Iridescent Love

by Jes Logan

The balm for any pain is love. Iridescent Love.

Jasmin grew up being exposed to hatred, discrimination and cruelty. She learned at a young age to accept her status in the world and the limitations that came with it. Following a harrowing experience that leaves her physically scarred and emotionally broken, she vows to never trust anyone but herself. She uses her harsh life experiences as her armor against the world and she will not let anyone fool her into stepping out of its protection.

For the handsome and enigmatic Gabriel Blake, his solitary lifestyle is a result of his careful planning. Having grown up without the affection of his parents, he came to learn that love was overrated and rare to come by. Never having experienced love, he’s sure that he is not capable of the emotion. He leads a reclusive lifestyle, shuns attachments and immerses himself in his work. However, his perfectly created lifestyle is soon disrupted when he takes on Jasmin as an assistant.

Circumstances bring these two wounded souls together, but can they heal each other, or will their experiences keep their wary hearts apart? Will Jasmin's armor be strong enough to withstand Gabriel's gentle touch?

ebook

First published June 18, 2015

About the author

Jes Logan lives in a gorgeous nook of Melbourne with her family and variety of pets. She works in the real world but lives in a dream realm where she creates stories out of the tumble of every-day-life to give her readers a ‘happily-ever-after’.
To nourish her thoughts she maintains a colorful diet that consists mostly of cakes and chai lattes. When not stuffing her face with cake, she returns to reality and tries to keep a firm reign on the antics that go on in her house - or at least she pretends to.
Rainy days are her favorite because they energize her and you will find her zipping around the house, cleaning, decorating, reading, writing and crafting.
She would love to hear from you, so please feel free to drop her a message. Responses may take longer on sunny days though - because she usually hides when the sun is out.

Reviews

[Jaimee Enevoldsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great free read!! 4.5 stars!
The characters in this book are so complex and deep, you immediately get drawn into their stories and can't stop reading until you're done.
The only thing I didn't really like, is towards the end when she finds out the Niall is actually Daniel. His apology for one, sounds so heartfelt, but the fact that he tortured her that night, and when he woke up the next day he felt absolutely terrible and turned himself in... that just didn't seem plausible to me that that big of a character change could happen that first. That, paired with the fact that Jasmin harbored anger towards him her whole life which eventually turned her racist against white people, and she forgives him within what. Two or three days after meeting him again? I guess if it were me, forgiveness wouldn't have been given out that fast. I get that she came to terms with what happened to her and moved on, but I would still have been harboring some fury for him. I also think it's very unrealistic that they're just not going to to tell Gabriel. That seems like the kind of thing he would just eventually find out about anyway. .
I was also hoping there would be some cute epilogue, because I'm a sucker for happy ending epilogues, but alas, there wasn't one. Oh well, the story ended happily enough, so that's enough for me. Sweet tale of love overcoming social prejudices amidst the times of severe racism, I definitely recommend it.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an amazing read- the type of book that you just can't put down. Not at all like the many predictable romance novels I've read. Witty humour, with a deeply emotional background, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book was SO not what I'd expected. I expected a light romance, a typical NA novel with lots of drama involved and no real plotline. Well, wrong thought.
I know consider giving this book 5 stars and believe me I normally don't ever give a NA romance 5 stars. Really I'm rather thrifty in giving 5 star ratings.

So why now? Well this novel is somehow special. It is about hate, overcoming your hate, forgiving and learning how to love again. It is about all the important things in life (well..maybe not all but close enough). It also contains some heavy/dark topics like racism, rape and violence in general. And it is deep. 'Iridescent Love' made me an emotional wreck. It made me ugly - cry. It wasn't always easy to read cause the traumatizing events that Jasmin had to live through aren't exactly easy to endure. But still, I couldn't stop reading - it was intoxicating and the author succeeded in making me read this book in the course of one single night.
I wanted for Jasmin to become the loving and loved and overall happy person she deserved to be. And on the other hand I understood every decision she made to keep herself from being exactly that person. It was awfully frustrating - yet it was the only right way Jes Logan could have handled it. And she did it right - all of it. Everything else would have seemed fake, unrealistic.
And yes I loved the other main character, Gabriel. I mean, there is no other way than to fall in love with him, right? So yes, this book is a romance after all, but there is so much more to it.
And still: 5 stars is a rather generous rating considering that the romance really is cheesy, the editing isn't exactly great and so on. But on the other hand, there are that many things I really really REALLY liked about this book. Oh and there's so much truth in it, honesty, and even wisdom. There were quotes that just made me want to scream "Yes, yes, YES, this is it! You got it! This is what it should be about. This is SO TRUE." and I simply love than a book does this to me. When a book makes me realize important things about love, hate, forgiving, living, and how it all goes together.

So there's just one thing left to say: This book is amazing & it's for free. You know what that means right? Don't miss it. Just read it.

[Selina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gotta say kinda glad its not another protagonist with beautiful blonde hair or brown hair with light coloured eyes..:/

But truly awesome book, so relatable to all the browns out there--well, for me atleast, this embarrassment of who I am, always wondering if i will ever be "good enough, pretty enough, fiar enough, smart enough..." with "society dictating our beliefs and I grew up admiring the whites...aspiring to be like them". when in reality none of that mattered.

It was nice to see one even if it was a fictional character from a book to see herself overcome her fear and insecurity and her social awkwardness--i think being less social awkward and putting yourself out there well allow to find others with the same mindset and goals and values...

-s

[Lorrie Moar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read!! My heart broke for Jasmin and her traumatizing experiences throughout her young life. The thing about these experiences is that it makes or breaks us. She did not let it break her but she did let the self-hate control her life. I'm absolutely grateful that she was able see through that hatred and see that she does deserve happiness in her life. A great romantic story.

[Miss NK · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Its wonderful to see a protagonist who is different from the usual romance books. What i liked about this book was that it got quite deep emotionally without using sex as the main ingredient to the story. Well done to Jes Logan, i'm looking forward to reading more of her books in the future.

[Ivan Moodley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and enjoyed it even though it is not my usual genre.

[Jes Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm biased, I know :) But you have to read it . Enjoy.