✰ Bianca ✰ Janeane ✰ 
★★★★★
5 Stars
Ava Diaz needs saving.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
Just like she doesn’t know a thing about the boy
she sits next to on the first day of senior year.
He thinks she’s a brat.
She thinks he’s entitled.
Maybe first impressions don’t always last…
Because Connor Ledger’s about to save her.
He just doesn’t know why.
OK - I'll write a longer review later - scroll down for that - but for anyone who doesn't want to get spoilered AT ALL ... I will just say this:
HEARTACHE AND HOPE was ... just that. It was so full of emotion and love and pain and family and loss and hope and the future and sport and the past and growing up and fighting to just ... be happy.
It was a beautiful young adult love story with a bit of heartbreaking drama and a bit of an unsure future for our two darlings.
I LOVED IT. Adored it. And I can't wait to read the 2nd book - there might have been a tiny little Cliffy. (OK, it was a lottle Cliffy!) ☺
NUFF SAID!
Now here comes my 'bigger' review. It doesn't spoil anything really, but it tells you a bit about the background and what's happening exactly.
_________________________________________
Connor just moved to North Carolina with his dad. He needs to make the best of the Basketball scholarship at this rich-kids school if he wants to have a chance at professional sports.
Ava is also starting her senior year at that school.
Her homelife is not what you might call easy.
Her stepdad left them a while back and now she and her stepbrother have to take care of everything. Food, money, school, work ... and ... her mom.
She's been badly hurt in Afghanistan and it's not easy living with her. It's not something a 17 year old kid should have to do on her own.
The only happy moments Ava has these days are when she's with Connor. The new kid at school. He's beautiful and sweet and funny and he likes her - when the whole town talks badly about her family.
But nothing can ever happen between them. Her mom has to be her priority .... and his priority has to be Basketball.
Right?
What will happen with Ava & Connor?
Will there be a HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT! ☺
Well, that was so effing heartbreaking and adorable!
You immediately fall in love with Ava and Connor. You just want to grab them and hug them and promise them everything will be okay.
Their lives have been very hard. In different kinds of ways, but still hard.
Ava had the perfect teenager life until her mom came back home broken.
And Connor's life started hard and he and his dad have been fighting to be where they are now ever since.
Ugh - it's all so very sad and hopeless. But of course we hope that all their dreams will come true and that they both get their happily ever after together. But we have a long way to go until we might get that.
This is book #1 of 2! But the second book will be with us in two weeks - I CAN'T WAIT!
There were some tiny little moments where I wanted to hit some people over the head - but you have to keep in mind that they're only 17 years old. I still adored the story! ☺
Will there be a HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT! ☺
Well, that was so effing heartbreaking and adorable!
You immediately fall in love with Ava and Connor. You just want to grab them and hug them and promise them everything will be okay.
Their lives have been very hard. In different kinds of ways, but still hard.
Ava had the perfect teenager life until her mom came back home broken.
And Connor's life started hard and he and his dad have been fighting to be where they are now ever since.
Ugh - it's all so very sad and hopeless. But of course we hope that all their dreams will come true and that they both get their happily ever after together. But we have a long way to go until we might get that.
This is book #1 of 2! But the second book will be with us in two weeks - I CAN'T WAIT!
There were some tiny little moments where I wanted to hit some people over the head - but you have to keep in mind that they're only 17 years old. I still adored the story! ☺
HEARTACHE AND HOPE was such an adorable & heartbreaking young adult sports dramance! Run to your nearest amazon asap for your own Connor - he'll be sold out in no time !!!
♥ EXCERPT ♥
They look like fireflies. The way the water falls from the sky, illuminated only by the streetlamps. I stand in the middle of the road, barefoot and barely breathing, my arms out, face to the sky. I don’t know how I got here. When I climbed out of my window, the sun was just setting and now… now I’m surrounded by dark skies and false hope. […] I know I should go home. That I should face my fears and tackle them head-on. My mind travels the right roads at the right time to get me there, but my heart… My heart takes me to Connor. Outside his bedroom window, mud seeps between my toes, and the frigid air creates goosebumps along my skin. I raise my fist and tap, tap, tap on the glass. A moment later, a light turns on. And then nothing. I tap again, my heart racing. The blind lifts and Connor appears, his eyes squinting. It’s clear he’d been asleep, or close to it. Hair a mess, he’s shirtless, the obvious beginnings of bruises mar parts of his torso, and I look down, shame filling every part of me. I bite down on my lip as he slides the window up. “Jesus Christ, Ava. What the hell are you doing?” His warm palms meet my soaking wet elbows, and then his entire body is cocooning mine, lifting me off my feet and into his bedroom. My feet land on his soft carpet, and I look down at the mess I’ve made. “I’m dirty,” I tell him. Inside and out. Dirty, dazed and damaged.
↓ LINKS TO THE BOOKs & AUTHOR ↓
Book #2 will be out in 2 weeks!
Jay McLean is an international best-selling author and full-time reader, writer of New Adult and Young Adult romance, and skilled procrastinator. When she’s not doing any of those things, she can be found running after her three little boys, investing way too much time on True Crime Documentaries and binge-watching reality TV.
She writes what she loves to read, which are books that can make her laugh, make her hurt and make her feel.
Jay lives in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, in her dream home where music is loud and laughter is louder.
For publishing rights (Foreign & Domestic) Film or television, please contact her agent Erica Spellman-Silverman, at Trident Media Group.
ARC received for an honest review
So, this old bird rarely reads YA these days (I am soooo far away from their ages that it is often hard for me to connect with the characters), however the minute that Jay McLean announces she is releasing a new book, I am counting down the seconds until it arrives on my Kindle.
This book has it all in the title - it is full of heartache and hope. You can't help but fall in love with Ava and Connor and all the complexities of their lives
Gah, there is so much I want to tell you about this book, however I can't as you need to devour this one and all it's emotions, going in blind to get the full effect.
I have had a run of meh and good books lately, and it was great to get into a story that just just had that extra "wow" factor.
I mean, being a duet, we know there is gonna be a cliffy of some sort, and as soon as I finished reading, I was looking at my Kindle for the second part of the duet.
I know it is only a couple of weeks away, but if Ms McLean could see fit to release it earlier, I won't complain. ThxnOK
So, this old bird rarely reads YA these days (I am soooo far away from their ages that it is often hard for me to connect with the characters), however the minute that Jay McLean announces she is releasing a new book, I am counting down the seconds until it arrives on my Kindle.
This book has it all in the title - it is full of heartache and hope. You can't help but fall in love with Ava and Connor and all the complexities of their lives
Gah, there is so much I want to tell you about this book, however I can't as you need to devour this one and all it's emotions, going in blind to get the full effect.
I have had a run of meh and good books lately, and it was great to get into a story that just just had that extra "wow" factor.
I mean, being a duet, we know there is gonna be a cliffy of some sort, and as soon as I finished reading, I was looking at my Kindle for the second part of the duet.
I know it is only a couple of weeks away, but if Ms McLean could see fit to release it earlier, I won't complain. ThxnOK
They look like fireflies. The way the water falls from the sky, illuminated only by the streetlamps. I stand in the middle of the road, barefoot and barely breathing, my arms out, face to the sky. I don’t know how I got here. When I climbed out of my window, the sun was just setting and now… now I’m surrounded by dark skies and false hope. […] I know I should go home. That I should face my fears and tackle them head-on. My mind travels the right roads at the right time to get me there, but my heart… My heart takes me to Connor. Outside his bedroom window, mud seeps between my toes, and the frigid air creates goosebumps along my skin. I raise my fist and tap, tap, tap on the glass. A moment later, a light turns on. And then nothing. I tap again, my heart racing. The blind lifts and Connor appears, his eyes squinting. It’s clear he’d been asleep, or close to it. Hair a mess, he’s shirtless, the obvious beginnings of bruises mar parts of his torso, and I look down, shame filling every part of me. I bite down on my lip as he slides the window up. “Jesus Christ, Ava. What the hell are you doing?” His warm palms meet my soaking wet elbows, and then his entire body is cocooning mine, lifting me off my feet and into his bedroom. My feet land on his soft carpet, and I look down at the mess I’ve made. “I’m dirty,” I tell him. Inside and out. Dirty, dazed and damaged.
↓ LINKS TO THE BOOKs & AUTHOR ↓
Book #2 will be out in 2 weeks!
She writes what she loves to read, which are books that can make her laugh, make her hurt and make her feel.
Jay lives in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, in her dream home where music is loud and laughter is louder.
For publishing rights (Foreign & Domestic) Film or television, please contact her agent Erica Spellman-Silverman, at Trident Media Group.
