Coherent by Livia Jamerlan
Review by Jen (BestSellers & BestStellars)
Coherent was amazing! I read this book in one sitting, I just could not put it down because I was so anxious to see what was going to happen. This is book two, so make sure you read Consensual before you read this! It’s a continuation of book one and picks up right where the first book ended. I had such a great connection with the characters from the beginning and it continued in this book. You get a connection between Braelynn and Peyton that is so intense, drama, mystery, very sexy scenes, but you also get deep their love story. They have to face some obstacles but this was a great story and I loved every minute of it. Livia did another amazing job with this novel!
I have liked Braelynn from the beginning. She’s still the same smart, beautiful girl, and a survivor, but not everything is the same. She wakes up in the hospital with a week of her life completely gone, and she can’t remember what happened to her. She tries to deal with what happened to her but it’s extremely difficult and she’s confused. She knows that she can count on Peyton to make things better for her.
“Peyton would fix this; he would take my pain away, the unfamiliar emptiness that had filled my heart. I needed him to make me forget what was in my head, tell me it was a bad dream, even though deep down I knew I was forever broken. I wanted to see him.”
She needs her friends’ support to get through this, especially Peyton’s, but she soon realizes that he doesn’t believe her story.
“He doesn’t believe me. His expression broke my heart, shattering the last piece of hope I had left. The light that had shone through his irises only seconds before was gone, replaced with pity.”
Braelynn is completely broken when she realizes that Peyton doesn’t believe her about what happened. She let him into her life and risked the chance of getting hurt, and he completely broke her but not being on her side.
“The organ in my chest- the one that pumped blood through my body; the one that beat a hundred thousand times per day- that vital organ wasn’t broken. Your heart can’t technically break, it will still continue to function and pump the necessary blood through your body. But knowing that didn’t stop the gut wrenching pain I felt int he center of my chest. It felt as if Peyton had dug his hand into my chest, removing my heart and tearing it in two.”
As the story progresses, Braelynn goes through some things. She’s really confused and hurt about the lack of support she has from her friends and Peyton, and she pushes everyone away. Even doing what she did to try and forget about Peyton, nothing seemed to work.
“I had stayed away from him; I had tried to mend my heart with other men, but none of them would take his place. No other human could make me love the way I knew I would forever love him.”
Braelynn loves Peyton, she has for awhile, but that doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t support her. That hurt her more than anything else, and she shut down. She didn’t want to be around anyone or do anything because she was at rock bottom.
“I didn’t know if I would ever come back ... until the night Peyton found me. I had never wanted to disappear and vanish from this world like I had at that party. I loved him. God did I ever. But our relationship had been tarnished.”
Then we have Peyton. I have loved him since book one, but he really upset me for the first chunk of this book. He cares about her a lot, which is a new thing for him. He’s used to having any girl he wants, but it’s always on his terms and it’s never a long-term thing. Peyton is the one that found Braelynn at the end of book one, but he kind of blames himself for what happened to her because he wasn’t there.
“Now I knew why I’d never wanted to love anyone before. Why having any real feelings towards her was the wrong thing for me to do. Love could only fuck up things. I’d lost all my power. I was helpless, unable to protect her. I felt absent, powerless, and alone. All due to the fact that I loved that woman.”
Even though he cares about her, Peyton doesn’t believe the story she’s telling everyone about what happened to her. He cares about her, but he doesn’t believe anything she says, so he does the only thing that he can think of, which is just one of the bad choices he makes.
“I needed to step away, let the storm pass and see what happened after she was out of involuntary hold. I needed to erase the love I had for the Braelynn I once knew. Fuck. I needed a way to forget her.”
Even though he wanted to forget about her, deep down Peyton knows that he loves her. He can’t erase her and move on; it’s impossible. Later on in the book, he finally wakes up and realizes that he has to get her back, no matter what it takes.
“She may have pushed me away once before and I let her. I thought it was the right thing to do. Seeing her laying in the hospital bed, broken, I had no idea how to fix her. No idea how to be the man she needed me to be. But I was wrong. Dead fucking wrong. She needed me now more than ever. And I wasn’t letting her push me away again, regardless of how hard she may try.”
Although he made me mad for a good amount of the book, he definitely redeemed himself. I mean, he is Peyton Haas .. enough said! He really does love Braelynn, and that scares him because he wasn’t expecting it to happen.
“Things are different. I know that, Lynn. But that’ll never change the fact that I ... I love you.
Peyton is usually the one-night stand kind of guy, or an arrangement where there are no strings attached. He wanted that with Braelynn, but that didn’t work out so well. She’s not like the others, and he realizes that he needs more with her.
“I wanted her not just for her body, but her heart. I wanted the curling up on the couch, the cooking dinner for one another, and even the arguing that came with relationships. I wanted all of it. All of her. All the time.”
And then there’s Gus. He really was an amazing friend to Braelynn in both books. He’s been a part of her life for so long, he’s her best friend and brother. He’s always looking out for her and I’m so happy that she had him in her life. He was always there to talk some sense into her.
“You’re not done. Nor are you broken. You, baby girl, are an unfinished story. You can’t quit and stop fighting because you don’t know what the world has in store for you tomorrow. You can’t say you’re finished because you don’t know the point of the book until it’s all written. This book- the book that you write every day- is your life. You’re still here, still fighting. So no, baby girl, you are not done. You’re a working manuscript. You’re the author.”
I loved this book! I have been so anxious to read this book ever since I finished Consensual! I loved Braelynn and Peyton and I enjoyed following them on more of their journey. I cannot wait for the next book to be released so I can get the rest of their story!
The quality of writing was great. The story was extremely well-written and very enjoyable to read. This was such an intense, drama-filled love story between two characters that had such an immediate attraction and connection. Their story completely captivated me and I could not put it down! Livia did another great job and I cannot wait for the next book!!
5 Amazing Diamonds!!