxury or knowledge base. So there were some things that I just have no knowledge base for. Other aspects were so heartbreaking to think that I've never thought about these things before. And it opened my eyes to the need for more compassion and consideration from me.

Favorite quotes (that aren't too long or spoilers):

-Was there any greater gift from one human being to another than understanding?

-"In my mind, [...], that has always been the fault of your armor; you have built it so strong that it doesn't protect you so much as it hurts you to carry its impossible weight."

Long Live the Beautiful Hearts was a beautiful end to a wonderful story. I started this series fearing how the retelling would be handled, but Emma Scott worked it so well. And the reasons that our characters felt unworthy of love are so much better and deeper than some big old ugly nose. I want to say so much more about this book and this series, but I just can't spoil it for any potential readers. This book and the series weren't completely perfect so I'm not giving this book 5 Stars, but it heartily deserves 4.5 Stars. Have you read Long Live the Beautiful Hearts? What did you think? Let me know!

Bring Down the Stars - Review

Bring Down the Stars (Beautiful Hearts Duet, # 1)

By: Emma Scott

Publication: August 19th 2018 by Amazon Digital Services

292 pages

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Retellings

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon $3.99 | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--I fell for Connor Drake. I didn’t want to; I fought against it, but I fell in love with him anyway. With his words. With his poetry. With him. The gentleness and beauty of his soul that speaks directly to mine. He writes as if he can feel my heart, hear its cadence and compose the exact right lyrics to accompany every beat and flow.

I’m in love with Connor…so why do I feel an inexplicable pull to his best friend, Weston? Grouchy, sullen, brooding Weston Turner, who could cut you down with a look. Fiercely intelligent with a razor sharp wit and acid tongue, he’s the exact opposite of Connor in every way, and yet there’s electricity in the air between us. The thorny barbs Weston wraps around himself can’t keep me away.

But the more time I spend with these men, the more tangled and confused my emotions become. When they both sign up for the Army Reserves during a time of increasing strife in the Middle East, I fear I’ll never unravel my own heart that sometimes feels as if it will tear straight down the middle…for both of them.

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Bring Down the Stars is an emotional, angst-filled novel of unrequited love by bestselling author, Emma Scott, and is inspired by the classic tale, Cyrano de Bergerac. (Roxanne) It is Book I in the Beautiful Hearts Duet, coming this summer. Book II, Long Live the Beautiful Hearts, to be released a few weeks later. THIS IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL LOVE TRIANGLE #confusedhearts #notamenage

When I read the description of Bring Down the Stars, I was sold that it was a book that I needed to read, but I wasn't sold that it would start or end in a place I'd be happy with. I mean the story of Cyrano de Bergerac is well known. A man speaks for another man in love with a woman. I mean obviously there's more to it than that, but I could tell immediately from the description that it was likely Weston was the one giving his words to Connor in order to woo Autumn. But that would mean that Weston wouldn't be with Autumn, yet Weston would be the one I should be rooting for. Starting a book off knowing that inevitable conflict (well all books have conflict, but this particular conflict is what I mean) is ahead had me hesitating.

Despite my hesitation, Bring Down the Stars hooked me quickly. I easily felt the connection between Autumn and Weston. And even the gravitational pull toward Connor and his easygoing charisma. Each character has depth. Connor's struggles to live up to his family's wishes for him. His family is so gracious to Weston and his family, and even Autumn's. They weren't black and white characters. Weston's history with his father and even how his mother's words shaped his view of himself, his worth, and his options for his future. Autumn's romantic history and her family dynamics. All of these characters were more than surface level. Even the side characters like Connor's parents, Weston's mom, Paul, Ruby, Edmond (who I imagine was fashioned in some ways after Javier from Felicity), and Weston's poetry professor.

I was a little frustrated with Autumn. I mean such a large point of this book is the retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac so this couldn't really be avoided, but how much Autumn struggled with the back and forth of Connor. How he felt so different in person versus the poetry, letters, or words he gave her when they weren't together...It seems to me that you've got to go with how you feel when you're together in person versus words shared when apart. So I struggled a little with her indecision. But all of that was necessary for the story.

It's actually hard for me to separate Bring Down the Stars from Long Live the Beautiful Hearts considering I started book 2 immediately after finishing this one. I read in the car on a day trip 3 hours away from home (and then 3 hours back). I basically finished both books in two days total--unheard of for me this past year.

I also want to say that the last poem of Bring Down the Stars did not disappoint. Often times when I'm reading a book that builds up a character's talent in songwriting, poetry, writing, riddles, etc, I end up being disappointed with the lyrics or samples of their art included in the book. That was not the case with the main poem of this book. It was beautiful in every way and I could read it over and over again. I won't share it with you guys, but I will share a few of my other favorite quotes:

-"I can't help myself. I don't want casual. I want electricity. I want someone I can talk to for ages, someone who sets my blood on fire. And not just physically, you know?" Ruby pursed her lips. "Gee, don't expect much, do you?" "Only everything," I said. "And why not? That's exactly what I have to give."

-I wouldn't touch you so quickly, I thought. I'd wait. Draw it out. Build up the moment so that when it happened--when each of us feels the other's skin for the first time--it'll be something sublime. Something earned.

-"I'm starting to memorize you," he said. "Not just your words but how you talk. The silences between words. The sound you make when you're thinking. The quiet where you try to hold back, and the little floods where you don't."

Bring Down the Stars was more than I expected it to be. I hoped I would like it. I hoped I could make it past the inevitable conflict that was expected from the book description and the very beginning of the story. And Bring Down the Stars exceeded my expectations. Knowing what was going on in Emma Scott's life during the time of writing these two books made these books even more emotional. My heart goes out to her. Bring Down the Stars gets 4 Stars. Have you read Bring Down the Stars? What did you think? Let me know!