The time has come to say goodbye to our friends in apartment 2B. Ann Aguirre's new adult series closes with THE SHAPE OF MY HEART, and we finally get a peek into Max's life. Read my review and then enter the giveaway at the end. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour!
Published November 25, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher
Genre: new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble
Rating: 3.5 STARS
(From Goodreads) Some people wait decades to meet their soul mate. Courtney Kaufman suspects she met hers in high school only to lose him at seventeen. Since then, Courtney's social life has been a series of meaningless encounters, though she's made a few close friends along the way. Especially her roommate Max Cooper, who oozes damaged bad-boy vibes from every pore.
Max knows about feeling lost and trying to move beyond the pain he's been on his own since he was sixteen. Now it's time to find out if he can ever go home again, and Courtney's the only one he trusts to go with him. But the trip to Providence could change everything because the more time he spends with Courtney, the harder it is to reconcile what he wants and what he thinks he deserves.
It started out so simple. One misfit helping another. Now Max will do anything to show Courtney that for every heart that's ever been broken, there's another that can make it complete.
Max has been a tortured soul ever since we met him in the first book. He's one of those guys that is the life of the party and the one all the girls jockey to go home with. On the surface, he appears to love the attention and everything else about his life. But, you've always got the sense that there's more to Max than what he wants others to see. In The Shape of My Heart, we learn about what makes him tick.
Courtney and Max have been friends for awhile, so when there's a death in his family, he asks Courtney if she would road trip with him back home to attend the funeral. Their trip awakens feelings in each other that they didn't know existed. But, after they get home, things get a lot more complicated as their roommates, friends and exes learn about their new relationship. And, while Max has introduced Courtney to his entire family and told her all his deepest and darkest secrets, it's harder for her to open up to someone else.
My favorite part about this book was learning all about Max. He has a pretty sad story. His mom is dead, his dad is a drunk, and Max is harboring some seriously heartbreaking guilt over an event that occurred when he was just a young teenager. It was something that shaped everything about him. Max has covered all that up with a carefree attitude and by never letting anyone in.
Interestingly, Courtney is very similar. She's this bisexual goth chick who is kind of rough around the edges and difficult to get close to. She lost someone close to her when she was a teenager, and that event has shaped who she is and the type of relationships she has. Does that story sound familiar?
When Max and Courtney started to realize they had feelings that stretched beyond friendship, Courtney had a much harder time accepting it. She tried to play it off as just a lust thing, but Max was the real one. For a guy who kept a huge part of himself hidden from others for so long, he became very open and verbal about his feelings for Courtney pretty quickly. Because of what happened in Courtney's past, she has a much harder time coming to terms with these new feelings. But, I will give her props - once she got on board, she stayed there. She was rock solid, which was just what insecure, but passionate Max needed.
The Shape of My Heart was told from Courtney's POV. I have to be honest with you - I had a really hard time connecting with her. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because she's so completely different from me. Or, maybe it was because she was not very likable for awhile. I realize she was painted that way on purpose - she held nearly everyone at arm's length. It's a testament to Ann Aguirre's writing prowess that that stretched to me as the reader too. Even being in Courtney's head didn't help. She still felt like a stranger to me, and that disrupted my connection with the story as a whole.
I loved Max, but I felt so sorry that he thought so little of himself. I get why that is, but it broke my heart again and again when he thought he wasn't good enough for most anything. A lot of the time, it seemed like he didn't have much of a backbone, and that was so frustrating! I wanted him to stand up for himself, take charge of his situations, and show Courtney and everyone else in his life exactly what he wants and not apologize for it.
And, of course, when Max finally does that toward the end, I just wanted him to roll over and cave. I know, I know... it's like I can't make up my mind. But, just trust me on this one. You need to read it to understand. But, I bet you'll agree with me when you do.
Without a doubt, the best part of The Shape of My Heart was the epilogue. It takes place six years in the future, and it gives us a glimpse into where our three 2B couples are in their lives now. They're all in different places doing different things, but they're (of course) all happy and successful at whatever it is they're doing. It really brought things full circle, and it was so incredibly satisfying. I hope this is not the last we've seen from Ann Aguirre in the new adult genre.
About the Author
Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Yes if in last year of high school :)
ReplyDelete