Ratings64
Average rating4.1
Strengthen Your Heart Bone
Stunning. Seriously, just a really beautiful, powerful romance. I had no idea what to expect going into this - and that's how I'd recommend everyone go into it - so the story unraveled in such an organic, mesmerizing way. From page one, you can tell that there's an intensity about the book that sets it apart from the rest; a heaviness that gives this love story such WEIGHT. And it truly is a love story. Our heroine goes on her own journey throughout the course of the book, but through it all, there's that one guy who makes an impact. It's one of the best books I've read all year, hands down, and the kind of story that you'll want to reread with fresh eyes as soon as you turn the last page. I can say for sure that this has made my favorites box this year. I just finished Layla by the same author and that was such a different experience.
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the plot on this one, because I think you should discover it as you read. There's an incredible build in intimacy, a slow burn romance with depth, and a mysterious quality to both our hero and the story as a whole. The book kicks off on a somber note and does have a heavy feel to much of it, but there is also so much wonder and that feeling you only get with young love. It's new adult romance with a 19-year-old heroine who is just starting to really live. She comes from a troubled background, with many, many triggers in her history, and they appear right away. I think that the triggers are needed to show depth of character and makes me love Beyah even more. As for Samson I felt him to be so genuine and so broken that you couldn't help but love them as a couple.
My favorite part about the book? It is so engaging yet makes you really think about love, yourself and the world around you and how people make the best of the life they are given. Told exclusively from the heroine's perspective, there are little breadcrumbs along the way that tell us more about the hero. These two seem so different on the surface, but the more they wade into the depths, the more commonalities they discover. At one point, I was so convinced that I knew where the story was heading... but I was completely wrong. And I love that. It kept me engrossed from start to finish, and I ended up devouring it in one sitting. Even though my review is days after I read it. That doesn't take away from how much I enjoyed it.