A review by clemfandango69
Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Listen…am I shocked at myself for reading this? Yes. Is the cover awful? Also yes. The premise is so out of pocket—it’s like AU was double dog dared to write a romance with an impossible setup but…she somehow pulled it off?! I thought for sure this was going to be full of landmines where SA and trauma are wildly mishandled to make the HEA work, but I honestly think she stuck the landing. I’m kind of impressed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Note that there are a few outdated terms in here related to Indigenous tribes and culture, as well as a moment where the psych ward is referred to with one of its insensitive monikers.