Beauty In The Ashes by Micalea Smeltzer - 4 STARS

Beauty In The Ashes by Micalea Smeltzer

 

Four I Cried Stars

Blurb - Some stories are a fairytale...but this isn't one.

Caelan Gregory’s life fell apart the night he went home and opened the door to find his whole family murdered. Since then, his life has held no meaning. He’s angry. He’s bitter. He’s barely human anymore. There’s nothing left to remind him of the straight A student, and football quarterback he once was…but he wasn’t a good person then, and he’s certainly not a good person now. He’s retreated into a world where all that exists is numbness and his passion for painting.

When Sutton Hale moves into the apartment across the hall from Caelan she’s not prepared for her reaction to him. Something in his broken blue eyes calls to her—after all she’s always had an irrational need to fix everything.

But Caelan doesn’t do relationships or feelings. He does drugs and alcohol. However, he can’t ignore his desire to get to know the raven-haired woman across the hall.

Two broken souls trying to mend one another.

But not everything can be fixed.
 
In the end, Caelan and Sutton will have to learn that there is beauty in the ashes.

Beauty in The Ashes is the new standalone novel by Micalea Smeltzer; I was given this ARC by the author in exchange for an honest review so here goes...

Ok so the good bits...

·         Caelan, he’s a tormented soul I wanted to give him a massive hug.

·         Sutton, she’s almost as damaged as him and I wanted to hug her too.

·         This book made me ugly cry!

And the not so good bits...

·         I really disliked Memphis for me he just came across a bit creepy.

Ok so I want to keep this review spoiler free so in some places I’m going to have to be a bit vague but once you read the book this will all make sense!!

I absolutely adored the first three quarters of this book; I loved Caelan & Sutton together. They absolutely should not work, I mean hell they didn’t work together but I just loved them.

It’s rare that I engage with both the male and female lead characters in a book but in this case I really did. I found myself completely absorbed in them and their relationship.

Now don’t get me wrong they are basically like a car crash waiting to happen but I still spent most of the book with my fingers crossed willing it to be ok.

This is a big ole book one of the longest I read in a while and I still devoured it in one go in fact I couldn’t put it down.

Unfortunately after the big dramatic event that happens for Caelan & Sutton for me things all took a dive, I actually could not believe what I was reading.

Now it’s rare that a book actually makes me have a vocal reaction but I will tell you now I was shouting at my ereader it went a bit like this “No, No, No, No, this cannot be happening, that’s not right, No No No!!!”

I basically chanted this for about the next 100 pages and even now I can tell you I was not a happy bunny!!

Now I know that in the end things all work out for the best but I’m a massive sucker for a love conquers all happy ending. I know this does end happily but just not quite how I wanted it toL.

Talk about an emotional rollercoaster this book has taken me on a serious journey, I felt the stirrings of new love, I felt their heartbreak and then in the coffee shops scenes in the last pages I literally cried like an idiot!!

I loved and hated this book for me its Four stars it would have been a Five if it had ended like my ideal.