Clouds that Were by Addison Footit - Weathered Hearts #1 - 2.5 Stars

Clouds that Were by Addison Footit

2.5 Could have been breathtaking Stars

          Blurb - Have you ever had a nightmare only to awake and find your

life is worse than a nightmare?

          A child conceived by mistake, born because there was no other option.

Your life is hell. You can't succeed, you can't be happy, you

 can't even be sad. You can't be anything.

I never thought I would make it to my eighteenth birthday, I figured

I'd be dead by then. I just wanted to make my mother happy, and

always knew the only way to succeed at that was by

ceasing to exist.

And then I met Chase. He saved me. From her, from myself, and in the

end, from death.

My life was so dark and cloudy for so long, I never thought I would

see the sun. But with Chase, they were merely clouds that were.

Clouds that Were is the first book in The Weathered Hearts Series

and the first book that I have read by this author.

I was given this ARC by the author in exchange for an honest
review so here goes....

To be honest I’m not really sure what to say.....

This book deals with an incredibly difficult subject matter and at times it is uncomfortable and hard to read.

Tenley is living in a toxic environment with a mother who is either the devil or has some pretty serious mental health issues.

Suicide is common theme running through this book, Chase’s mother

killed herself and then he finds himself drawn to Tenley who has

considered suicide in the past and ultimately attempts to kill

herself.

I have some issues with this book, it’s beautifully written but

everything happens at break neck speed!!

Chase & Tenley meet and apparently fall in love within two days!!!! he is drawn to her sadness and feels an overwhelming need to help her.

Ok so I’m not deliberately trying to psychoanalyse Chase but he is obviously still grieving his mothers death and had grabbed onto Tenley and his need to save her as a way of taking control of his feeling following his mother’s suicide.

I’m sorry but for me this isn’t love, I’m not saying he doesn’t care for her but it just all felt like a reaction to this grief.

As far as I can see Tenley is so desperate to feel love and

affection that she grasps onto any kind of Love Chase will give her.

But when she feels like her situation may become a burden to him she fears that he will have the same reaction as her mother and start to hate her so she tries to kill herself!!

This whole book is heartbreaking and I felt an awful sadness the

whole time I was reading it.

I feel for Tenley, I want her to be ok but I everything in this book just felt so rushed.

I loved Chases dad and I loved the unending support he had for both Chase and Tenley but I kind of feel like he may have some mental health concerns too.

Now I know that he is worried about Tenley but to go the extreme

where is prepared to allow his soon to be 18 year sold to disappear with a 16 year old girl was on the side of ridiculous!!!

I really feel that as this is an only really novella length had the author made this into a full length novel she could have created a more real and established relationship between Chase & Tenley. I would have loved to have really felt the growth of their feeling for one another.

This sounds so condescending but this book has soooo much potential to be just amazing but it fell short for me because was done at an accelerated pace.

I engaged with Tenley & Chase but I really feel like I could have

totally fallen in love with them had this story been told at a

slower and more emotional pace.

I’m sorry to say that for me this book only gets 2.5 stars, I wanted to love this book, I wanted to be moved and devastated but I just didn’t get chance for those feeling to develop J