An all new emotionally charged second chance romance.What happens when you fall for the boy next door?Bea Norwood had the market on normal.Drama free life? Check.A single-mother who doubled as her confidant and partner in crime? Check. A neighbor and best friend she trusted more than anyone? Check.But that was until the day her mother remarried. The day that changed everything.When her best … changed everything.When her best friend’s cousin, Liam Falcon, is sent to live with his aunt and uncle to clean up his act, Bea finds herself falling for the boy next door. With their hearts so infinitely entwined, Bea turns to Liam as her only escape from her new step-brother’s daily torment at home. Bea thought their love could conquer anything. But she was wrong. Love was for fools, and she was the biggest fool of them all. When Liam left Lakeport, he took her heart with him, shattering the organ to pieces.
Six years later, Liam takes a trip back to Lakeport to visit his family, and to see HER.
His first love.The girl who holds his heart.The same girl who shattered it six years ago without looking back.
Liam is hell-bent on seeing Bea again after six years, but what he finds tears his heart in half. Bea Norwood is a shell of the girl he fell in love with. Underneath the baggy clothes, and pale skin, he knows she’s still in there somewhere, he just needs to find her. Liam will stop at nothing to win his girl back, but sometimes, ignorance is bliss, and Liam isn’t prepared for Bea’s truth.
Some aspects of this story may be sensitive for readers.
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Wow! Ache by SM Soto was an absolutely stunning and beautiful story of survival, strength, resilience, friendship and love. It wasn’t easy to get through the pages, as the story is difficult to read at times; but the journey you take with these characters is totally worth it in the end. Bea & Liam’s story just completely captured me and will be one of those books that I won’t easily forget.
The one emotion from human being is sadness. YES, ACHE had touched me with sensitive issue, self struggling and acceptance. There were moments where I cant stop feeling because it was hitting the core with pain. BEA, I would hug you, give you a big hug and tell you that everything will be okay!
This was a personal journey.. The recovery and the way to find love again
Oh My Goodness!!! What an aptly named book if ever there was one. The only word that could have possibly been a contender would have been Break, because Dear Lawd my heart feels BROKEN.
I have cried a thousand tears reading this 10/10 emotionally charged stars story. This is SM Soto’s best work to date in my opinion. My appreciation for her as an author continues to evolve as she delivers another intense and highly sensitive read in her trademark raw fashion. I love the honesty of her writing style, even though her books make me squirm. LOL!
My heart ached a million times over for Bea & Liam.
This story simply deserves 5 buckets of tears stars for the sheer beauty of its impact on me. Very few books are able to get to me as profoundly as this one was able to. The heart of SM Soto bled out onto the the pages of Ache, and I could feel that so plainly as my heart beat rapidly against my ribcage.
Ache is a story about real love. The long winding road filled with all of the aches, pains, anger, sorrows, joy and bliss that accompanies an everlasting kind of love. It’s a real love is worth fighting for kind of story. This story will stay with you long after that final page!
Liam & Bea’s story may not be an easy read, but it is certainly a story worth telling. This one should definitely hold appeal for the angst lovers in particular, but also for those who delight in stories about women so admirable, so fierce, and who possess so much perseverance and strength that the heroine feels like a hero!! The ways in which I fell in love with Bea are hard to put to words.
An outstanding book that raises awareness about the struggles women face and illuminates them so they can’t possibly be ignored.
Highly recommend this book if you can handle the painful side of love in all the forms it can take. This isn’t for those who like ruffles and rainbows with their romance.
Definitely a “water cooler’ type of romance that will give girls plenty to gab about. I love these kinds of books. When I finish a book wondering if I’ll ever shake it, ever fully recover from it, that’s a 5 star read for me!
Wow! Just wow! I had no idea what I was in for when I started reading this. I never read the blurb. I just saw that it was written by S.M. Soto and I was sold. She is such a masterful storyteller and I am never disappointed with anything that she writes. She is a must read author for me, but this book right here completely shattered my heart. It absolutely broke me. It’s gut-wrenching, but yet also a beautiful and intoxicating love story. At times I was smiling with a full heart and other times I was sobbing like a baby.
The abuse scenes in this were so real, raw, intense and graphic. The violence and humiliation that Bea endured was enough to completely destroy a person, but she was strong. Her spirit may have been broken, but she fought hard to protect those that she loved. She was a survivor and after all of those years of suffering she finally got her HEA with her soulmate.
All in all, Ache is a powerful story of hope, strength, friendship and love. For those of you who can handle the triggers, this is definitely one read that you will not want to miss. 5 Hauntingly Beautiful Stars!
SM Soto has created a beautiful and inspiring story thats painful and dark, but the light and the stars shine through. Ache will effect you bone deep, but despite the evil there is so much love. Bea never saw herself as a strong or fierce or as a fighter, but she is all of those things. I wanted to jump through the pages and shield her from those who hurt her. She truly is an inspiration. My heart also ached for Liam and all he had to endure. He’s pretty amazing. His gentleness and love for Bea made me fall in love with him quickly. There are triggers and some parts are difficult to read, but keep going if you can. Its wroth it. Bea and Liam’s story is so true to real life and it needs to be shared.
I don’t know how to start this review. I have read this author in hopes that her books get better, but I have found that I am searching in vain. When you write a book like this with this sensitive subject manner, the execution must be precise in order for the audience to receive it. That was not done here – it seems that the rape was more for shock value as in the graphic nature it was written. While it was part of the storyline, it missed its mark. Bea is a victim in every sense of the word, but for this to happen inside her home with no help or anyone noticing the drastic and extreme change in her was a shame. Bea didn’t need to be saved, she needed help by the people in authority and her mother who should have noticed the change in her child instantaneously especially with the abuse coming at the hands of her stepson.
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery and I know that every author can’t have an original idea, but this author seems to grab ideas from other more prolific authors and tries to outdo them with little changes. Let me tell you it fails at every turn. My advice: find your own voice and write from there – imitation is not flattery in the book world.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author to review for Stephanie’s Book Reports.
Bea Norwood has the market on normal. Drama free life? Check. A single-mother who doubled as her confidant and partner in crime? Check. A neighbor and best friend she trusted more than anyone? Check. But that was until the day her mother remarried. The day that changed everything. When her best friend’s cousin, Liam Falcon, is sent to live with his aunt and uncle to clean up his act, Bea finds herself falling for the boy next door. with their hearts so infinitely entwined, Bea turns to Liam as her only escape from her new step-brother’s daily torment at home. Bea thought their love could conquer anything. But she was wrong. Love was for fools, and she was the biggest fool of them all. When Liam left Lakeport, he took her heart with him, shattering the organ to pieces. Six years later, Liam takes a trip back to Lakeport to visit family and to see HER. His first love. the girl who holds his heart. The same girl who shattered it six years ago without looking back. However he is not expecting to see what he sees when he sees her again. His heart is torn in half. She is a shell of the girl he fell in love with. Underneath the baggy clothes and plae skin he knows she’s still in there somewhere, he just needs to find her. Liam will stop at nothing to win his girl back, but sometimes, ignorance is bliss, and Liam isn’t prepared for Bea’s truth.
I am going to go ahead and warn you that this book holds some major triggers. I am not a reader who has triggers. I read some dark messed up stuff that makes me question my sanity at times. However Ache tore my heart and soul out of my body, stomped on it and holy cow I am not sure I will ever be the same. I don’t want to say a word about what is going to go on in this book. You need to be just as shocked and heartbroken as I was. You need to feel these emotions blindly like I did. Just know that it is not easy. WIth that said thought underneath it all lays the story of two people who are soulmates. Who are meant to be not matter what one of the other goes thought. Please don’t lay this book down. Please just push through it and you will get to that place where you know that your going to make it and S.M. Soto has brought you through this with a lot of darkness, some light in places you do not expect it and a love that will heal your heart once you get to that point. This book is amazing. I loved it and I hated it in equal measure only because I wanted to make it all better or go and murder a character named Connor!!! You will too I guarantee you that. Dont fret thought that character gets his in the end and it is so satisfying I might have laughed a little but I still wouldn’t have minded putting him in the ground myself. Oh the emotions from this book!!!! Just get it, read it and hold on for dear life.
This read is not for the faint of heart. It will make you cringe, rip your heart out, stomp on it and then leave it tattered and torn on the ground. You will want to murder characters within the first few pages. The content of this read is not only traumatic, appalling and gut wrenching but also extremely emotional and taxing. With all of that said, I would read it all over again in a heartbeat despite the giant ACHE it left in my soul.
A story of young love lost and second chances at both relationships and life. It grips you by the heart strings and constricts your airways from beginning to end. The connection between the hero and heroine is extremely powerful; unwavering after more than 6 years apart. I felt so much empathy and compassion for both Bea and Liam.
I absolutely love S.M. Soto’s fearlessness when it comes to her writing. She is unapologetic and doesn’t dance around the hard scenarios. Her story telling is unlike any other romance author out there. It’s raw and graphic and expressive. She leaves no detail out and makes sure you feel as though you’re right there in the scene, living it along side the characters.
Wow!! This story truly ripped my heart out.
Please, know that this book has triggers, if you think you are going in to some hearts and rainbows story, you are not, but know, that all this pain will be cure at the end, Love conquers all.
Bea and Liam are just beautiful characters, the love that brings them together and fight through the pain, is a love worth fighting for, the strength to survive in the darkness, the moon and starts that light up the sky. They are everything!
SM Soto did an amazing job at telling a story that is not always told, so raw that you feel it in your bones. It will stay with you forever. I struggled to write a review because is so hard to put into words what this story made me feel, it’s a story that needs to be read and feel. A story that will make you see pain, struggle, darkness and love in a whole other level.
5 Stars read !!!
*ARC read !!!
Wow, just wow. This was a total 6 star read for me. I literally couldn’t put it down and read it from start to finish in just over 2 hours.
This book was absolutely heartbreaking and confronting, the emotions were so intense. I felt their pain and my heart broke for Bea and Liam. Second chance romances are usually my least favourite trope but this one will forever be one of my top reads.
There are trigger subjects, and i won’t lie and say it’s an easy read, because it totally isn’t – but the story will grab hold of you and you won’t be able to stop until the end.
The book hangover right now is epic!
Oh my heart through this book!!! The emotions, the intensity, the characters and the story oh my!! I truly loved loved loved this story. What the characters went through and how they grew through their story was such an intense, raw ride. I feel this story had the most perfect flow incorporating the past with the present to provide the full story and I loved how it started with just the one perspective. I felt the characters reactions were what I perceive to be realistic and raw.
I am filled with so many happy tears right now and just the most perfect beautiful ending to this story.
Full disclosure that this story is not meant for everyone, nor is it for the faint of heart as it definitely deals with some darker issues but if you go along for this ride I can promise you won’t regret it.
5 HEART WRENCHING STARS!! This book will be in my top reads forever. Bea and Liam will be in my heart for the rest of my life. These two have engraved their names on my heart. The story is heartbreaking with all the feels, but this author writes it beautifully. All I can say is…..1-Click and read it!!!
4 Written in my scars Stars! A guy wrenching yet beautiful story about love, loss and sacrifice. A very tough subject matter is weaved into this story. It will challenge you, you will want to walk away, but don’t push through for the biggest reward. Definitely worth the read. You will go through a gamut is emotions and it’ll be so worthwhile. You need to read Liam and Bea’s journey. Experience their never ending love, sacrifice and healing.
5 “Survivor” Stars
How? How do I even begin what I want to say? How am I even supposed to form words? I feel like I just ran a marathon and I’m spent. And I’m finally able to release a breath I’ve been holding in since I started reading.
This book is not for everyone. I repeat, this. Book. Is. Not. For. Everyone. This book put me through the wringer. I’m drained, both emotionally and physically. This story took ahold of everything. My mind, my feelings, my heart and soul. It latched on and I had no choice but to hold on as tightly as I could as it took me on one of the biggest emotional rollercoaster rides I’ve been on. With every chapter I read a lost a piece of my heart and little by little those pieces were left scattered on the floor. I was hollow, and was left in an unmovable state. I became very angry and wanted to break everything in my reach. I screamed and screamed and screamed. There was a point where I just couldn’t take it, I wrapped my arms around myself and cried for I don’t know how long. I let all that rage and sadness out and tried to control all my emotions as best I could. And I kept asking myself, why am I putting myself through this? Is all this pain I’m going through worth it? Yes. This book is worth all the tears shed, it’s worth the shattered heart, it’s worth the all the grueling pain. This story is worth it all.
Bea, Bea, Bea. Sweet Bea. *breathe in, breathe out* I have no words. The horrifying and violent things she suffers through left me broken. She does everything to protect the people she loves even though it comes at a cost. All I wanted to do so wrap her in my arms and never let her go. She exemplifies the word survivor in all sense of the word. And my gosh does she fight till the end for her happiness and happy ending. Ultimately her story is one of hope.
Liam is so sweet as a boy and caring and compassionate as a man. The moment he laid eyes on Bea “it” happens. That feeling that overtakes you, it shifts something in you and you know from that moment on you’ll never be the same. Though Liam’s dream of becoming a professional baseball player leads him to leave and start to build a life for Bea and him. And even though with him leaving it doesn’t mean goodbye. But with those years of him being gone everything changed with Bea and him. So many misunderstandings and confusion. It has Liam returning to the place where he gave Bea his heart desperately wanting answers. But when he sees her it’s only to find she’s not the same person she was when he left.
Bea and Liam are written in the stars. It was evident from the very beginning of the connection between them. Their deep and undeniable love is still there even after years of separation. Bea needs Liam more than ever and Liam will do anything and everything to bring the light and life back to Bea. Their love is everything beautiful and together they can conquer it all.
Ache more than anything is Bea’s story. Her story is one of perseverance. She is the epitome of a survivor. Though, Ache is also a story of strength, courage and true love. And yes, the title is most definitely fitting because when reading this unforgettable story my body, mind and soul ached. But like I said, it’s so worth it.
SM Soto, I applaud you for taking the plunge and writing this story. It was hardly easy reading and I can only imagine how excruciating it was to write. You shattered my heart, but in the end you pieced it right back up as I healed right along with Bea. I know that somewhere Liam and his sweet Bea are lying on the grass looking up at the stars and are extremely happy. Thank you for these two extraordinary characters, I will never forget them and they’ll always have a permanent place in my heart.
A DEFINITE TOP READ of 2019
4.5 milky way stars!
This is such a heartbreaking, yet beautiful love story. Bea and Liam stole my heart and I’ll never be the same
This romance is not for the faint of heart. Yes, there are some extremely difficult situations to read about in this book. My heart broke, the ache I felt in my chest for Bea was real. But at the end of the day the journey between Liam and Bea is about second chances, trusting your heart and fighting for someone and something you believe in. We all deserve good in our lives, and sadly the road to happiness was not going to be easy for Liam and Bea. However, that made their special moments together all the more rewarding. Their love was honest and pure, explosive, yet sweet. Their connection was palpable.
SM Soto pulled me into Liam and Bea’s world and the love I could feel between these two squeezed my heart. Bea was such a beautiful, smart young girl with so much spunk and life. Liam was gentle, kind and the way he loved his Sweet Bea gave me all the feels! He was perfection and the way he protected his girl was the stuff made of dreams.
The heart wants, what the heart wants
Ache is a soul obliterating, emotional journey of hope overcoming pain, and the power of first love.
My heart shattered along with Bea, it cried for the pain of these two lonely souls, and eventually it sewed itself back together. I am so so in love with these two, Liam is such a steady, calming presence, and seeing him help Bea return to her fierce and fearless self was a beauty beyond words and a hope that transcends a pattern of letters, no matter how poetic the pattern of letters certainly was.
I cried with sadness, I cried with grief of what was taken from Bea, and, later, I cried with such an overwhelming happiness. S.M. Soto has brought such a gift into my life with this book and I feel such a unique and powerful gratitude towards her, the kind that can only happen between an author and a reader.
Thank you, S.M. Soto, for finding beauty in the broken.
Ache is a gut wrenching, heart breaking, emotional ride I never wanted to get off of. Yes at times it was hard to read and my heart broke for Bea throughout, but the magic surrounding her and Liam made it a bit easier and had me so hopeful for their future.
Liam and Bea has a type of love that should have survived everything but some thing are impossible to guard your heart against. 6 years later they see each other for the first time and nothing can stop the onslaught of emotions and past hurts that come spilling in. But one of them is holding secrets that can destroy even the most broken of hearts..
This book had me feeling every single emotion the characters did and I found myself fully invested in the story and their future. Yes my heart broke but it was also pieces back together. I loved this book and I can not recommend it enough. This book needs to be the next book you read!
Ache is a gut wrenching, heart breaking, emotional ride I never wanted to get off of. Yes at times it was hard to read and my heart broke for Bea throughout, but the magic surrounding her and Liam made it a bit easier and had me so hopeful for their future.
Liam and Bea has a type of love that should have survived everything but some thing are impossible to guard your heart against. 6 years later they see each other for the first time and nothing can stop the onslaught of emotions and past hurts that come spilling in. But one of them is holding secrets that can destroy even the most broken of hearts..
This book had me feeling every single emotion the characters did and I found myself fully invested in the story and their future. Yes my heart broke but it was also pieces back together. I loved this book and I can not recommend it enough. This book needs to be the next book you read!
This story broke my heart but it also shows the resilience of the human spirit and the power to survive and thrive. To accept love and know that you are worthy. Your past does not define you.
Bea was beautiful and bright. She was carefree and fun. Then her life changed. She fell in love with the boy next door and got a new stepbrother. One thing was the best thing ever, the other would turn out to be the worst.
Liam was smitten the first time he saw Bea. They started out as friends and as she got older, they became more. Liam was older by a few years, so separation was inevitable. He needed to pursue his dream.
Liam never intended to leave Bea behind, but once Liam was gone, her life became hell on Earth.
Years pass, Liam and Bea lose touch, everything has changed. Now Liam is back and ready to find out why they fell apart. The only thing is, Bea is barely recognizable. She’s just a shell of the person she used to be.
The story is well-written and it does not hold back. The rawness and brutality, the pain and hurt, you will feel it all. Bea is incredibly strong. She endured until she could fight back. She truly rose from the ashes.
At times this story is not easy to read, but you will feel compelled to finish. You will get angry, frustrated, heartbroken, devastated. And after all that you will feel hopeful and the love Bea finally allows herself to accept.
An unforgettable, incredible read!
. • “Why can’t anyone just stop and really see what’s happening in our home?” • .
Ms Soto has taken a huge risk in putting this book out into world for her readers, and as much as I struggled in reading it, I absolutely admire her for doing so. I’ll also openly admit that I have just started dipping my toes into the world of dark and grittier books, but I really threw myself into the deep end with this one! It is ‘the’ most brutally raw book I have ever read, and is tragically the reality of more young woman than society realises.
I love the dual POV, and never before has it been so important to not only have Bea tell her story, but hear from Liam as well. Perception is everything, and no two people see any given situation with the same eyes. When we look at any odd or uncomfortable situation, do we really open our eyes and see what’s truly going on??
At heart, this is a story of hope, survival, courage and unconditional love. I’ll be thinking of all the Bea’s in the world, and hope they find someone to help them discover their inner strengths.
Thank you S.M. Soto for sticking to Bea’s story. 5 Stars.