Break Your Heart

by Renee Matteo

The invitations for Gina Fotelli’s fantasy wedding are stuffed, stamped and sealed, but Grant Foster has returned to town with an invitation of his own…the one Gina knows she must finally address. Determined to move her heart and head in the same direction, Gina will set off closely guarded of both realizing neither may return fully intact. After all, it’s Grant.

“Which decisions do we make with our heads and which with our hearts? Who wins when there’s a draw?” With Grant's words echoing in her thoughts Gina finds herself trapped between moving along the landscape of the life she now lives and a life she once knew.

Genres: Contemporary Romance

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 15, 2013

Reviews

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

lost loves finding one another

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

221 pages

The story with alternating povs opens up with a partial back story of Grant and Gina as young lovers.

Present day. Gina took fright and walked away from Grant six years ago and though they've both moved on, both engaged to marry and seemingly settled, neither can forget the other. It’s by sheer coincidence, some might call it fate that Gina learns of Grant’s engagement and the news brings into sharp focus long hidden memories and questions of whether she made the right decision all those years ago. Grant returns to Kipshaw to visit his family and Gina instigates a meeting.



My thoughts and spoilers so don’t read on if you don’t like spoilers.

Gina’s character comes across as selfish when in reality she doesn’t know what she wants, she’s plagued with doubt and many of us can relate to her on that level but she stepped over the mark in my opinion when Grant returned to Kiphsaw and when she visited Grant at Grant and Sarah’s home. I’d have got violent had I been Sarah.

Scratch below the surface and Grant is faring marginally better though he's moved on and memories of Gina occasionally force their way to the surface he’s committed to his fiancé Sarah and this makes for an interesting situation because Grant is a decent man trying to do the right thing but where Gina is concerned he loses all sense of rationality.

Unfortunately two good people must get hurt in this scenario but I didn’t get a deep feel or any lasting regret for those relationships anyway. For example. Sarah had been away visiting her parents for a week and woke Grant up on her return. Sarah sits at the end of his bed, while they’re talking he gets up and dresses then she gets a hug and a quick forehead kiss, they move downstairs and Grant makes them breakfast. It was as bland as I’m making it out to be. Grant made no move to jump her bones after a week away, there were no ‘I missed you’ looks, very little touching. They behaved more like good friends than lovers planning the rest of their lives together and you get even less of a feel for Adam and Gina’s relationship except she’s getting cold feet – again. I suspect it was the author’s intention to subdue both relationships that were not the H and h. It worked.

Interspersed with the romantic drama the reader gets an almost day by day routine that is Gina’s life as a teacher, her pupils and her best friend Ali but if I want routine I don’t need to read it in a book. Cut it in half then halve it again. I seriously doubt it would be detrimental to the book.

I liked it. The author created an H and h that are flawed and relatable (at least for the most part).

Yhears (Years). At first I thought the author had made a mistake but then she was so consistent I googled Yhears. From the little information I gleaned, it’s clearly a transliteration from somewhere but by the end it was annoying. Like potholes on a road that you can't avoid.

Needs proofreading.

Only one mild sex scene. On a scale of 1-5. I’d say 0.5.

[Stephen Rosenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose everyone takes away what he/she needs from a well-developed story, and “Break Your Heart” delivers exactly what every reader needs – hope for greater love. The author’s early and thorough development of the primary characters, combined with intimate details of their interactions is endearing to all who love relationships. Although love stories are not the first genre that I typically reach for, I purchased this book on recommendation and am glad that I did.

[Tracy Lundy-Munn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for a second chance romance book with lots of history between the couple. Loved the story just wish there would have been a epilogue with a glimpse of their future together. Book was well written and the characters were great and well thought out.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its a beautiful love story.

[Deanna]

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