The Heart (Reluctant Romantics, #2)

by Kate Stewart

[stacey_is_sassy]

SPOILERISH IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FALL OR THE MIND

The journey was hard, but the ending was sweet.

***4.5 Stars***

I started The Heart needing to see a rainbow coming through the clouds. I wasn’t altogether convinced that a storm wouldn’t be brewing, but I was desperately hoping for a little sunshine. I finished The Mind completely devastated. A love so strong was not supposed to be bumped out so quickly or easily. Would the author be able to convince me that their love would be easy to move on from? No. See, this story wasn’t about moving on and getting past a lightning strike love, it was about accepting a love that will never go away and learning to love yourself enough to find a happy place.

Rose is busy and she likes it that way. All of her plans have started to come together nicely, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t shed blood, sweat, and tears for them. Rose is still finishing off her surgical internship while also trying to get the clinic built and ready. Keeping busy, there is no time for Rose to really deal with the loss of Grant. She has made it her main focus to remember him fully every day of her life. She doesn’t want him to be forgotten so she purposely remembers all of their best times together. This has left her tired and very alone. Rose now lives in the house they dreamed of together, but it’s really just a shell, not a home. Dallas, her sister, a fellow doctor and part owner of the clinic, now has Dean, her husband, and two beautiful children Grant and Annabelle to keep her busy. With Dallas busy with family commitments and the clinic on top of that, the two of them do not have much of a life outside of the clinic and family.

Jack…Oh Man!!! He is one amazing character. Jack has been friends with Seth, Rose’s Dad, for years. As a building contractor, he started working in the clinic where he meets Rose for the first time. Everyone else considers him almost a family member, but with Rose’s full study and surgical internship she has never been introduced to him before. When they finally meet, there is a sizzling attraction that neither Jack nor Rose can deny...even though Rose tries REALLY HARD to deny. Jack is a very good looking man but funny enough, he’s not very confident about his looks. Once we get to know him a bit better, it’s easy to understand why. It’s easy to understand why he is uncomfortable with the unwanted attention he gets from women he comes in contact with. His way of pushing away those advances were an absolute crack up. Jack is very attracted to Rose but he can tell that she is holding herself back from forming a relationship with him.

With each reminder of Rose and Grant’s love story, I found it hard to move on from it. Then Jack would pop up and be his cool and unassuming self and I would really hope that Rose grew the strength to move on. Jack is wonderful and he deserved a love of his life just as much as Rose did. Rose just had to believe that lightning CAN strike twice.

I really enjoyed watching this love story play out. At times I was torn on whether I wanted Rose to be Jack’s “one”, but then I saw the good things they brought out in each other and I believed they were meant to be together. To be honest, for a while there I really couldn’t tell you who was the better life mate for Rose, because Grant was in her life for such a short period of time. Jack is no spring chicken at thirty-seven, and with his vast amount of travelling and living, you know that if he wasn’t ready to settle down…he just wouldn’t. So it really came time for ME to move on. I needed to come to terms that Grant was gone forever and Jack was ready to help Rose find happiness.

This was a steamy love story, but it certainly wasn’t a meet and moan or insta-love. Jack didn’t want it to be a hookup but unfortunately, Rose wasn’t sure she was ready for more than a hookup. The additional characters were fun to get to know and I especially loved J & J and Dallas’s two kids. My only little complaint, I kind of struggled with the women in this story. Rose and Dallas’s dedication to their careers is not something I can relate to. For me, family comes first and in some ways I didn’t think their supposed “balance” was believable. Still, Kate Stewart has again provided us with a wonderful heartfelt story that pulled at my emotions but managed to leave me content.

To purchase The Heart from Amazon - http://amzn.to/1VYCJxs




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 -