A review by jazkc
Heart Recaptured by Tillie Cole
4.0
4 stars ✧
okay ... i'd be lying if i said my eyes didn't almost lock to the back of my head when i found out this installment was almost 500 pages after having a merely pleasant experience with the first book. but wow was this worlds better than the first. i ended up flying through it.
with that being said, i'd also be lying if i said i didn't contemplate rating this a 2 stars solely due to our hero, ky.
no joke, i've never ever felt this level of frustration toward a hero before. specifically for their extreme lack of communication skills and consistent superficial comments toward our heroine that ached for a love that wasn't skin deep (despite our heroine basically screaming it from the rooftops might i add). i wont be getting into spoilers here, so all i'll give you is: consider all of the worst possible things to say to a damaged character in a troubling situation, and our man would do you one better. it literally drove me up the wall at times.
that came after the second half of the story.
in the first half, safe to say i was swooning for this man whore. and laughing my ass off at the shit he'd say. and unlike mae and styx (which were basically insta-lust personified with no emotional connection whatsoever IMO) ky and lilah actually connected on much deeper levels and their moments together just warmed my heart and had me cheesing 70% of the time. so ultimately i realized i couldn't really count me being frustrated with him as a bad thing—hence why i didn't end up giving it that low rating. but that's only cause i've come to realize that i've always either didn't give a crap about a hero, or was head over heels for them.
and for that, all i can say is bravo TC for actually writing a realistic hero lol. a realistic man i should say. sometimes you love'em, but most of the time you just wanna choke the hell out of'em. and ultimately, thats what i loved about ky. he was who he was. take him or leave him kinda guy.
things he'd done or said to really sum up our hero for you, and some that just had me on the floor dying:
and now for the star of the show: lilah
lilah's story absolutely shattered me, and that's big for me to say cause i've read a lot of twisted romances with tragic backstories, but lilah's was just heart-wrenching to say the least. and i dont say this because hers was the most "shocking" i've read (which it wasnt) but more so thanks to tillie's writing and how seamlessly she painted lilah's raw pain and trauma to us.
and speaking of her brilliant writing, this has to be the most realistic depiction of grooming and brainwashing i've ever read in a romance. it was one step forward, and ten steps back for our heroine. ky's 10-inch manhood that he loved reminding us about every other page wasn't the cure, and love wasn't the cure.
thank you and well done, tillie cole.
#1 It Ain't Me, Babe — 3.25 ✧
#2 Heart Recaptured — 4 ✧
#3 Souls Unfractured — 4.5 ✧
❝She may have thought she was devil-created, but she was flawless. I was pretty damn sure if there was a devil, he had nothing to do with what I was seeing. That was all good, a goddamn fucking blessing.❞
okay ... i'd be lying if i said my eyes didn't almost lock to the back of my head when i found out this installment was almost 500 pages after having a merely pleasant experience with the first book. but wow was this worlds better than the first. i ended up flying through it.
with that being said, i'd also be lying if i said i didn't contemplate rating this a 2 stars solely due to our hero, ky.
no joke, i've never ever felt this level of frustration toward a hero before. specifically for their extreme lack of communication skills and consistent superficial comments toward our heroine that ached for a love that wasn't skin deep (despite our heroine basically screaming it from the rooftops might i add). i wont be getting into spoilers here, so all i'll give you is: consider all of the worst possible things to say to a damaged character in a troubling situation, and our man would do you one better. it literally drove me up the wall at times.
that came after the second half of the story.
in the first half, safe to say i was swooning for this man whore. and laughing my ass off at the shit he'd say. and unlike mae and styx (which were basically insta-lust personified with no emotional connection whatsoever IMO) ky and lilah actually connected on much deeper levels and their moments together just warmed my heart and had me cheesing 70% of the time. so ultimately i realized i couldn't really count me being frustrated with him as a bad thing—hence why i didn't end up giving it that low rating. but that's only cause i've come to realize that i've always either didn't give a crap about a hero, or was head over heels for them.
and for that, all i can say is bravo TC for actually writing a realistic hero lol. a realistic man i should say. sometimes you love'em, but most of the time you just wanna choke the hell out of'em. and ultimately, thats what i loved about ky. he was who he was. take him or leave him kinda guy.
things he'd done or said to really sum up our hero for you, and some that just had me on the floor dying:
Casting a terrified glimpse behind her, obviously hearing my footsteps, she cried out when she saw me giving chase. ❝Lilah!❞ I shouted, but she didn’t let up, making me feel like we were in some fucked-up redneck horror movie. It left me one choice: tackle the bitch.
❝Well, Jesus fucked a hooker slut, didn’t he? And that shit seemed to work out for him, didn’t it? I mean, hell, bitch, I got the long hair and beard and women worship at my feet. Maybe I’m the fuckin’ second coming?❞
❝I don’t ever get down, love my damn life, but looking at you through that window every night, as miserable as shit and glaring at us like we’re demons, even makes me wanna slit my wrists. And I’ll tell you now, I’m too fuckin’ pretty to die!❞
and now for the star of the show: lilah
lilah's story absolutely shattered me, and that's big for me to say cause i've read a lot of twisted romances with tragic backstories, but lilah's was just heart-wrenching to say the least. and i dont say this because hers was the most "shocking" i've read (which it wasnt) but more so thanks to tillie's writing and how seamlessly she painted lilah's raw pain and trauma to us.
and speaking of her brilliant writing, this has to be the most realistic depiction of grooming and brainwashing i've ever read in a romance. it was one step forward, and ten steps back for our heroine. ky's 10-inch manhood that he loved reminding us about every other page wasn't the cure, and love wasn't the cure.
thank you and well done, tillie cole.
#1 It Ain't Me, Babe — 3.25 ✧
#2 Heart Recaptured — 4 ✧
#3 Souls Unfractured — 4.5 ✧