Heartbreak Me

Heartbreak Duet, Book 1

By: T. L. Smith

Narrated by: Gregory Salinas, Sierra Kline

He kidnapped me. That was how I met Atlas Hyde - a man known by many names and admired by all. But most don't know he’s ruthless, conniving, and always gets what he wants - no matter the cost.

I was a good girl. Never in trouble with the law. Never took drugs. Always did precisely what was expected of me. Even with his hand around my throat and words that cut sharper than knives, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to this beautiful man to make him that way. That wonder disappeared when he threatened to kill my sister if I didn't follow his dark demands. The good girl I once knew had now been buried alive beneath this game of hatred and lust. And I had a feeling Atlas Hyde never lost.

©2020 T. L. Smith (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Love!

Omg, this book has it all! Twist and turns, spice, actually romance, betrayal… and a cliff hanger! Buying the next book now because I NEED to know what happens!

The reviews are accurate

The characters are not likeable! I’ve almost stopped listening several time smh. But I’m going to finish just to see what happens. 2hrs left 🤦🏾‍♀️ definitely won’t be listening to nothing else from this author I’m just happy it was part of my subscription and I didn’t spend a credit.

Surprisingly got me interested

Worst part was the female narrator butchering the male voices. It almost completely ruined the book. I almost stopped listening because of how bad she sounded and stupidly she read their dialogue. But if you can get past that and hang in there the book ends up getting fairly good somehow. Good enough that I was bummed at the cliffhanger ending. But man! Could have been so much better with a different female narrator. She read the female voice well - just not the men’s.

Heartbrake for all

No character likable in the least. It was only waiting for the next gory act.

Disappointed

I really thought this book was good at first. The FMC, Theodora, initially seemed decent, but she quickly turned out to be fake and honestly immature, stupid and why don’t they ever have that sense of self preservation? “I’m so scared, my breath is shaking” but the minute MMC appears they mouth off? 🙄 At least this MMC sort of maintained his dangerous streak and scared her a little but dang! It’s really is a thing in a lot of FMCs in romance books I guess…They’re always written as if they’re amazing friends with great people around them, but we never actually see them being good friends. Instead they come across as selfish.

The story starts when her sister Lucy steals something and Theodora ends up meeting Atlas, the MMC, because she has to deal with the consequences. From there the story tries to build their relationship, but the character dynamics just didn’t work for me.

What really bothered me was that everyone around Theodora seemed great, her friend Tina was amazing, and even the girls at her workplace were supportive. Yet Theodora herself rarely does anything to deserve that kindness. Everyone goes out of their way for her, and she gives nothing back, except her misguided loyalty to her sister.

Another thing that drives me crazy in these books is how FMCs are always described as “stick thin but curvaceous.” That combination is basically a fantasy standard at this point, but it always pulls me out of the story trying to picture how someone can be stick thin, literally track runner but curvaceous… I’ve seen beautiful and very fit track runners but they’re not also so thin…I literally googled this and not one image was that thin… anyway, I digress…

Then, after only a couple of weeks, maaaybe two months? we get the classic “what are we?” conversation. One minute, she doesn’t want him, she doesn’t want anything serious, but still expects clarity and commitment from him. The immaturity of that whole thing was frustrating. I try to avoid reading 18 year olds and college trope to avoid this but alas!
Okay, so, the MMC, Atlas is supposed to be this brilliant, successful man who can see through anyone, yet somehow he can’t recognize obvious stupid juvenile manipulation that feels straight out of a high school playbook? C’mooooooon!

The only thing I did appreciate was that Theodora didn’t immediately quit her job when she met Atlas. She actually cared about working and even agonized about money like a real person when she lost her job, which at least felt somewhat realistic.

The ending didn’t help things. She suddenly declares that she “wants him” 😉😜 but when he is excited about it like yeah? (I don’t want to actually use the actual words here 😆) she basically says nothing on the drive theeen as she’s dropped off she turns and ask again what they are and he was to tell her when he got back? 🙄🙄 can at least the timeline make it to 6 months? Geez! I didn’t even know what she was fishing for, commitment? Marriage? Who knows. Then the story jumps into this revenge motivation that didn’t make much sense at all. Poor Benji and I really liked Nicolas but he had to end who he was huh? Dang! I was hoping he’d st least end up with Tina or Marissa? Anyway…

Overall, I started this book hopeful but ended up mostly frustrated with the characters and the relationship dynamics. Because of that, I’m out (using my Shark Tank voice) book 2 is a no me…
I suspect it will just double down on the same issues, Theodora will continue to be thoughtless, immature, sort of gold digging stupid girl with no sense of preservation when the bar is already on the floor 😫