A Hearts On Fire Review

FOUR & A HALF STARS--A.M. Arthur's "Unearthing Cole" is just great. It was well written and a great length with three dimensional characters and well thought out plot. Cole is back in his hometown after his mother's death and has to deal with the hoarding he left behind. He gets help from the local antiques dealer, Jeremy. Both men had less than easy childhoods. And together, to me, they just...worked.

Now when books deal with characters who have survived abuse, it usually goes either one of two ways- really bad with flat characters that you end up wanting to hurt or a damaged soul that you root for, a person who finally realizes their self worth and becomes better for it.

Thankfully, Cole is the second choice. His reactions were very believable and I am proud he came to valuing his self worth on his own. He didn't magically change overnight and understood that it will be a process to be 100%, if he can ever achieve it. He's had eight years of abuse to get over and though two years have past since he left his abusive lover, the scars still remain emotionally and physically.

Cole and Jeremy? Together, they are a great start to getting Cole's life back on track. And also what Cole did to his past abuser takes guts and steel will. I don't want to ruin what he did exactly but let's just say it takes a strong person.

Jeremy was also a well fleshed out character though he had his share of angst, it did always seem second fiddle to Cole. And I felt we learned more about Cole than Jeremy. The story is told from Cole's POV and thankfully it did not have the 'woe-is-me' tone. It was pretty clear cut from beginning to end. The story easy to read and definitely sucked me in. The setting was perfect for the theme the author want to portray.

The ending was a strong HFN/possibly HEA. I do believe this couple will make it in the future because they understood one another. I enjoyed Cole and Jeremy individually and definitely together. They were sweet with not being overly sugary which I will always enjoy.

And as this was my first A.M. Arthur read, you can pretty much guarantee this will not be my last.;)" ( )

Updated June 24, 2014:
We are getting a sequel! [b:Understanding Jeremy|22575665|Understanding Jeremy (Discovering Me, #2)|A.M. Arthur|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403597548s/22575665.jpg|42044385] will be released on July 23, 2014 and I hope it will bring ease my unhappiness with the ending of this book. I'll do a re-read right before it comes out and then review both books together.

Original review:
While this was an excellent healing/comfort book, the author seemed to give up and left the ending incredibly unsatisfying. It felt rushed and undeveloped and if it was written with as much care and attention as the rest of the book, this would easily have been a 5 star book for me.

I'd love to be able to recommend it to M/M healing/comfort romance fans, but I'm afraid I cannot because of the rushed, unsatisfying ending. It was a major disappointment. ( )

Good book. ( )

I only had one complaint about this story (other than the lack of jumper cables. A good old southern boy would know about jumper cables, and at least tried to jump start his car) was the ending with the ex, it just felt a bit too easy somehow. Otherwise, I really loved this book, and even shed a tear or two for poor Cole. Oh, and I've been to Franklin, NC, more mention of the mountains would have been nice! I also think it was a dry county (20 years ago anyway) and yet Jeremy had beer, but that's just nitpicking there, lol!

I did think the hoarding aspect was very well done, and Cole did actually have all the earmarks of an abuse victim, the always looking over his shoulder, the cringing away. I thought he made some good strides, but I do think that he still has a way to go, and would kinda like to see a sequel, to see how it all goes for him and Jeremy. ( )

While this was an excellent healing/comfort book, the author seemed to give up and left the ending incredibly unsatisfying. It felt rushed and undeveloped and if it was written with as much care and attention as the rest of the book, this would easily have been a 5 star book for me.

I'd love to be able to recommend it to M/M healing/comfort romance fans, but I'm afraid I cannot because of the rushed, unsatisfying ending. It was a major disappointment. ( )