Weddings always have a curious effect on their guests and when Jude’s friend Eric gets hitched, he starts to see his friend and long-time ballroom dance partner Hailey in a brand new light. But with Hailey busy with law school, traveling the world, and her charity projects and Jude entangled in a tepid relationship with his girlfriend Cynthia whose jealousy starts to get out of hand, it seems … seems that they are destined to be apart.
When Jude breaks up with Cynthia and moves in with Hailey in the aftermath, their budding romance starts to gain momentum, and the two finally come to realize that they’re destined for each other, never to part.
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Finally, the Boy Gets the Girl
The story of the decades long, evolving relationship of competitive dance partners, Hailey and Jude, finally, is resolved—they both acknowledge romantic love for each other at same moment of being single. Having grown through the stages of love—generally different stages, at different times where one character would acknowledge love as the other moved on to another dating or sexual partner, they find each other without a romantic partner at the same moment. Having garnered life experience and maturity, they now recognize the ups and downs of romance and their shared love for each other and shared goals.
For a reader walking into this labyrinth of emotions and characters, good luck. Only the first novel of the trilogy, The Starting Line, can be read without cheat notes identifying characters, sub-plots and relationships. But novel 2, A Distant Spark, and 3, The Heart of You, are an uphill climb without knowledge of the previous novels. And, reading Novel 1 without reading 2 and 3 is a miserably, unhappy experience of no closure.
The reading experience of this trilogy, to be packaged and marketed as The Heart of You, finally helps the reader achieve the sought moment of happily-ever-after. But, the reading experience is still not fully satisfactory. Simply said, the plot needs judicious editing and tightening. The author has a vision and a story, but she is self-indulgent in the spinning out too many threads that don’t enhance the central storyline and only add confusion when clarity is needed. I would love to read a rewritten and judiciously edited version—that would be a story that speaks to “the heart of you.”
I have read and reviewed The Starting Line and A Distant Spark. But, I was not invited to participate in the ARC for this novel, so I bought this one because I can’t be satisfied with an incomplete storyline. I am pleased to now have closure. I do wish episodic novel parts would not be published as freestanding novels. Only when the individual episodic novels are as well constructed as the Harry Potter novels and clearly able to provide the reader with a beginning, middle and ending, should an author attempt to call an unfinished section of a novel, a novel.
He has to decide what he wants and when he finally decides can she trust him again
The Heart Of You is the first book that I have read by Jennifer Hartley so I was not sure what to expect, as you just never know with a new-to-you author. It took me a bit to get into the story of Jude and Hailey as the first part I was missing crucial parts of the history between these two. I think that a “Prequel” chapter would be good to give information that is initially missing to the reader. Actually, it almost feels like this should be book 2 in a series. With that being said I did stick with it a bit further and then was able to figure out the back story between Jude and Hailey. This is a friends to lovers romance with some other things added in to make the plot a bit more interesting.
Jude and Hailey had been best friends and competitive dance partners for years. When Hailey wants something more with Jude and he doesn’t it breaks her heart. So Hailey goes to Uganda to work on a NFPO project. While she was in Uganda there were some dangerous situations that she was in and one of her friends was killed. She has now returned to home and is again a law school student. But she is now suffering from PTSD and trying to cope and readjust to her “regular” life the best she can.
Jude in the meantime began a relationship with Cynthia. It was good in the beginning but it is slowly unraveling as Jude realizes they want different things.
A friends wedding gathers Jude, Hailey and other friends together to celebrate. Cynthia’s jealousy becomes evident and Jude breaks it off with her afterwards. As a result Jude does not have a place to live so he moves in with Hailey, as friends only. However, the longer they are around each other the more Jude realizes just how much fun they have together and that they really want the same things in life. So Jude is ready for more finally but Hailey is not so sure she can trust him again and she is still having a hard time dealing with the PTSD. But Jude slowly keeps showing her that he is there for her and she realizes that he is serious and will be there for her in the future.
I liked this story as it was sweet, romantic, sad, frustrating and engaging. If the author had given the history of Jude and Hailey’s relationship at the beginning of the book then I would have enjoyed this story a lot more, as it would have been less frustrating to me. As it is I liked this book but I cannot fully love it.
I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are all my own.
This is a best friends to lovers romance between Hailey and Jude. It takes awhile and they travel a bumpy road overcoming some issues before finally realizing their true feelings for each other. The author does a beautiful job developing the story and pulling you in with all the emotions coming through the pages. It’s well written with detailed scenes, moves quickly and smoothly and I enjoyed reading. Well done.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.