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Beating For You: She Put The Body In The Nobody That I was.
He has two sides.
She has one broken heart.
When a broken, tortured man with secrets stitched into his soul falls for a girl with a failing heart,
love becomes more than obsession—it becomes survival.
A love so twisted, it’s criminal.
A sacrifice so final, it’s beautiful.
How far would you go for the one person who makes your heart beat?
She has one broken heart.
When a broken, tortured man with secrets stitched into his soul falls for a girl with a failing heart,
love becomes more than obsession—it becomes survival.
A love so twisted, it’s criminal.
A sacrifice so final, it’s beautiful.
How far would you go for the one person who makes your heart beat?
343 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 25, 2025
15 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 17, 2025
L.L. McAlister's Beating For You is a powerful, intense, and deeply emotional journey that absolutely captivated me. I'm giving it a solid 4 out of 5 stars, primarily for the incredible story that unfolds within its pages.
From the moment I delved into the complex world of the "broken, tortured man with secrets stitched into his soul" and the "girl with a failing heart," I was completely invested. McAlister masterfully crafts a narrative where love isn't just a feeling, but a visceral struggle for survival. The push and pull between the characters, the raw vulnerability, and the sheer desperation to make their hearts 'beat' for each other creates an almost suffocating tension that I utterly devoured. The author isn't afraid to explore the darker, more "criminal" side of obsession, which makes the ultimate "sacrifice so final, it's beautiful" resonate even more profoundly. It's a journey filled with unexpected twists and turns, keeping you on the edge of your seat and genuinely caring for these flawed, yet compelling, characters. The emotional depth and high stakes make this an absolutely amazing story.
Now, for the reason it's not a perfect five-star read for me, the cover. While certainly eye-catching, it does feel a little generic and "non-original." In my opinion, it doesn't quite capture the unique depth, darkness, and emotional complexity of the story inside. It's a minor quibble, but when a story is this strong, you want the packaging to reflect its brilliance.
Despite my small reservation about the cover, Beating For You is an absolute must-read for anyone who enjoys deeply emotional, character-driven dark romance with high stakes. L.L. McAlister has woven a truly amazing story that will stay with you long after the final page. Prepare to have your own heart race. Highly recommended!
From the moment I delved into the complex world of the "broken, tortured man with secrets stitched into his soul" and the "girl with a failing heart," I was completely invested. McAlister masterfully crafts a narrative where love isn't just a feeling, but a visceral struggle for survival. The push and pull between the characters, the raw vulnerability, and the sheer desperation to make their hearts 'beat' for each other creates an almost suffocating tension that I utterly devoured. The author isn't afraid to explore the darker, more "criminal" side of obsession, which makes the ultimate "sacrifice so final, it's beautiful" resonate even more profoundly. It's a journey filled with unexpected twists and turns, keeping you on the edge of your seat and genuinely caring for these flawed, yet compelling, characters. The emotional depth and high stakes make this an absolutely amazing story.
Now, for the reason it's not a perfect five-star read for me, the cover. While certainly eye-catching, it does feel a little generic and "non-original." In my opinion, it doesn't quite capture the unique depth, darkness, and emotional complexity of the story inside. It's a minor quibble, but when a story is this strong, you want the packaging to reflect its brilliance.
Despite my small reservation about the cover, Beating For You is an absolute must-read for anyone who enjoys deeply emotional, character-driven dark romance with high stakes. L.L. McAlister has woven a truly amazing story that will stay with you long after the final page. Prepare to have your own heart race. Highly recommended!
October 31, 2025
it's nearly 3am i can't even see through my tears im so sad 💔😭
apologies in advance for the sound of my heart breaking into pieces….. completely speechless and heartbroken wrapped into a ball of emotion. i love books that deal with mental health on the darker side of the scale and don’t hold back. i love the raw emotions and the way someone can so beautifully put into words an emotion someone could never describe in a million years, but llmcalisterauthor did exactly that. this way tramua is represented through this book, how it can affect you, how it affects you, how we cope, etc, BEAUTIFUL ❤️🩹
i am not the same person I was before reading this book y’all 🥺❤️🩹 I will carry these characters with me for a long time. Hawk deserves the entire world, and reading everything he’s had to endure broke my heart. I adored his relationship with Peace, their relationship was so wholesome and made me wanna cry because it was so innocent and sweet. Jay…..jay 😭❤️ my entire heart is within the pages of this book. I am just speechless over the rollercoaster this one, I didn’t even know how it was going to end and by the time I reached the last page I sobbed like a baby at 3am and woke up with puffy eyes.
apologies in advance for the sound of my heart breaking into pieces….. completely speechless and heartbroken wrapped into a ball of emotion. i love books that deal with mental health on the darker side of the scale and don’t hold back. i love the raw emotions and the way someone can so beautifully put into words an emotion someone could never describe in a million years, but llmcalisterauthor did exactly that. this way tramua is represented through this book, how it can affect you, how it affects you, how we cope, etc, BEAUTIFUL ❤️🩹
i am not the same person I was before reading this book y’all 🥺❤️🩹 I will carry these characters with me for a long time. Hawk deserves the entire world, and reading everything he’s had to endure broke my heart. I adored his relationship with Peace, their relationship was so wholesome and made me wanna cry because it was so innocent and sweet. Jay…..jay 😭❤️ my entire heart is within the pages of this book. I am just speechless over the rollercoaster this one, I didn’t even know how it was going to end and by the time I reached the last page I sobbed like a baby at 3am and woke up with puffy eyes.
September 1, 2025
The bond between Jay and Hawk felt so so real. And then there's the connection between Hawk and Peace it wasn’t just written, it lived and breathed. I was fully invested, heart racing with every moment between them.
And then came that twist. I swear it made me feel like I had multiple personalities for believing everything, I didn’t know whether to laugh at myself or cry. McAlister blindsided me in the best way, and I loved every second of it.
The ending? Absolutely shattered me. The kind of heartbreak that lingers in your chest long after you’ve closed the book. This isn’t just a story, it’s an emotional ride that will wreck you, rebuild you, and leave you begging for more.
And then came that twist. I swear it made me feel like I had multiple personalities for believing everything, I didn’t know whether to laugh at myself or cry. McAlister blindsided me in the best way, and I loved every second of it.
The ending? Absolutely shattered me. The kind of heartbreak that lingers in your chest long after you’ve closed the book. This isn’t just a story, it’s an emotional ride that will wreck you, rebuild you, and leave you begging for more.
September 15, 2025
I must be a masochist because I really enjoy the ones that break me and make me cry. And BFY did exactly that. This one hurt, but it hurt. so. good.
I absolutely loved this story. L.L writes in stunning, knowing prose as they weave a beautiful and tragic tale, centered around Hawk and Jay, twins with a trauma filled childhood that has left them scarred in the worst ways. Especially emotionally. And Peace, a young woman with her own heartbreaking story. I identified with each of these characters, on a very personal level, for various reasons, and it made them very real for me. The more I can identify with a character, the more into their story I get. At first I was a little thrown by our masterful wordsmiths occasional use of the third person POV. But I ended up feeling really grateful, as it added a certain texture and emotion to the story that I feel would have been detrimental to leave out. I really want to say more, but I feel like I'd be taking away from your experience as a reader. But I will say that if you enjoy books that include themes like...
🫀 Friends to Lovers
🫀 He Falls First
🫀 D.I.D/Mental Health Rep
🫀 Obsessive Vibes
🫀 Traumatic Past
🫀 Jeykll and Hyde Vibes
🫀 A Terminally Ill FMC
🫀 Touch Aversion
🫀 A Story With a Twist
... and getting your heart shattered like the little masochists us dark romance readers are, then I really think you'll enjoy Beating For You as much as I did.
This one covers some really dark topics and I vehemently encourage you to read the trigger warning and content list. Your mental health and well-being are more important than any book, and I know the author feels the same way. This was an over all 5 outta 5 ⭐'s read, for me, and I'll also be giving it 2 outta 5 🌶️'s. Which was the perfect level of spice for BFY, in my opinion.
If you end up picking this one up, and I highly suggest you do as it's officially been added to my top 5 reads of the year, please stop back by, drop a comment down ⬇️ below ⬇️ and tell me what you thought!
I absolutely loved this story. L.L writes in stunning, knowing prose as they weave a beautiful and tragic tale, centered around Hawk and Jay, twins with a trauma filled childhood that has left them scarred in the worst ways. Especially emotionally. And Peace, a young woman with her own heartbreaking story. I identified with each of these characters, on a very personal level, for various reasons, and it made them very real for me. The more I can identify with a character, the more into their story I get. At first I was a little thrown by our masterful wordsmiths occasional use of the third person POV. But I ended up feeling really grateful, as it added a certain texture and emotion to the story that I feel would have been detrimental to leave out. I really want to say more, but I feel like I'd be taking away from your experience as a reader. But I will say that if you enjoy books that include themes like...
🫀 Friends to Lovers
🫀 He Falls First
🫀 D.I.D/Mental Health Rep
🫀 Obsessive Vibes
🫀 Traumatic Past
🫀 Jeykll and Hyde Vibes
🫀 A Terminally Ill FMC
🫀 Touch Aversion
🫀 A Story With a Twist
... and getting your heart shattered like the little masochists us dark romance readers are, then I really think you'll enjoy Beating For You as much as I did.
This one covers some really dark topics and I vehemently encourage you to read the trigger warning and content list. Your mental health and well-being are more important than any book, and I know the author feels the same way. This was an over all 5 outta 5 ⭐'s read, for me, and I'll also be giving it 2 outta 5 🌶️'s. Which was the perfect level of spice for BFY, in my opinion.
If you end up picking this one up, and I highly suggest you do as it's officially been added to my top 5 reads of the year, please stop back by, drop a comment down ⬇️ below ⬇️ and tell me what you thought!
September 4, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶
🧠Dissociative Identity Disorder
🖤Dark Tragic Romance
🫳🏼Touch Averse MMC
😈Jekyll & Hyde Vibes
❤️🩹Chronic Illness FMC
🥺Traumatic Past
❤️🔥Emotional and Angsty
💗Character Driven Drama
Check TW's 🫶🏻
Brilliance! With echoes (no pun intended, IFKYK) of a modern gothic Jekyll and Hyde, we see a young man split apart by trauma, coping by way of disassociation and it begins to wear against his very being. Functioning and not knowing when your dark alter may take over is living in a constant state of fear, high stress, and having to keep people at length. But in Peace, he does connect and it's oh so beautiful.
She is so empathic and kind. She allows him to have precious moments of care free teenager fun, to experience a fraction of the youth he lost due to his horrible and abusive childhood. He manages his episodes quite well, but it becomes increasingly volatile as his love grows for Peace. Jealous, protective, posessive, lustful...the ID is very much a presence in his alter. But that too, is still a piece of him, a facet of this complicated, beautiful, scarred, sensitive, and tormented man.
Achingly beautiful prose, so raw and unfiltered with Hawk's fragile mind, it's a peek behind the curtain of this broken man's state of psychology and awareness of Dissociative Identity Disorder that just undid me with its poignancy. The scenes where he battles within himself is as gripping as any action scene. I absolutely am in love with Hawk.
A bold and unfliching story. It reaches into the recesses of painful human emotion, catapulting you into a deeply engrossing drama and an equally tender romance; hard edged and sharp with danger but shimmering in rare moments like a diamond, with pure, sparkling love at its core. Your heart will be tugged very hard and it will hurt, but sometimes life is bittersweet just like this.
🌶🌶
🧠Dissociative Identity Disorder
🖤Dark Tragic Romance
🫳🏼Touch Averse MMC
😈Jekyll & Hyde Vibes
❤️🩹Chronic Illness FMC
🥺Traumatic Past
❤️🔥Emotional and Angsty
💗Character Driven Drama
Check TW's 🫶🏻
Brilliance! With echoes (no pun intended, IFKYK) of a modern gothic Jekyll and Hyde, we see a young man split apart by trauma, coping by way of disassociation and it begins to wear against his very being. Functioning and not knowing when your dark alter may take over is living in a constant state of fear, high stress, and having to keep people at length. But in Peace, he does connect and it's oh so beautiful.
She is so empathic and kind. She allows him to have precious moments of care free teenager fun, to experience a fraction of the youth he lost due to his horrible and abusive childhood. He manages his episodes quite well, but it becomes increasingly volatile as his love grows for Peace. Jealous, protective, posessive, lustful...the ID is very much a presence in his alter. But that too, is still a piece of him, a facet of this complicated, beautiful, scarred, sensitive, and tormented man.
Achingly beautiful prose, so raw and unfiltered with Hawk's fragile mind, it's a peek behind the curtain of this broken man's state of psychology and awareness of Dissociative Identity Disorder that just undid me with its poignancy. The scenes where he battles within himself is as gripping as any action scene. I absolutely am in love with Hawk.
A bold and unfliching story. It reaches into the recesses of painful human emotion, catapulting you into a deeply engrossing drama and an equally tender romance; hard edged and sharp with danger but shimmering in rare moments like a diamond, with pure, sparkling love at its core. Your heart will be tugged very hard and it will hurt, but sometimes life is bittersweet just like this.
September 4, 2025
Wow...just wow
I was lucky to receive this book as an arc! And all I can say
Without giving any spoilers is this book takes you through the emotions you feel like you are right there with the characters. I have never read a book so deeply written it is destructive and heartbreakingly beautiful I really didn't know what I was in for with this book. Without spoiling the book you follow the story of Hawk, Jay and Peace. Twin brothers who have suffered greatly by the hands of their abusive father. Hawk meets peace and finds not only a friend in her but love and that not all people in his life are out to hurt him. The love between them is raw, unforgiving and rough. Heavily focussing on mental health issues and the trauma hawk and Jay have suffered, this book isn't your average love story, yes there is love and lots of it. However it's much deeper than that. The author writes occasionally in 3rd person and the book is somewhat confusing at times but this is all important to the story line and the biggest plot twist at the end of the book and will completely make sense at the end it is written incredibly well and I found myself not being able to put it down staying up late to finish it. It absolutely wrecked my soul and is absolutely a five star read for me! Please check your trigger warnings when reading!
Thank you for allowing me the chance to review 💜
⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️
💧💧💧💧
I was lucky to receive this book as an arc! And all I can say
Without giving any spoilers is this book takes you through the emotions you feel like you are right there with the characters. I have never read a book so deeply written it is destructive and heartbreakingly beautiful I really didn't know what I was in for with this book. Without spoiling the book you follow the story of Hawk, Jay and Peace. Twin brothers who have suffered greatly by the hands of their abusive father. Hawk meets peace and finds not only a friend in her but love and that not all people in his life are out to hurt him. The love between them is raw, unforgiving and rough. Heavily focussing on mental health issues and the trauma hawk and Jay have suffered, this book isn't your average love story, yes there is love and lots of it. However it's much deeper than that. The author writes occasionally in 3rd person and the book is somewhat confusing at times but this is all important to the story line and the biggest plot twist at the end of the book and will completely make sense at the end it is written incredibly well and I found myself not being able to put it down staying up late to finish it. It absolutely wrecked my soul and is absolutely a five star read for me! Please check your trigger warnings when reading!
Thank you for allowing me the chance to review 💜
⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️
💧💧💧💧
September 6, 2025
What a rollercoaster I just went on with this story !!!! I had to take a min or 30 to sit back and let it all sink in!!!! Hawk .... what a poor soul..... has been through it all his whole life... I felt his pain through the pages.... the way Jay was there for him was beautiful..... Peace .... was just that for Hawk...... It was just this dark gut-wreching story that tore me apart.... I did have a few laughs in here though ... I also gag when other people gag ..so that had me giggling bc I know exactly what that is like !!!! lol ...
This book shattered my heart into a million pieces and will live rent free in my head for a long time!!!
Amazing story ...great read... 5 stars from me !!!
This book shattered my heart into a million pieces and will live rent free in my head for a long time!!!
Amazing story ...great read... 5 stars from me !!!
October 19, 2025
This book was so emotionally heavy I needed a fluffy romance as soon as I finished it because damn was this HEAVY!
Hawk is so broken and damaged and deserved so much better 💔 his childhood and everything he goes through in the present day is just heartbreaking! I liked how Peace brought out a lighter side of Hawk but he’s just battling too many demons in his own head.
The ending of the book, I did see how it was going to end but I was still completely & utterly devastated. When I finished I sat and thought about different scenes and it was almost more heartbreaking looking back than reading it at the time.
4⭐️ (purely just because I felt the story dragged a bit in places)
Hawk is so broken and damaged and deserved so much better 💔 his childhood and everything he goes through in the present day is just heartbreaking! I liked how Peace brought out a lighter side of Hawk but he’s just battling too many demons in his own head.
The ending of the book, I did see how it was going to end but I was still completely & utterly devastated. When I finished I sat and thought about different scenes and it was almost more heartbreaking looking back than reading it at the time.
4⭐️ (purely just because I felt the story dragged a bit in places)
November 2, 2025
I stared off into the abyss after finishing the book.
Did I feel like I was predicting some of the things that happened, yes. I didn’t expect the ending. I also feel like I had a few lingering questions… but to me they weren’t plot holes. Just my genuine curiosity of how things transpired maybe after everything. The characters were perfect. Jay, Hawk, Echo, Peace….. the dynamic, the love, the loss, the surrender.
This was super emotional. Is this book going to be for everyone, absolutely not. But it’s worth a read if you like emotionally driven romance.
Did I feel like I was predicting some of the things that happened, yes. I didn’t expect the ending. I also feel like I had a few lingering questions… but to me they weren’t plot holes. Just my genuine curiosity of how things transpired maybe after everything. The characters were perfect. Jay, Hawk, Echo, Peace….. the dynamic, the love, the loss, the surrender.
This was super emotional. Is this book going to be for everyone, absolutely not. But it’s worth a read if you like emotionally driven romance.
September 1, 2025
This book is an emotional rollercoaster!
I devoured it! I needed to know what happened next.
Hawk and peace, their bond is unbreakable!
There were moments that I laughed out loud! Moments I held my breath!
The ending shattered me! I was so shocked, devastated
.
I devoured it! I needed to know what happened next.
Hawk and peace, their bond is unbreakable!
There were moments that I laughed out loud! Moments I held my breath!
The ending shattered me! I was so shocked, devastated
.
September 2, 2025
This beauty broke my heart so many times with what these twins went through, they are absolute warriors in my opinion and deserve all the happiness they can get!
September 1, 2025
This book is honestly so good and very deep I’d make sure to read the trigger warning first but please dive in hawk is well worth the trauma
September 23, 2025
I really enjoyed this book! I was an emotional rollercoaster but well worth it 🤍
Read
November 9, 20253⭐️ Heartbreaking but a bit slow for my liking.
November 23, 2025
I hope I never come across a “kitty” reference again.
This writing style isn’t for me.
This writing style isn’t for me.
November 5, 2025
Gosh this was heartbreaking. I devoured this
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews