Heaven and Hell

by Kristen Ashley

[stacey_is_sassy]

***Re-read number 500 001 (slight exaggeration)***

Miracle of miracles, I didn't cry this time. I think this is because, after half a million re-reads (slight exaggeration) I'm finally toughening up.

I had a thought... I wonder if Sam's secret work was the same as Lucas Starks? Hmmmm....???

Anyways, loved it AGAIN!!

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When you’ve been through hell it’s easy to recognise heaven.

I cried - on my exercise bike, in the kitchen baking cookies and sitting on my bed playing Solitaire. Listening to the audio of Heaven and Hell was EMOTIONAL. I should have been prepared considering I had read it before, but no, I still blubbered like a baby. The pain is the same whether you’re reading it or someone else is reading it to you. My boys would come in to check on me as I was exercising and find me sitting on my bike, still exercising, but sniffling. The first time was a surprise and they were concerned, but once I reassured them, the subsequent times they giggled or shook their heads with a smirk on their face. Yeah…real funny.

I started Heaven and Hell hoping it would keep me motivated to keep up my exercising routine. The exercising while listening was new, previously I only listened to audios while I baked. Unfortunately, I was sneaking in listens between exercise sessions. A cake HAD to be baked…biscuits were NEEDED…I’ll just listen to one chapter to RELAX. Instead of just listening while exercising, I was finding any excuse to turn out the world and return to Sam and Kia’s love story.

I LOVE SAM COOPER…and Kia’s pretty awesome too.

Kia’s life was heaven for a small time in high school when the star quarterback asked her out. Kia finished school, married her sweetheart Cooter, and they set up their house together. Her heaven turned to HELL when Cooter became abusive physically and mentally. She tried to escape a few times but didn’t want to risk her family and friends lives because she knew Cooter would come for her and someone would pay. Kia’s family and friends knew she was suffering, but she refused to ask for help. They leave her be but worry about her. Eventually, Cooter dies a horrible death and Kia gains her freedom. Some shocking truths come to light after his death with some huge repercussions. A life insurance payout sets Kia up for life. Her first step towards freedom is to take a trip overseas. She’s in Lake Como and cannot believe her eyes…SAMPSON COOPER!! Sam is Kia’s Pervathon, the guy she internet stalks and knows EVERYTHING about. How she deals with her first meeting is funny, but also really cute.

Sam Cooper has had a very interesting life. He grew up in an abusive household, became a football star, lost his brother in the war, left his football career to join the army and lost his best mate in the war too. It’s a wee bit of a burden to carry on his very broad shoulders and I hated seeing him struggle with it on his own. He sees Kia and thinks she’s very cute. Once he hears her story, he decides to keep her.

Their journey to love is not all hearts and flowers. Lots of issues need to be addressed and barriers that have been in place for a long time need to be climbed and obliterated. From the very beginning, you know that the challenges will be worth it because this couple needs to be together. They fit each other, and that fit is GOOOOOOD!! Holy shamoly, Sampson Cooper is HOT!!

Ok, now for the audio part of this review. Felicity Munroe does a really good job. It’s not an easy story as there are a few different accents. I think she does most of the accents well. Unfortunately, I nearly fell off my exercise bike laughing at her Aussie accent for the character Thomas. Thomas was described as Amercian, with a slight Australian accent considering he grew up and lived there for ten years and visited family there regularly. All I can say is…Thomas must have spent equal time in New Zealand and South Africa too. As an Aussie, I’m probably going to pick it up more, but it really did make me chuckle. The only other accent that was a little hard to take was Ozzie. He’s the sheriff from Kia’s hometown and he did NOTHING to help Kia get out of her hell. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of this character, but his old…boy…charm…slow…talking…drawl, drove me up the bloody wall. I even had to speed it up as it was too slow. My favourite accent from all of the characters was Celeste’s French one. Maybe someone French would find fault, but I thought it sounded lovely and very easy to listen to.

I loved Heaven and Hell to read and listen to and I will definitely re-read/listen to it again. I’m going to stick with my 5-star rating for both the e-book and the audio.

I’m an Aussie chick who loves to read and review romance, drink coffee, be a Style Setter and stalk David Gandy. To see more of my reviews, fashion, food and pervathons -