Where My Heart Breaks
by
Ivy Sinclair
Publication date: August 30th, 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Synopsis:
If there were a course in screwing up your life, Kate Spivey would get an A+.
Trust is in short supply for Kate at the start of the summer before her senior year of college. Her parents sentenced her to spend it under the watchful eye of her aunt at the famous Willoughby Inn. It was further proof that she was a prisoner in, and not the decision maker of, her life. Nothing she does is good enough to prove that she learned from the mistakes of her past.
Almost immediately, Kate finds that her new summer home holds another person who understands the unfairness of her situation better than most. Reed Black has had his own share of tragedy and regrets, but instead of trying to fight his reputation, he embraced it.
Sparks fly between Kate and Reed, but Kate needs to steer clear of Reed if she wants to regain control of her future. He is one temptation she can't afford to indulge in, although fate seems to have other ideas for both of them.
Trust is in short supply for Kate at the start of the summer before her senior year of college. Her parents sentenced her to spend it under the watchful eye of her aunt at the famous Willoughby Inn. It was further proof that she was a prisoner in, and not the decision maker of, her life. Nothing she does is good enough to prove that she learned from the mistakes of her past.
Almost immediately, Kate finds that her new summer home holds another person who understands the unfairness of her situation better than most. Reed Black has had his own share of tragedy and regrets, but instead of trying to fight his reputation, he embraced it.
Sparks fly between Kate and Reed, but Kate needs to steer clear of Reed if she wants to regain control of her future. He is one temptation she can't afford to indulge in, although fate seems to have other ideas for both of them.
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I had no idea how much time passed as I
was absorbed deeper and deeper into Jackson and Camilla’s forbidden
romance. The story was set in the 1920s. Jackson was a wealthy
industrialist staying at the Willoughby for the summer with his wife,
who had taken ill. The doctors had recommended that Jackson take her
out of the city to recuperate. Camilla was the daughter of the
Willoughby’s owner. The hot summer days wore on, and the forbidden
attraction between Jackson and Camilla grew in intensity.
I was entranced. Anyone with common sense
would know that Jackson was a bastard. It shouldn’t have mattered
that he married young to someone he barely knew. But that was how
Walter Moolen drew the reader in to make Jackson likable and
vulnerable beneath his gruff exterior. Camilla, young and
inexperienced, didn’t stand a chance once Jackson set his sights on
her. I wanted to hate her for being so naive, but instead I found
myself rooting for her to win Jackson’s heart.
I just reached the part where Jackson
pulled Camilla into his arms for the first time, intent on declaring
his desire for her, when I heard the tumble of rocks behind me. I
jumped up, and the scream caught in my chest when Reed stepped into
the lantern’s light.
“What the hell?” I said, my heart
pounding wickedly against my rib cage. “Are you trying to give me a
heart attack?”
He put up his hands in mock surrender. “I
didn’t mean to scare you. You must have been pretty deep in thought
if you didn’t hear me coming.”
I was torn between chewing him out for
interrupting me at such a pivotal plot point in my book, and being
thrilled that he was there. Which led me to an obvious question.
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to make sure you made it home
safely,” he said, cocking his head. “Considering you left Lula’s
without letting me know you found another ride. You seem to make
friends easily.”
“I’m not the only one,” I retorted,
thinking of the two busty blonds hanging on his every word.
Reed looked surprised. “I told Bud that
I’d get you home. I’m just upholding my end of the bargain.”
I didn’t know what to make of him. One
minute he was all bad boy, and the next he was like this, tentative
and uncertain. Which one was the real Reed?
“Obviously I’m fine, safe and sound
right where I’m supposed to be,” I said, outstretching my arms to
encompass my surroundings. “Sam brought me home hours ago.”
“Sam’s a good guy,” Reed said,
moving closer to me. “A little on the soft side, but dependable and
reliable. Trustworthy.”
“That’s a good kind of guy to have
around,” I said faintly. I had to get a grip. I was acting like a
silly girl in a romance novel who never laid eyes on a man before.
What was it about Reed that drew me in and made my heart beat so
fast?
“Not like a guy like me,” Reed said
as if he read my mind. He stopped a foot shy of me. His eyes passed
over my shoulder and out to the lake. “I’m sure you heard the
warning. Any single woman under the age of forty who sets foot in
Bleckerville hears the warning about me as soon as she meets someone
like Lula or your Aunt Patrice. I’m a favored topic of town
gossip.”
“What warning is that?” It shocked me
that he was putting himself out there like that. I was doing nothing
but trying to forget my reputation. Reed seemed intent on bringing
his out in the open. His glittering eyes focused back on mine. The
intensity in them took my breath away.
“To stay away. Don’t get involved.
That the bad things that happened to me in my youth left me heartless
and cruel when it comes to the fairer sex,” he said.
“Is that true?”
His hand reached out, and his fingertips
pushed a stray strand of my hair behind my ear. “It usually doesn’t
matter. Reputations are built on kernels of truth. People might
change, but in a town like this, reputations don’t. The only way
I’d ever stand a chance of getting away from it would be to leave
Bleckerville, which I can’t do.”
As someone plagued by a reputation that I
earned, but didn’t feel like I deserved, I knew exactly what he
meant. No matter what I did or said, my parents, my college friends,
my teachers, even Millie at times, all still judged me by the person
that I used to be. I was the person who let Trevor in and proceeded
to let him walk all over me, even when he walked me right to the edge
of a metaphorical cliff and left me dangling with no help in sight.
“I prefer not to judge someone by what
other people say about them. I make my own decisions,” I said,
raising my chin. “All’s I ask is that I get the same
consideration.” Remembering his earlier insinuation, I decided to
call him out. If we were going to be honest, then we were going to be
honest.
Reed dug his hands into his pockets. “I
might have heard a few things about you.”
“I’m sure you have,” I said. I felt
a flash of anger. “Is that why you’re here? To see if the bad
girl is as naughty as they say she is? Seems like if you were looking
for an easy lay, you could have taken a turn with either of those
blond bimbos at the bar.”
Reed’s expression was unreadable. He
leaned in and my breath caught in my throat. “And just like that,
you judged me just like everyone else in this shithole town would
without even knowing if what they’re saying is true.”
Then he moved around me. The imaginary
bindings around my chest that I didn’t even realize were there
loosened. I turned and watched him walk across the sand to the
water’s edge. His arm ratcheted back, and then pushed forward and I
heard the plop of something dropping into the water.
I made my way down to stand a few feet
away from him. I was ashamed of myself. He was right. So far, he had
done nothing to me. He changed my flat tire. He offered me a ride
home. He appeared in the moonlight and made no movement toward
seduction, which I admit was mildly disappointing. So far, the only
person being an ass was me.
“I guess I deserved that,” I said.
Reed threw another pebble out into the
water. He didn’t look at me. “You did.”
Ivy Sinclair cut her romance teeth on classics like Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, An Affair to Remember, and Sabrina. She is a firm believer in true love, a happily ever after ending, and the medicinal use of chocolate to cure any ailment of the heart. Ivy’s guilty pleasures include sushi, endless Starbucks lattes, and wine. Readers of Ivy’s stories can expect smoldering sweet stories of romance that tug at the heartstrings.
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