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Heartstruck #3
Hearts & Souls
Happily-ever-after’s aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. I should know. My childhood best friend gave me my first kiss and then ghosted me. Five years later he comes home, takes my V-card, and leaves without saying goodbye. Again.
Twice love has knocked me sideways. Twice the one I loved with all my heart left without saying goodbye.
Now, Rowan Cole, my brother’s best friend and one of the world’s Sexiest Men Alive, has come back to Lakeside. Not only to make a movie about his life, but to win me back, Heart & Soul.
Twice love has knocked me sideways. Twice the one I loved with all my heart left without saying goodbye.
Now, Rowan Cole, my brother’s best friend and one of the world’s Sexiest Men Alive, has come back to Lakeside. Not only to make a movie about his life, but to win me back, Heart & Soul.
448 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 2, 2026
About the author
Lara Bruni
12 books22 followers3rd Place Winner in the Paranormal-Romance category for The BookFest for Dark In Blood Fall 2024***
3rd Place Winner in the Romance-Suspense category for The BookFest for The Hollow Spring 2025***
International Impact Book Award Winner 2025/Romance category for The Hollow***
1st Place Winner in the Small Town Romance/Comedy category for The BookFest Fall 2025 for Hearts Fire**
Lara Bruni is an Award Winning author who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. In her down time, she loves to lose herself in the pages of a good book and enjoys watching rom-com and action movies.
3rd Place Winner in the Romance-Suspense category for The BookFest for The Hollow Spring 2025***
International Impact Book Award Winner 2025/Romance category for The Hollow***
1st Place Winner in the Small Town Romance/Comedy category for The BookFest Fall 2025 for Hearts Fire**
Lara Bruni is an Award Winning author who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. In her down time, she loves to lose herself in the pages of a good book and enjoys watching rom-com and action movies.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
This book honestly feels like emotional whiplash in the best possible way. Hearts & Souls has that mix of tension, history, unresolved feelings, and absolute chaos that makes every interaction feel loaded from the very beginning. The second Rowan walks back into Lizzy’s life, you can feel years of hurt, chemistry, longing, and frustration sitting between them, and the story never lets you forget it.
Lizzy immediately stood out to me because she feels emotionally guarded without ever losing that softness underneath. There’s this constant push-and-pull in her where part of her still loves Rowan so deeply while the other part is furious at herself for it. She’s carrying so much hurt from being left behind over and over again, and the story does a really good job of showing how abandonment changes the way someone protects themselves emotionally. She isn’t written as cold or bitter for the sake of angst either. Her reactions feel earned, and honestly, I appreciated that the story lets her hold onto that anger instead of immediately forgiving everything.
And Rowan… he absolutely has that larger-than-life energy people expect from a celebrity romance hero, but underneath all of that confidence there’s still this desperate need to be loved by the one person who has always truly known him. He has this golden retriever charm about him sometimes, playful, persistent, affectionate, but then the story layers in all this guilt and emotional regret underneath it. You can tell almost immediately that Lizzy is the center of his emotional world whether he deserves her forgiveness or not.
Their dynamic is honestly where the book shines the most. The chemistry between them never feels calm or easy because there’s too much history there for that. Every conversation feels emotionally charged in some way, whether they’re arguing, teasing each other, pretending not to care, or slipping into moments of vulnerability they probably didn’t mean to share. The frenemies energy mixed with the second chance romance creates this constant tension where you can feel how badly they want each other while also knowing neither of them fully trusts the situation.
What I really loved is that the emotional intimacy builds alongside the physical chemistry instead of replacing it. Yes, the attraction between them is intense, but the moments that hit hardest for me were actually the quieter ones. The moments where old feelings resurface unexpectedly, where shared history sneaks into conversations, where they stop pretending indifference for half a second and suddenly everything feels raw again. Those moments gave the relationship so much emotional weight.
The small-town atmosphere adds so much charm to the story too. Lakeside has that comforting, close-knit feeling where everyone knows everyone, which honestly makes the emotional tension even messier because there’s no escaping the past there. Add in the paparazzi chaos, the movie production, family dynamics, and all the found family energy woven throughout the story, and it creates this really fun balance between emotional heaviness and lighter rom-com moments.
I also really liked how the story leans into the idea that loving someone doesn’t automatically erase the hurt they caused. There’s still resentment here. Still fear. Still emotional walls. And because of that, the romance feels more layered than just two people falling back together easily. It feels like two people trying to figure out whether love can survive disappointment, timing, and years of unresolved pain.
Overall, this is one of those romances that feels messy in a very human way. It’s emotional, funny, frustrating, tender, and full of that “we were never really over each other” energy that second chance romances do so well. If you love childhood friends-to-lovers, brother’s best friend tension, fake dating chaos, emotionally persistent MMCs, small-town romance, and stories where love and hurt are tangled together from the very beginning, this one is absolutely worth picking up.
As always be mindful of any trigger warnings, what I like you may not.
Happy Reading! ✨📚
Lizzy immediately stood out to me because she feels emotionally guarded without ever losing that softness underneath. There’s this constant push-and-pull in her where part of her still loves Rowan so deeply while the other part is furious at herself for it. She’s carrying so much hurt from being left behind over and over again, and the story does a really good job of showing how abandonment changes the way someone protects themselves emotionally. She isn’t written as cold or bitter for the sake of angst either. Her reactions feel earned, and honestly, I appreciated that the story lets her hold onto that anger instead of immediately forgiving everything.
And Rowan… he absolutely has that larger-than-life energy people expect from a celebrity romance hero, but underneath all of that confidence there’s still this desperate need to be loved by the one person who has always truly known him. He has this golden retriever charm about him sometimes, playful, persistent, affectionate, but then the story layers in all this guilt and emotional regret underneath it. You can tell almost immediately that Lizzy is the center of his emotional world whether he deserves her forgiveness or not.
Their dynamic is honestly where the book shines the most. The chemistry between them never feels calm or easy because there’s too much history there for that. Every conversation feels emotionally charged in some way, whether they’re arguing, teasing each other, pretending not to care, or slipping into moments of vulnerability they probably didn’t mean to share. The frenemies energy mixed with the second chance romance creates this constant tension where you can feel how badly they want each other while also knowing neither of them fully trusts the situation.
What I really loved is that the emotional intimacy builds alongside the physical chemistry instead of replacing it. Yes, the attraction between them is intense, but the moments that hit hardest for me were actually the quieter ones. The moments where old feelings resurface unexpectedly, where shared history sneaks into conversations, where they stop pretending indifference for half a second and suddenly everything feels raw again. Those moments gave the relationship so much emotional weight.
The small-town atmosphere adds so much charm to the story too. Lakeside has that comforting, close-knit feeling where everyone knows everyone, which honestly makes the emotional tension even messier because there’s no escaping the past there. Add in the paparazzi chaos, the movie production, family dynamics, and all the found family energy woven throughout the story, and it creates this really fun balance between emotional heaviness and lighter rom-com moments.
I also really liked how the story leans into the idea that loving someone doesn’t automatically erase the hurt they caused. There’s still resentment here. Still fear. Still emotional walls. And because of that, the romance feels more layered than just two people falling back together easily. It feels like two people trying to figure out whether love can survive disappointment, timing, and years of unresolved pain.
Overall, this is one of those romances that feels messy in a very human way. It’s emotional, funny, frustrating, tender, and full of that “we were never really over each other” energy that second chance romances do so well. If you love childhood friends-to-lovers, brother’s best friend tension, fake dating chaos, emotionally persistent MMCs, small-town romance, and stories where love and hurt are tangled together from the very beginning, this one is absolutely worth picking up.
As always be mindful of any trigger warnings, what I like you may not.
Happy Reading! ✨📚
May 27, 2026
🎨🎨🎨🎨 .5 and 🌶️🌶️🌶️: keep in mind the star review is based off of MY interests!
Third book as a standalone in the Heartstruck series by Lara Bruni. I’ve absolutely loved Lara Bruni the two books I’ve read, this series is great! You don’t need to read the first two to understand what’s going on but that will be a loss for you.. because they are great!
During this book you will be transported to a small town close knit friend group. I love that this story had a dual timeline and you got to know Lizzy and Rowan as they were kids, such an integral part of their story. The dual timeline set the scene.
Lizzy’s transformation during all the pain, heartache and healing really reflected what she was going through during her life. I felt so sad for Rowan and his story only continued to make more sense as I kept reading, making me like him even more.
Their story had me blushing (risqué fun, Let me just say, this book takes painting to a whole new level 🥵! So make sure you’re prepared if in public 😉), rolling my eyes, because sometimes guys will be guys, rooting for the second chance to heal.
Tropes:
😈 Frenimies to Lovers
💙 Close Proximity
🥈 Second Chance
📆 Fake Dating
🏠 Found Family
I am voluntarily leaving this review and all thoughts are my own!
Third book as a standalone in the Heartstruck series by Lara Bruni. I’ve absolutely loved Lara Bruni the two books I’ve read, this series is great! You don’t need to read the first two to understand what’s going on but that will be a loss for you.. because they are great!
During this book you will be transported to a small town close knit friend group. I love that this story had a dual timeline and you got to know Lizzy and Rowan as they were kids, such an integral part of their story. The dual timeline set the scene.
Lizzy’s transformation during all the pain, heartache and healing really reflected what she was going through during her life. I felt so sad for Rowan and his story only continued to make more sense as I kept reading, making me like him even more.
Their story had me blushing (risqué fun, Let me just say, this book takes painting to a whole new level 🥵! So make sure you’re prepared if in public 😉), rolling my eyes, because sometimes guys will be guys, rooting for the second chance to heal.
Tropes:
😈 Frenimies to Lovers
💙 Close Proximity
🥈 Second Chance
📆 Fake Dating
🏠 Found Family
I am voluntarily leaving this review and all thoughts are my own!
June 2, 2026
Rowan and Lizzy have a messy history. She gave him her heart and he has left her, twice. Now he is back in town ready to win her back and she is having none of it. Lizzy loves Rowan, but she doesn’t trust him not to leave her again. Her guards are up and she keeps pushing him away.
Rowan is determined to win her back. Despite his wealth and fame, he is missing the one thing he wants most….Lizzy. She is the one woman who knows the real him under the celebrity persona. This time his charm isn’t going to be enough. He has to dig deep, be vulnerable and somehow prove to Lizzy that she is his everything.
They have so much to sort out before they can move forward. Regrets, hurt, anger and abandonment issues stand between them. They seem to take one step forward and then fears and doubts lead to a retreat. At the heart of it, Rowan and Lizzy love each other and that comes through clearly in this book. It takes time, a whole lot of effort and dare I say a leap of faith before they are finally on the path toward the happily ever they dreamed about.
This emotional and enthralling book has my full recommendation.
Rowan is determined to win her back. Despite his wealth and fame, he is missing the one thing he wants most….Lizzy. She is the one woman who knows the real him under the celebrity persona. This time his charm isn’t going to be enough. He has to dig deep, be vulnerable and somehow prove to Lizzy that she is his everything.
They have so much to sort out before they can move forward. Regrets, hurt, anger and abandonment issues stand between them. They seem to take one step forward and then fears and doubts lead to a retreat. At the heart of it, Rowan and Lizzy love each other and that comes through clearly in this book. It takes time, a whole lot of effort and dare I say a leap of faith before they are finally on the path toward the happily ever they dreamed about.
This emotional and enthralling book has my full recommendation.
Review of advance copy
~ARC~
Thank you Lara Bruni and House of Hearts literary service for the opportunity to have an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
4 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ // 3.5 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Friends to enemies to lovers—Found family—Retired Player—Small town—-The one that got away
I was a little nervous going into this, as I hadn’t read the previous books in this series. HOWEVER, that is going to change. I loved the banter between our FMC and MMC. They are witty, sassy, and keep you coming back for more. I really loved the writing style and didn’t feel I could figure out how their story was going to end right away.
Throughout the plot and character interactions you can really see and get to know this tight knit friend group and be excited to get to know them too.
Overall, I will 100% be recommending this book and series to others, and I plan to finish reading this series as well!
Thank you Lara Bruni and House of Hearts literary service for the opportunity to have an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
4 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ // 3.5 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Friends to enemies to lovers—Found family—Retired Player—Small town—-The one that got away
I was a little nervous going into this, as I hadn’t read the previous books in this series. HOWEVER, that is going to change. I loved the banter between our FMC and MMC. They are witty, sassy, and keep you coming back for more. I really loved the writing style and didn’t feel I could figure out how their story was going to end right away.
Throughout the plot and character interactions you can really see and get to know this tight knit friend group and be excited to get to know them too.
Overall, I will 100% be recommending this book and series to others, and I plan to finish reading this series as well!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2026
Rowan Cole. Sexiest Man Alive. Heartthrob to the world. Heartbreaker to Lizzy.
This story unpacked itself in my mind in layers. At the beginning, you are presented to Rowan Cole. He is a movie star trying to become a director and produce his first film. He comes back to his hometown where the love story first started as children. Then we meet Lizzy. A tattoo artist who is funny and sarcastic. She has lots of emotional walls that cause her to be very protective of herself and those she cares about.
This is a novel that takes you on a journey and weaves you through years of pushing and pulling between the characters. Even though time passes between each instance, the way this author writes, everything seems to fall into place at just the right time for them.
With each page I turned, I fell more in love with Lizzy and Rowan. This is a twice burned, third chance romance that will leave you breathless. It’s a slow burn with ALOT of tension buildup and an explosive climax when the characters finally let go of their individual issues. For this, I will rate the spice factor at five stars.
Although this story is part of an interconnected series, it can be read as a standalone. I recommend this novel for mature audiences only due to sexual content.
I received this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
This story unpacked itself in my mind in layers. At the beginning, you are presented to Rowan Cole. He is a movie star trying to become a director and produce his first film. He comes back to his hometown where the love story first started as children. Then we meet Lizzy. A tattoo artist who is funny and sarcastic. She has lots of emotional walls that cause her to be very protective of herself and those she cares about.
This is a novel that takes you on a journey and weaves you through years of pushing and pulling between the characters. Even though time passes between each instance, the way this author writes, everything seems to fall into place at just the right time for them.
With each page I turned, I fell more in love with Lizzy and Rowan. This is a twice burned, third chance romance that will leave you breathless. It’s a slow burn with ALOT of tension buildup and an explosive climax when the characters finally let go of their individual issues. For this, I will rate the spice factor at five stars.
Although this story is part of an interconnected series, it can be read as a standalone. I recommend this novel for mature audiences only due to sexual content.
I received this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Heart & Souls is book three of the Heartstruck Series.
Lizzy and Rowan have quite a history together. There were a few times they would do something more intimate together, just for him to turn around and leave her life. When he needs to smarten up his image and have a fake relationship, he thinks of Lizzy as she is the one person he could always count on. There is a lot standing between them - most specifically all the hurt Lizzy went through every time Rowan left her. But you see them still have this amazing connection to each other and they fight their feelings so hard, but in the end their love cannot be contained.
Lizzy and Rowan have quite a history together. There were a few times they would do something more intimate together, just for him to turn around and leave her life. When he needs to smarten up his image and have a fake relationship, he thinks of Lizzy as she is the one person he could always count on. There is a lot standing between them - most specifically all the hurt Lizzy went through every time Rowan left her. But you see them still have this amazing connection to each other and they fight their feelings so hard, but in the end their love cannot be contained.
June 2, 2026
First time meeting Rowan and Lizzy since I haven't read the first two books in the series--will be going back though. They have a complicated past... Rowan has left Lizzy twice but he's ready to commit now... but is it too late? Lizzy wants nothing to do with him despite her conflicted feelings for him. I love the celebrity aspect of the story, that Lizzy is the only one Rowan has ever wanted because she loved him for him and not the status he has. It was an emotional read. So much resentment, hurt feelings, trust issues and more. Highly recommend.
June 3, 2026
Lara has done it again! I love this small town series. Lizzy and Rowan story was so filled with heart and soul. Some very emotional moments that gave the author some of my tears for her author jar. I can't wait for the next book!
June 2, 2026
This was a wonderful read that I couldn’t put down! I would absolutely recommend reading this book!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews