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The Thorns Remain
I used to be someone: an up-and-coming writer, a doting father, a husband who believed he was the center of his wife’s universe.
Then everything crumbled.
Thanks to Benjamin Grant, I became a joke. A divorced man. A shell. Thirsty for revenge, I needed him to feel the weight of loss like I did.
Enter Josie—Benjamin's wife and the key to my vendetta. My aim was to infiltrate her life, seduce her, and use that to hit my enemy where it hurt most. It was supposed to be straightforward. But as any writer knows, stories rarely stick to the script. Now I’m caught in a plot twist I never intended to write.
Vengeance was the goal, and Josie Grant was my way in.
I never meant to fall in love with her.
Now?
There’s no way out.
Then everything crumbled.
Thanks to Benjamin Grant, I became a joke. A divorced man. A shell. Thirsty for revenge, I needed him to feel the weight of loss like I did.
Enter Josie—Benjamin's wife and the key to my vendetta. My aim was to infiltrate her life, seduce her, and use that to hit my enemy where it hurt most. It was supposed to be straightforward. But as any writer knows, stories rarely stick to the script. Now I’m caught in a plot twist I never intended to write.
Vengeance was the goal, and Josie Grant was my way in.
I never meant to fall in love with her.
Now?
There’s no way out.
493 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 23, 2021
1288 people are currently reading
11212 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Hartmann
33 books16.6k followersJennifer Hartmann resides in northern Illinois with her own personal romance hero and three children. When she is not writing angsty love stories, she is likely pondering all the ways she can break your heart and piece it back together again. She enjoys sunsets (because mornings are hard), bike riding, traveling, bingeing Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns, and that time of day when coffee gets replaced by wine. She loves tacos. She also really, really wants to pet your dog.
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December 5, 2021UPDATE 12/5/21:
You might remember a book I wrote fifteen months ago called "What We Deserve" — as well as a very minor character in "Lotus" named Evan (Sydney's sexy writer neighbor).
This is that book, only, it is SO MUCH MORE than that book. This story has been rewritten, reworked, and renamed alongside exceptionally talented author Chelley St Clair, and we are bursting with excitement to share it with you. We hope you fall in love with Evan's dry sense of humor and broken heart just as much as we have.
Thank you for your patience with this story! 🥀
You might remember a book I wrote fifteen months ago called "What We Deserve" — as well as a very minor character in "Lotus" named Evan (Sydney's sexy writer neighbor).
This is that book, only, it is SO MUCH MORE than that book. This story has been rewritten, reworked, and renamed alongside exceptionally talented author Chelley St Clair, and we are bursting with excitement to share it with you. We hope you fall in love with Evan's dry sense of humor and broken heart just as much as we have.
Thank you for your patience with this story! 🥀
December 28, 2021
A slow burn which wrecked me, a beautifully written and well plotted book which played havoc on my heart wringing so many emotions out of me.
As readers all we ask of authors is that they give us something unique which we can sink our teeth into, these two went above and beyond giving us that and more on a silver platter. You can not compare this to anything.
This is all told in Evan’s POV. His inner dialogue is messy, as we're given front row seats into everything that goes through his mind. Evan was a man set on Vengeance, clouded by deceit after losing the woman he thought he'd spend his life with. But he can't let the betrayal go and devices a plan to destroy another person. He subsequently sets his sights on Josie, who is the wife of the man who had the affair with Evan’s ex wife.
But things don't always go according to plan...
![Profile Image for Lori [semi-hiatus].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1652024485i%2F125758944._UX200_CR0%2C0%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
January 3, 2022
Edit:
Are books becoming like any other type of mainstream media where you infuse them with ads because you get paid by a company?
I had no clue the author was a rep for White Claw when I read this, and as it's never happened before to read a book where someone indirectly advertised their products through the narrative, I'm....shocked?
Is this a thing now?
Because if it is, then yikes.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. Until about 70% I thought this was a solid 3-3.5* read, even though there were a lot of bumps in the road, I really enjoyed the narrative and the writing. The chain of events after 70% ruined the book and barely made it a 1*.
On top of that the romance was absolutely awful. The MCs seemed to have loved OP more than they did each other, and at the end they came across as a comfort pairing. Nothing else...
Side note: there were some editing errors of continuity and timeline. One moment Evan says he'd been together with Katrina fourteen years, the next he tells Josie twelve.
Short summary:
If you're looking for an epic romance, you won't find one here.
If you're a safety reader, don't read this.
If you're looking for a nice story for 70% then read this, but be prepared to cringe at the rest 30%
SPOILERS AHEAD
The story is about Evan, whose wife Katrina cheated on him with a lawyer and was preparing to leave him for the other guy, Ben. Evan was so obsessed and madly in love with his wife that he couldn't move on after that. So he decides to return the favor and seduce Ben's wife as a fuck you.
You can tell how the plot will unravel, he falls for her, and then he feels guilty.
I had a number of issues with this.
-For about 30% of the book, the inner monologue of Evan (and it's told only in his POV so it made it worse) was word for word what Joe from You would say. I actually read the lines in Joe's voice and that took away a lot of the enjoyment. It didn't help that Evan was a writer or that he was using a fake name and he later got found out. And how did he react?
Well... with Joe's words. 😩 It was a little too much.
After he became less of a stalkery creep, his voice changed, which made me once more question just how much the authors got inspired from Joe 🤭
-Evan is a manwhore, and is unashamed. In fact, even as he falls for Josie he keeps sleeping with other women, and even kisses Josie's friend in front of her. There's an on page fantasy where he lusts after Josie, then the next chapter he's with his regular hook up. Not impressed...
Speaking of that hook-up, Hana, she was his nanny in the epilogue. Speak of ugly. Did the authors run out of characters?
-Evan is extremely hung up on his ex, Katrina. He does warm up to Josie, and I did believe he felt bad for her in the end, but there was never a wow moment that the two were IT
-Josie was a really plain heroine. I liked her, but because it was all in Evan's pov, I didn't get to know her that well, and as a consequence I don't know why Evan fell for her. She had a lot of tragedies happen to her, and at one point it seemed that was her defining feature. That she suffered a lot of losses.
-She was supposed to be a great mum, but only at the end did I realize there wasn't really on page time with her and her daughter, so I didn't buy that.
-Josie was... fickle. Yes, she suffered a lot of losses in her life, but the most important thing to note is that she already had her great love, her first husband who died and who was the father of her child, and she NEVER GOT OVER HIM . Even the thorns and roses allusion is regarding her first husband. She wanted to kill herself when he died, regardless of her child. And for 50% of the book the only topics she talked about with Evan was how she loved her first husband, how they had matching tattoos, how he was the best and how Evan reminds her of him. Is this supposed to give me some type of great love feeling?
-Josie was.... a cheater. Yes, that's for granted, since Evan set out to make her one and seduce her as his revenge. But she cheated before, too. She had been drunk and kissed another man. It's clear that she married her husband for money and comfort while still nurturing the memory of her first husband all along.
So at 70% of the story, we have Josie leaving her husband and she reunites with Evan, who out of guilt tells her what he did. So she leaves.
Now the circus.
-Ben, the husband, comes to confront Evan drunk and shoots Summer, his daughter.
-Evan realizes that his wife didn't abort their baby and had been raising his son all along (I HATED THIS TWIST) And how dumb do you have to be not to realize, when he remembered all the changes in her body during the divorce, or the fact that Summer knew about the baby being his. This was just idiotic.
-The OM Josie had kissed wanted her all along and kept trying to make Ben cheat so she would leave him
-Josie suddenly leaves Evan to find herself for a year.
Safety: Evan continues to fuck ow while pursuing Josie and fantasizing about her. Unknown if Josie is still with her husband. Josie cheats on her husband with Evan. Not at all safe.
Verdict: Like the book before, I really enjoy this author's writing and it's the only reason why I rated this 2*. What I don't like is how she writes. The scenes in the last 30% were so contrived, I once more got the feeling that it was all in an attempt to get an emotional reaction out of the reader instead of letting the events run their course organically.
Are books becoming like any other type of mainstream media where you infuse them with ads because you get paid by a company?
I had no clue the author was a rep for White Claw when I read this, and as it's never happened before to read a book where someone indirectly advertised their products through the narrative, I'm....shocked?
Is this a thing now?
Because if it is, then yikes.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. Until about 70% I thought this was a solid 3-3.5* read, even though there were a lot of bumps in the road, I really enjoyed the narrative and the writing. The chain of events after 70% ruined the book and barely made it a 1*.
On top of that the romance was absolutely awful. The MCs seemed to have loved OP more than they did each other, and at the end they came across as a comfort pairing. Nothing else...
Side note: there were some editing errors of continuity and timeline. One moment Evan says he'd been together with Katrina fourteen years, the next he tells Josie twelve.
Short summary:
If you're looking for an epic romance, you won't find one here.
If you're a safety reader, don't read this.
If you're looking for a nice story for 70% then read this, but be prepared to cringe at the rest 30%
SPOILERS AHEAD
The story is about Evan, whose wife Katrina cheated on him with a lawyer and was preparing to leave him for the other guy, Ben. Evan was so obsessed and madly in love with his wife that he couldn't move on after that. So he decides to return the favor and seduce Ben's wife as a fuck you.
You can tell how the plot will unravel, he falls for her, and then he feels guilty.
I had a number of issues with this.
-For about 30% of the book, the inner monologue of Evan (and it's told only in his POV so it made it worse) was word for word what Joe from You would say. I actually read the lines in Joe's voice and that took away a lot of the enjoyment. It didn't help that Evan was a writer or that he was using a fake name and he later got found out. And how did he react?
Well... with Joe's words. 😩 It was a little too much.
After he became less of a stalkery creep, his voice changed, which made me once more question just how much the authors got inspired from Joe 🤭
-Evan is a manwhore, and is unashamed. In fact, even as he falls for Josie he keeps sleeping with other women, and even kisses Josie's friend in front of her. There's an on page fantasy where he lusts after Josie, then the next chapter he's with his regular hook up. Not impressed...
Speaking of that hook-up, Hana, she was his nanny in the epilogue. Speak of ugly. Did the authors run out of characters?
-Evan is extremely hung up on his ex, Katrina. He does warm up to Josie, and I did believe he felt bad for her in the end, but there was never a wow moment that the two were IT
-Josie was a really plain heroine. I liked her, but because it was all in Evan's pov, I didn't get to know her that well, and as a consequence I don't know why Evan fell for her. She had a lot of tragedies happen to her, and at one point it seemed that was her defining feature. That she suffered a lot of losses.
-She was supposed to be a great mum, but only at the end did I realize there wasn't really on page time with her and her daughter, so I didn't buy that.
-Josie was... fickle. Yes, she suffered a lot of losses in her life, but the most important thing to note is that she already had her great love, her first husband who died and who was the father of her child, and she NEVER GOT OVER HIM . Even the thorns and roses allusion is regarding her first husband. She wanted to kill herself when he died, regardless of her child. And for 50% of the book the only topics she talked about with Evan was how she loved her first husband, how they had matching tattoos, how he was the best and how Evan reminds her of him. Is this supposed to give me some type of great love feeling?
-Josie was.... a cheater. Yes, that's for granted, since Evan set out to make her one and seduce her as his revenge. But she cheated before, too. She had been drunk and kissed another man. It's clear that she married her husband for money and comfort while still nurturing the memory of her first husband all along.
So at 70% of the story, we have Josie leaving her husband and she reunites with Evan, who out of guilt tells her what he did. So she leaves.
Now the circus.
-Ben, the husband, comes to confront Evan drunk and shoots Summer, his daughter.
-Evan realizes that his wife didn't abort their baby and had been raising his son all along (I HATED THIS TWIST) And how dumb do you have to be not to realize, when he remembered all the changes in her body during the divorce, or the fact that Summer knew about the baby being his. This was just idiotic.
-The OM Josie had kissed wanted her all along and kept trying to make Ben cheat so she would leave him
-Josie suddenly leaves Evan to find herself for a year.
Safety: Evan continues to fuck ow while pursuing Josie and fantasizing about her. Unknown if Josie is still with her husband. Josie cheats on her husband with Evan. Not at all safe.
Verdict: Like the book before, I really enjoy this author's writing and it's the only reason why I rated this 2*. What I don't like is how she writes. The scenes in the last 30% were so contrived, I once more got the feeling that it was all in an attempt to get an emotional reaction out of the reader instead of letting the events run their course organically.
December 17, 2021
I'm a bawling sobbing mess right now. Having just closed the book which I was expecting to be a heart- mulcher. But Oh dear lawd!! The intensity of emotions. the depth of passions, be it love or hate. The lengths the characters are pushed to before they break, they've all simmered down to a concentrated sludge, thick and heavy which sucked me under with a death like grip, I had to stop periodically to breathe through my tears.
How is it possible to fall in love with every painful word jennifer writes and yet I keep crawling back for more.
Stunning, Deep & emotionally provocative story that hits you hard like an earthquake. You will end up feeling the aftershocks long after you've closed the book.
“Truly beautiful things are like that sometimes, though, aren’t they?”
“They can cut you… they can make you bleed. But that’s how you know you’re alive.”
Well going by this standard I've been cut to the bone till my soul wept. But yes there's enormous beauty in this pain too.
You see there's a glass house and all the inhabitants are throwing stones at each other.
the main character of his story is a giant named Vengeance. He has horns and a trident, and an evil smile. It swirls victoriuosly having blown happy families to smithereens without an ounce of remorse. It roars and chuckles ominously whispering into the ears of Evan Campbell, a man scorned.
He sometimes sits on his shoulder egging him on the path of self destruction, sometimes dances with its partner Agony. He doesn't let Evan take a moment's respite and pokes and nudges his boat up the shit creek, without a paddle.
"I silently stew in the acrid fragments of my truth.
I feel like I’m rotting inside—like I’m disintegrating day by day, minute by minute.
My heart has been dismantled.
My perfect life has come undone.
I am lost, wandering, numb.
I am volatile, vengeful… fucking pissed. "
Evan and his wife Katrina get caught in the mud slinging battle, with Benjamin as a bystander and his wife Josie Bennett as the unfortunate victim who catches the stray bullet.
This entire book is a life lesson for all those who've loved with a mad zeal, put their amours on a pedestal and have had the ground pulled from beneath their feet at some point or another.
For all the people who have loved and lost, who have been through debilitating pain of breakups, this book will be your Bible. Take solace in its pages, gift it to fellow sufferers, It'll be a second hand closure for them, shifting their focus from the hurt to healing.
“Life isn’t about what we deserve. It’s about what we choose.”
I knew jennifer was gonna ruin me with her prose, but this sweeping devastation that mows down every character's life, made me feel as if I was standing among the debris of a tornado aftermath.
There's not one person left standing, not one life left undestroyed, not one heart remained unbroken.
There's bucket loads of pain that Jennifer and Chelley pour into their book, it bleeds through readers eyes. All the pages are scattered with betrayals and lies and hate. There's thorns all over and it makes the rose all the more coveted and precious.
“Do the thorns make the rose any less beautiful?”
“No,But it makes it harder to hold.”
The poetic justices meted out by the authors becomes entirely overwhelming towards the end. The ironies of role reversals are truly poignant to read. To feel the desperate scramble to hold on to fleeting love, just broke my heart.
In the end, as is in all wars, no one is a winner.
Regret is the Last Man Standing!!
I could ramble all night long about this magnificent book but I urge you, beseech you to pickup this book on release day and devour it like I did non stop.
6 stars for Not Holding Back....EVER!!
Follow me on:
Email🌻 Bookbub 🌻 Twitter🌻 Instagram🌻 Blog🌻 Facebook🌻 Amazon 🌻
How is it possible to fall in love with every painful word jennifer writes and yet I keep crawling back for more.
Stunning, Deep & emotionally provocative story that hits you hard like an earthquake. You will end up feeling the aftershocks long after you've closed the book.
“Truly beautiful things are like that sometimes, though, aren’t they?”
“They can cut you… they can make you bleed. But that’s how you know you’re alive.”
Well going by this standard I've been cut to the bone till my soul wept. But yes there's enormous beauty in this pain too.
You see there's a glass house and all the inhabitants are throwing stones at each other.
the main character of his story is a giant named Vengeance. He has horns and a trident, and an evil smile. It swirls victoriuosly having blown happy families to smithereens without an ounce of remorse. It roars and chuckles ominously whispering into the ears of Evan Campbell, a man scorned.
He sometimes sits on his shoulder egging him on the path of self destruction, sometimes dances with its partner Agony. He doesn't let Evan take a moment's respite and pokes and nudges his boat up the shit creek, without a paddle.
"I silently stew in the acrid fragments of my truth.
I feel like I’m rotting inside—like I’m disintegrating day by day, minute by minute.
My heart has been dismantled.
My perfect life has come undone.
I am lost, wandering, numb.
I am volatile, vengeful… fucking pissed. "
Evan and his wife Katrina get caught in the mud slinging battle, with Benjamin as a bystander and his wife Josie Bennett as the unfortunate victim who catches the stray bullet.
This entire book is a life lesson for all those who've loved with a mad zeal, put their amours on a pedestal and have had the ground pulled from beneath their feet at some point or another.
For all the people who have loved and lost, who have been through debilitating pain of breakups, this book will be your Bible. Take solace in its pages, gift it to fellow sufferers, It'll be a second hand closure for them, shifting their focus from the hurt to healing.
“Life isn’t about what we deserve. It’s about what we choose.”
I knew jennifer was gonna ruin me with her prose, but this sweeping devastation that mows down every character's life, made me feel as if I was standing among the debris of a tornado aftermath.
There's not one person left standing, not one life left undestroyed, not one heart remained unbroken.
There's bucket loads of pain that Jennifer and Chelley pour into their book, it bleeds through readers eyes. All the pages are scattered with betrayals and lies and hate. There's thorns all over and it makes the rose all the more coveted and precious.
“Do the thorns make the rose any less beautiful?”
“No,But it makes it harder to hold.”
The poetic justices meted out by the authors becomes entirely overwhelming towards the end. The ironies of role reversals are truly poignant to read. To feel the desperate scramble to hold on to fleeting love, just broke my heart.
In the end, as is in all wars, no one is a winner.
Regret is the Last Man Standing!!
I could ramble all night long about this magnificent book but I urge you, beseech you to pickup this book on release day and devour it like I did non stop.
6 stars for Not Holding Back....EVER!!
Follow me on:
Email🌻 Bookbub 🌻 Twitter🌻 Instagram🌻 Blog🌻 Facebook🌻 Amazon 🌻
December 29, 2021
Revengeful, toxic, and so very raw--this love story sinks its thorns into your heart and makes you feel every emotional twist and fall. Unforgettably beautiful.
May 10, 2022
This is like the longer and darker version of ‘evidence of the affair’ by TJR. I NEED TO READ THIS ASAP.
Boi was I wrong about this ^ because it was so much more.
MY REVIEW : (it’s a long one-even for me)
Did I devour this book or did it devour me?? Also Hartmann and Clair should not have this much skill in manipulating my emotions like this. This book killed me and brought me back to life so many times I’ve lost count. I couldn’t stick with one emotion at all while reading. It was always a mixture of pain, love, and frustration.
Whooo when I said I knew there was pain just around the corner. DID I KNOW OR DID I KNOW?! I had no idea what to do with myself. I cried, I laughed and felt so much heartache but a sense of satisfaction in the end. It was… the word rollercoaster doesn’t do it justice. At times I had psych myself to STOP reading because I have an actual life to live and people to be peopling with. But then I kept coming back to the book with the same jumbled emotions and in love with their story.
Evan had me cracking up so much because his sarcasm and banter was so relatable. I loved his relationship with his daughter. He was so wholesome.
“I know that while I hate hard, I love harder. ”
He was the most excruciatingly under appreciated character I’ve read since Dean and I feel like all he wanted was someone to love him. But then again what he did was so fucked up even I was questioning the lengths he went to. But everything that happened in the last half of the book was INSANE. The plot twists were so convoluted my brain was just like HANG ON A SECOND!! Give me time to breathe!
Josie made me want to give her a big bear hug for everything she went through. I loved the way she handled it and what she did to put herself first. At times I would feel like I was reading her pov when I wasn’t because Hartmann and Clair wrote her so well it would lift her off the page and into my head.
There were points in the book that made me stop to think and really reflect and I love how this book got me so attached to EACH CHARACTER. It made me proud of watching them grow into the best version of themselves.
If it’s not obvious I’m obsessed with this book then I’ll say it again because you absolutely need more of Hartmann’s books in your life! It was such a slow burn and THAT made the book even better IMO. Everyone has to read this book because the writing made me feel like these characters were alive and as though I wasn’t even reading. I would write three essays and a poem on this book if I could.
Fav quotes:
“Josie Grant could be wearing a giant kangaroo onesie, and I’m still going to seduce the fuck out of her.”
“Hair like honey. Eyes like bourbon.
Josie Bennett.”
“She’s a contradiction. An anomaly.”
“Life isn’t about what we deserve. It’s about what we choose.”
“You can’t choose what life throws at you, but you can choose how you react to it.”
Boi was I wrong about this ^ because it was so much more.
MY REVIEW : (it’s a long one-even for me)
Did I devour this book or did it devour me?? Also Hartmann and Clair should not have this much skill in manipulating my emotions like this. This book killed me and brought me back to life so many times I’ve lost count. I couldn’t stick with one emotion at all while reading. It was always a mixture of pain, love, and frustration.
Whooo when I said I knew there was pain just around the corner. DID I KNOW OR DID I KNOW?! I had no idea what to do with myself. I cried, I laughed and felt so much heartache but a sense of satisfaction in the end. It was… the word rollercoaster doesn’t do it justice. At times I had psych myself to STOP reading because I have an actual life to live and people to be peopling with. But then I kept coming back to the book with the same jumbled emotions and in love with their story.
Evan had me cracking up so much because his sarcasm and banter was so relatable. I loved his relationship with his daughter. He was so wholesome.
“I know that while I hate hard, I love harder. ”
He was the most excruciatingly under appreciated character I’ve read since Dean and I feel like all he wanted was someone to love him. But then again what he did was so fucked up even I was questioning the lengths he went to. But everything that happened in the last half of the book was INSANE. The plot twists were so convoluted my brain was just like HANG ON A SECOND!! Give me time to breathe!
Josie made me want to give her a big bear hug for everything she went through. I loved the way she handled it and what she did to put herself first. At times I would feel like I was reading her pov when I wasn’t because Hartmann and Clair wrote her so well it would lift her off the page and into my head.
There were points in the book that made me stop to think and really reflect and I love how this book got me so attached to EACH CHARACTER. It made me proud of watching them grow into the best version of themselves.
If it’s not obvious I’m obsessed with this book then I’ll say it again because you absolutely need more of Hartmann’s books in your life! It was such a slow burn and THAT made the book even better IMO. Everyone has to read this book because the writing made me feel like these characters were alive and as though I wasn’t even reading. I would write three essays and a poem on this book if I could.
Fav quotes:
“Josie Grant could be wearing a giant kangaroo onesie, and I’m still going to seduce the fuck out of her.”
“Hair like honey. Eyes like bourbon.
Josie Bennett.”
“She’s a contradiction. An anomaly.”
“Life isn’t about what we deserve. It’s about what we choose.”
“You can’t choose what life throws at you, but you can choose how you react to it.”
January 7, 2022
The Thorns Remain was such a let down. I was really intrigued by the premise and it was also why I wanted to read it. Evan seeking revenge for his wife cheating on him. Now he wants to ruin the marriage of his ex wife’s lover. Just this sounded promising.
Sadly this story dragged. Hard. For the first 50-60% it all revolved around play dates and dinners. The same over and over.
Josie, the wife Evan has got his eyes on, was bland and boring. She kept reminiscing her deceased husband. Not her current cheating one Benjamin. It was Adam this, Adam that.
I didn’t feel chemistry between her and Evan as the story slowly evolved. The pace was really slow and nothing remotely interesting happened until the 80% mark. The twists sadly made me laugh instead of being shocked.
The only highlight was Evan and his relationship with his daughter Summer.
I really had high expectations after reading Still Beating but this book wasn’t anywhere near as good or captivating. Just a huge disappointment.
Sadly this story dragged. Hard. For the first 50-60% it all revolved around play dates and dinners. The same over and over.
Josie, the wife Evan has got his eyes on, was bland and boring. She kept reminiscing her deceased husband. Not her current cheating one Benjamin. It was Adam this, Adam that.
I didn’t feel chemistry between her and Evan as the story slowly evolved. The pace was really slow and nothing remotely interesting happened until the 80% mark. The twists sadly made me laugh instead of being shocked.
The only highlight was Evan and his relationship with his daughter Summer.
I really had high expectations after reading Still Beating but this book wasn’t anywhere near as good or captivating. Just a huge disappointment.
December 19, 2021
“𝑫𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍?”
“𝑵𝒐,𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅.”
My heart... This book held it captive from start to finish. This story is alurring, infuriating, heartbreaking, but hauntingly beautiful. It's gonna make you feel... It's going to squeeze your heart into a vice and make you bleed hurt, vengence and hope. This is truly an emotional rollercoaster that I'm thankful I had the pleasure of being on. My heart and soul will not be the same after reading this one of a kind read.
I feel like nothing I say will give this book the proper justice. Nothing, even though it made me feel 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙔𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂.
“𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆.”
Evan... Evan has been hurt. Hurt deep. To help him heal, he vows to make all who wronged him pay. Revenge is all he can focus on.. his daughter is his world, but seeking vengeance is making him blind to everything else... it's all consuming. There is only one way to have his hurt brought to life for other's to acknowledge it. It's worming his way into an unsuspecting victim's life. He will use this person as a pawn in his deadly game. An innocent, a person who is so pure and filled with light. I'll let you learn about this person yourself.
Vengeance will be his, but at what cost??
“𝑬𝒏𝒗𝒚, 𝑯𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚’𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.”
I don't want to say too much about the story or the characters. You need to have the opportunity for it all to be breathed to life by these two amazingly talented authors. Let them have your heart. You won't be the same after, but that's ok. Enjoy, my friends.
“𝑵𝒐,𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅.”
My heart... This book held it captive from start to finish. This story is alurring, infuriating, heartbreaking, but hauntingly beautiful. It's gonna make you feel... It's going to squeeze your heart into a vice and make you bleed hurt, vengence and hope. This is truly an emotional rollercoaster that I'm thankful I had the pleasure of being on. My heart and soul will not be the same after reading this one of a kind read.
I feel like nothing I say will give this book the proper justice. Nothing, even though it made me feel 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙔𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂.
“𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆.”
Evan... Evan has been hurt. Hurt deep. To help him heal, he vows to make all who wronged him pay. Revenge is all he can focus on.. his daughter is his world, but seeking vengeance is making him blind to everything else... it's all consuming. There is only one way to have his hurt brought to life for other's to acknowledge it. It's worming his way into an unsuspecting victim's life. He will use this person as a pawn in his deadly game. An innocent, a person who is so pure and filled with light. I'll let you learn about this person yourself.
Vengeance will be his, but at what cost??
“𝑬𝒏𝒗𝒚, 𝑯𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚’𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.”
I don't want to say too much about the story or the characters. You need to have the opportunity for it all to be breathed to life by these two amazingly talented authors. Let them have your heart. You won't be the same after, but that's ok. Enjoy, my friends.
December 24, 2021
"You make me want to go skinny dipping at midnight, and dance in the rain, and wish on falling stars, and believe in a life so exhilarating, so liberating, that it feels almost tangible…And while it’s the greatest feeling in the world, it’s also the most terrifying…”
The Thorns Remain by Jennifer Hartman and Chelley St Clair is a mammoth tale of a broken heart spurred on to wreck vengeance, with pain and torment the motivating cheerleaders. An emotional slow build read that examines human behaviour after the heart shatters and life takes an unexpected turn. When you lose the love of your life along with almost everything you thought you had what do you do? Well, in Evan’s case, you demolish the man who interrupted your happiness and tore your future to pieces. And you do so, despite the casualties of the emotional war you’ve waged.
‘Regret. It’s a toxic word. It can tear a person up, twist them inside out, and break them into so many scattered pieces, they may never be whole again. It’s a dangerous sentiment because there’s no cure for regret. No one can go back in time and change their actions, or erase their hurtful words, or alter their past into something…better. Regret can eat us alive if we let it.’
We always find nuggets of wonderful subliminal messages peppered through Jennifer Hartmann’s stories and once again this was the case in The Thorns Remain. Being consumed by anger from intense pain and betrayal can make the kindest most caring person crack even more than the shattered heart left on the ground. How you act upon that and the consequences from there can be harmful, counterproductive or have you live with even more regret. Love can be the best feeling in the world, bringing you joy, peace, and comfort. But love can also be destructive, drive you to depths of despair, and leave you gasping for breath.
‘I don’t think Josie deserves what I’ve pulled her into…I really don’t. But this isn’t about what she deserves. This is about what I deserve.’
The Thorns Remain was a hard read, it was an eyeopener, it was heart-wrenching, and it was passionate in every emotion it elicited in us. Incredibly well-written, it had everything you’d want out of a love story based on hate, revenge, and fierce anger. It felt massive and all-encompassing in its intensity and scheming ferocity.
‘When you look tragedy in the face, real tragedy – the kind of tragedy you likely won’t recover from – every other wrongdoing and heartbreak you’ve experienced feels like a day at the fucking beach. So much perspective comes into play. I almost lost everything, my whole damn heart. It’s eye-opening and soul cleansing, and it’s that feeling of not wanting to take a single thing for granted ever again.’
What began as a path of retribution turned into something entirely different. Love comes in so many guises and whilst the path can be lonely and the target clear, those around you will inevitably become drawn into your game of vengeance.
“You gave me a light when my world had gone dark. And I’m so fucking sorry I stole your light, and I pray you get it back, but I couldn’t walk out of your life without you knowing the impact you had on mine.”
‘I’ll wait forever, Josie Bennett.‘
The writing from these two Authors was sublime, slowly building and drawing us in, until we were thoroughly caught in an intricate web of lies and deception, which in the right light shimmered with love, passion, soul-searching, forgiveness, and understanding. How can revenge result in love? Well, Evan and Josie’s path to love was so unpredictable it had us compelled. It was dark, raw, angsty, and incredibly beautiful at times in its malice. Jennifer Hartmann and Chelley St Clair had us hating and loving Evan in equal measure. We cried for him and everything he went through, yet we despised him at times too. His POV was one of the most intense and well-written passionate and emotional male POV’s we’ve read in a while. It struck us straight in the heart. As for Josie, her plight, her journey, and her soul-searching were captivating and as for her capacity to love, it was truly beautiful.
‘We are responsible for our own happiness. We need to fight for the things that bring us peace. And that’s exactly what we did.’
Available to purchase Ebook
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March 16, 2022
✨A TOP READ OF 2021✨
New to me authors! And I was not prepared! This book took my heart and ripped it out of my chest. Then it stomped on it. And then when I thought that it was already beat to a pulp...... the book stomped on it some more! Evan is a Hero that will have you questioning your morals. But he is the epitome of the "I'm a lover not a fighter" type hero that tries to be a fighter only to fall hard back into that lover role! The slow burn of this book is almost infuriating at times! But damn when they finally get to it..... so worth the wait! Josie is the type of heroine that you just want to yell at because you totally think that she is settling for WAY less than she deserves!
This cast of characters are all morally flawed (some more than others). And I promise you that there will be times when you want to bitch slap everyone in the book (except the kids of coarse!) Some of the things that happen in this book are the kind of things that make you wish that Messenger had a font size option because the SHOUTY CAPS just are not enough to effectively get your feelings across to the fellow book whore that had you read it! I cried. I raged. I got so angry that I was shaking. I swooned! I ached (in more ways than one 😏) But by then end..... I think you will be left feeling like everything came to the conclusion that it should have.
In short.... this book broke me so many times I questioned if it was even going to be able to put me back together..... and then it did so in a spectacular fashion! This is absolutely a book that I will want to read again..... and since it is all told from Evan's POV I am really hoping that it comes to audio! If you are ready to go on a emotional roller coaster.... buckle up and take the ride! You will not be sorry at all!
edit 3/15/22:
Just finished the audio! It got me all over again. And I can not rave enough about how fantastic Neill Thorne was! Listening to him during some of the emotional parts had me struggling to breathe! I could feel the angst!!! He was the PERFECT Evan! (and I still can't stand Emmett)
Story 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Spice 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Swoon 😍😍😍😍
Angst 💔💔💔💔💔
Narration 👏👏👏👏👏
New to me authors! And I was not prepared! This book took my heart and ripped it out of my chest. Then it stomped on it. And then when I thought that it was already beat to a pulp...... the book stomped on it some more! Evan is a Hero that will have you questioning your morals. But he is the epitome of the "I'm a lover not a fighter" type hero that tries to be a fighter only to fall hard back into that lover role! The slow burn of this book is almost infuriating at times! But damn when they finally get to it..... so worth the wait! Josie is the type of heroine that you just want to yell at because you totally think that she is settling for WAY less than she deserves!
This cast of characters are all morally flawed (some more than others). And I promise you that there will be times when you want to bitch slap everyone in the book (except the kids of coarse!) Some of the things that happen in this book are the kind of things that make you wish that Messenger had a font size option because the SHOUTY CAPS just are not enough to effectively get your feelings across to the fellow book whore that had you read it! I cried. I raged. I got so angry that I was shaking. I swooned! I ached (in more ways than one 😏) But by then end..... I think you will be left feeling like everything came to the conclusion that it should have.
In short.... this book broke me so many times I questioned if it was even going to be able to put me back together..... and then it did so in a spectacular fashion! This is absolutely a book that I will want to read again..... and since it is all told from Evan's POV I am really hoping that it comes to audio! If you are ready to go on a emotional roller coaster.... buckle up and take the ride! You will not be sorry at all!
edit 3/15/22:
Just finished the audio! It got me all over again. And I can not rave enough about how fantastic Neill Thorne was! Listening to him during some of the emotional parts had me struggling to breathe! I could feel the angst!!! He was the PERFECT Evan! (and I still can't stand Emmett)
Story 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Spice 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Swoon 😍😍😍😍
Angst 💔💔💔💔💔
Narration 👏👏👏👏👏
December 30, 2021
I need more, I need to be deeper, go harder, so I swing her around and pull her down onto the rug without pulling out. I pound her into my living room floor. Like a fucking animal. Josie matches every thrust, every grunt and moan, every bite, nick, and scratch.
This is months of wanting, craving, needing.
This is everything.
I’m drowning in her. I’m desperate to feel and fill every goddamn inch of her.
___
I freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE this story!
Only 2% into this book and I felt like this ahole was gonna be a fave book boyfriend of the year!
🥵🥺😍🔥😭🖤
I WASN'T WRONG. MY GOD.
This book right fuckinnn here is THE REASON I READ ROMANCE! I was CONFUCKINGSUMED from beginning to end. WHAT A RIDE! I LIVED AND BREATHED THIS BOOK WEEKS AFTER I FINISHED.
My heart was put through the wringer and my balls almost burst because...hello SLOW BURN. But the pain was worth it! A beautiful, twisted, emotional journey I'll never forget! I will never be over Evan and Josie's love story!
NOW LIVE AND AVAILABLE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED!
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3dmtVhX
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3rAHi6D
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3EtxFKn
Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3on7Ki4
December 30, 2022
Amazing Book! My first favorite of 2022!
Jennifer Hartmann is easily becoming one of my favorite authors after I read and loved three of her books last year (Still Beating and The Wrong Heart were in my top favorites of 2021). She’s just a great storyteller. And this great book, co-written with Chellie St. Clair is no exception.
This is a very beautiful, yet complicated tale of revenge, love and friendship. It has you hooked the entire time and makes you wonder if there’s good people, bad people or if we’re all just good people that sometimes make bad decisions. How rage and heartbreak sometimes pushes you to do unimaginable things. And whether redemption is possible when it’s all said and done. Can these flawed characters get their happy ending after all.
As a romance, this is a very slow burn and an unconventional one. It makes you constantly question whether the guy you’re rooting for is a good guy or a bad one. It was just fresh and intriguing. I loved everything about this one, I definitely want more of this couple! I can’t wait for whatever Jennifer brings us next.
Jennifer Hartmann is easily becoming one of my favorite authors after I read and loved three of her books last year (Still Beating and The Wrong Heart were in my top favorites of 2021). She’s just a great storyteller. And this great book, co-written with Chellie St. Clair is no exception.
This is a very beautiful, yet complicated tale of revenge, love and friendship. It has you hooked the entire time and makes you wonder if there’s good people, bad people or if we’re all just good people that sometimes make bad decisions. How rage and heartbreak sometimes pushes you to do unimaginable things. And whether redemption is possible when it’s all said and done. Can these flawed characters get their happy ending after all.
As a romance, this is a very slow burn and an unconventional one. It makes you constantly question whether the guy you’re rooting for is a good guy or a bad one. It was just fresh and intriguing. I loved everything about this one, I definitely want more of this couple! I can’t wait for whatever Jennifer brings us next.
April 18, 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Type: Standalone
POV: First Person - Male
Rating:
Evan Campbell had an enviable life until everything came crashing down. Since then, all he ever wanted was to get even. Along came Josie Grant into his plan. But his road to vengeance might end up with more thorns in his heart.
I love the premise of this book, but it was long and a little slow until towards the end when things became more intense. My favorite thing about this story is how each one of the characters involved was selfish/unreasonable/unlikable and learned to grow in their own ways.
The Thorns Remain is a story of retribution and forgiveness. It would appeal to readers who enjoy a slow burn Romance with humor and heart.
➕🥀➕. . . (F)BR With Twinsie CC & Loyda . . . ➕🥀➕
For more reviews/interviews/book talk/promo visit:
Type: Standalone
POV: First Person - Male
Rating:
Evan Campbell had an enviable life until everything came crashing down. Since then, all he ever wanted was to get even. Along came Josie Grant into his plan. But his road to vengeance might end up with more thorns in his heart.
I love the premise of this book, but it was long and a little slow until towards the end when things became more intense. My favorite thing about this story is how each one of the characters involved was selfish/unreasonable/unlikable and learned to grow in their own ways.
She doesn’t know the ugly side of me. She understand what I’m capable of. She doesn’t know what I’ve done.
The Thorns Remain is a story of retribution and forgiveness. It would appeal to readers who enjoy a slow burn Romance with humor and heart.
➕🥀➕. . . (F)BR With Twinsie CC & Loyda . . . ➕🥀➕
For more reviews/interviews/book talk/promo visit:
December 23, 2021
"You make me want to go skinny dipping at midnight, and dance in the rain, and wish on falling stars, and believe in a life so exhilarating, so liberating, that it feels almost tangible…And while it’s the greatest feeling in the world, it’s also the most terrifying…”
The Thorns Remain by Jennifer Hartman and Chelley St Clair is a mammoth tale of a broken heart spurred on to wreck vengeance, with pain and torment the motivating cheerleaders. An emotional slow build read that examines human behaviour after the heart shatters and life takes an unexpected turn. When you lose the love of your life along with almost everything you thought you had what do you do? Well, in Evan’s case, you demolish the man who interrupted your happiness and tore your future to pieces. And you do so, despite the casualties of the emotional war you’ve waged.
‘Regret. It’s a toxic word. It can tear a person up, twist them inside out, and break them into so many scattered pieces, they may never be whole again. It’s a dangerous sentiment because there’s no cure for regret. No one can go back in time and change their actions, or erase their hurtful words, or alter their past into something…better. Regret can eat us alive if we let it.’
We always find nuggets of wonderful subliminal messages peppered through Jennifer Hartmann’s stories and once again this was the case in The Thorns Remain. Being consumed by anger from intense pain and betrayal can make the kindest most caring person crack even more than the shattered heart left on the ground. How you act upon that and the consequences from there can be harmful, counterproductive or have you live with even more regret. Love can be the best feeling in the world, bringing you joy, peace, and comfort. But love can also be destructive, drive you to depths of despair, and leave you gasping for breath.
‘I don’t think Josie deserves what I’ve pulled her into…I really don’t. But this isn’t about what she deserves. This is about what I deserve.’
The Thorns Remain was a hard read, it was an eyeopener, it was heart-wrenching, and it was passionate in every emotion it elicited in us. Incredibly well-written, it had everything you’d want out of a love story based on hate, revenge, and fierce anger. It felt massive and all-encompassing in its intensity and scheming ferocity.
‘When you look tragedy in the face, real tragedy – the kind of tragedy you likely won’t recover from – every other wrongdoing and heartbreak you’ve experienced feels like a day at the fucking beach. So much perspective comes into play. I almost lost everything, my whole damn heart. It’s eye-opening and soul cleansing, and it’s that feeling of not wanting to take a single thing for granted ever again.’
What began as a path of retribution turned into something entirely different. Love comes in so many guises and whilst the path can be lonely and the target clear, those around you will inevitably become drawn into your game of vengeance.
“You gave me a light when my world had gone dark. And I’m so fucking sorry I stole your light, and I pray you get it back, but I couldn’t walk out of your life without you knowing the impact you had on mine.”
‘I’ll wait forever, Josie Bennett.‘
The writing from these two Authors was sublime, slowly building and drawing us in, until we were thoroughly caught in an intricate web of lies and deception, which in the right light shimmered with love, passion, soul-searching, forgiveness, and understanding. How can revenge result in love? Well, Evan and Josie’s path to love was so unpredictable it had us compelled. It was dark, raw, angsty, and incredibly beautiful at times in its malice. Jennifer Hartmann and Chelley St Clair had us hating and loving Evan in equal measure. We cried for him and everything he went through, yet we despised him at times too. His POV was one of the most intense and well-written passionate and emotional male POV’s we’ve read in a while. It struck us straight in the heart. As for Josie, her plight, her journey, and her soul-searching were captivating and as for her capacity to love, it was truly beautiful.
‘We are responsible for our own happiness. We need to fight for the things that bring us peace. And that’s exactly what we did.’
Ebook
January 16, 2022
This story was a bit different than what I've read lately. This is a story built on lies, deceit and vengeance. I enjoyed that this was all in a male's POV. I will say that when the story started, I couldn't help but read this in Joe Goldberg's voice in my head, considering this had the same kind of stalker vibe. I can't get over Katrina's birthday party either. Evan truly pulled a dick move there 😂
December 27, 2021
🥀 Male POV
🥀 Sarcastic Hero
🥀 intense story
🥀 Emotional
Just like all of Jennifer’s stories, There’s something so deep and profound about it. But thorns remain has humor mixed in (similar to lotus) That makes Evan really charming. I couldn’t tell where each authors writing ends and begins it blended so smoothly.
This story was written by Jennifer Hartmann and Chelly St.Clair and it is pure perfection! I had no idea this is Chellys debut book! After reading this story I can’t wait to read her future books as well!
Thorns Remain is a story of a man, who sets out for revenge on the man his wife cheated with. It a story that blurs the lines between our Main male character being the hero or the villain. It shows what could happen when you let revenge consume you.
Evan is the hero of this story and I loved him so much, his thoughts made sense even when he was entirely consumed with revenge. The authors wrote him in a way that was so relatable, even when you didn’t always agree with what was happening in the moment. I loved that the story is told entirely in his POV, I don’t read a heavy male perspective often and it was a nice change. I was wholeheartedly consumed by this story, and sucked in from the very begging. When I would think it was going to go one way, the writers threw me a curve ball, and I was constantly kept on my toes.
Yes this story centers around the concept of cheating, but there is so much depth and rawness that you can’t help but enjoy the ride. I don’t want to say too much more just like with all of Jennifer Hartmann’s books it’s best to go in blindly, like I did.
Every book I’ve read of Jennifer’s have been consistently amazing and I can’t wait to read more of her books in the future.
🥀 Sarcastic Hero
🥀 intense story
🥀 Emotional
Just like all of Jennifer’s stories, There’s something so deep and profound about it. But thorns remain has humor mixed in (similar to lotus) That makes Evan really charming. I couldn’t tell where each authors writing ends and begins it blended so smoothly.
This story was written by Jennifer Hartmann and Chelly St.Clair and it is pure perfection! I had no idea this is Chellys debut book! After reading this story I can’t wait to read her future books as well!
Thorns Remain is a story of a man, who sets out for revenge on the man his wife cheated with. It a story that blurs the lines between our Main male character being the hero or the villain. It shows what could happen when you let revenge consume you.
Evan is the hero of this story and I loved him so much, his thoughts made sense even when he was entirely consumed with revenge. The authors wrote him in a way that was so relatable, even when you didn’t always agree with what was happening in the moment. I loved that the story is told entirely in his POV, I don’t read a heavy male perspective often and it was a nice change. I was wholeheartedly consumed by this story, and sucked in from the very begging. When I would think it was going to go one way, the writers threw me a curve ball, and I was constantly kept on my toes.
Yes this story centers around the concept of cheating, but there is so much depth and rawness that you can’t help but enjoy the ride. I don’t want to say too much more just like with all of Jennifer Hartmann’s books it’s best to go in blindly, like I did.
Every book I’ve read of Jennifer’s have been consistently amazing and I can’t wait to read more of her books in the future.
January 2, 2026
3.5 rounded up
August 7, 2022
3.5✨
The Thorns Remain follows Evan on his quest for revenge. It sounds super dramatic, and it was. Evan’s high school sweetheart/mother of his child/wife cheats on him with a slimy defense attorney. He devises a plan to take his wife from him. And a chaotic love story ensues.
I am uncertain how I feel about this book. It’s tagged as a dark romance, and in the beginning with all the stalking and lies it definitely was. But the tone completely changes and I had a hard time moving away from that. I also had a hard time rooting for Evan, but his character growth was pretty well done. Since this book takes place only from his pov, you get to watch him change and truly grapple with his decisions and emotions.
If you don’t like cheating or love triangles you’ll probably hate this book. I keep telling myself not to read books with cheating (love triangles are fine if they’re done well) so I don’t know why I picked this up. But I enjoyed it and it was definitely entertaining.
December 30, 2021
I am reeling from this story, my mind is blown and chest tight with emotions. I have so much to say. Evan and Josie have one of the craziest stories I have ever read. You weave in and out of it thinking you know where it is going to go. Ummm let me tell you, as piece after piece is reveal, plan to be left stunned.
You might even think of Evan as an anti-hero but I don’t. I feel that title limits him. He has experienced the ultimate betrayal and his numb soul reacts in an explosive yet methodical way. His pain and thirst, for what he sees as retribution, is laid out in a real kind of way. Do I agree with everything he does, “no” but I realized reading this story, I have a closeted vengeful spirit and quietly cheered in regards some of his behavior. Yikes.
As you continue to read, Josie makes some of her own missteps but I don’t care. She has all kinds of people doing her wrong, without her even knowing about it. Grrrr. Yep my hidden punitive nature is rearing its head again. I feel protective because I love who she is as a mother and a woman. She has survived her own loss and heartbreak. Sob.
This story is not pretty. It has sweet interactions especially when the children are involved but it also has dark moments that makes me furious or wanting to cry. I must say this couples path to self-awareness is totally therapeutic. Yes, they know how to heat up the page (fanning myself) as any book in the romance genre should (wink) but they also do so much more. Eek.
I am feeling haunted by this telling. The message of learning to forgive so you can live your best life is shown as you travel down this telling. I actually dreamt about this story last night. Today, I opened this book again. Even more emotions poured out of me, as I noticed more details, offering more clarity. Sigh. Yes, I (possibly) highlighted the heck out of this story because I wanted to remember EVERYTHING. I can’t decide if I need therapy now or if reading this story has been my own therapeutic experience.
This book deserves all five magic stars and more. Happy Emotional Reading Everyone! XOXO
You might even think of Evan as an anti-hero but I don’t. I feel that title limits him. He has experienced the ultimate betrayal and his numb soul reacts in an explosive yet methodical way. His pain and thirst, for what he sees as retribution, is laid out in a real kind of way. Do I agree with everything he does, “no” but I realized reading this story, I have a closeted vengeful spirit and quietly cheered in regards some of his behavior. Yikes.
As you continue to read, Josie makes some of her own missteps but I don’t care. She has all kinds of people doing her wrong, without her even knowing about it. Grrrr. Yep my hidden punitive nature is rearing its head again. I feel protective because I love who she is as a mother and a woman. She has survived her own loss and heartbreak. Sob.
This story is not pretty. It has sweet interactions especially when the children are involved but it also has dark moments that makes me furious or wanting to cry. I must say this couples path to self-awareness is totally therapeutic. Yes, they know how to heat up the page (fanning myself) as any book in the romance genre should (wink) but they also do so much more. Eek.
I am feeling haunted by this telling. The message of learning to forgive so you can live your best life is shown as you travel down this telling. I actually dreamt about this story last night. Today, I opened this book again. Even more emotions poured out of me, as I noticed more details, offering more clarity. Sigh. Yes, I (possibly) highlighted the heck out of this story because I wanted to remember EVERYTHING. I can’t decide if I need therapy now or if reading this story has been my own therapeutic experience.
This book deserves all five magic stars and more. Happy Emotional Reading Everyone! XOXO
December 28, 2021
"Roses fall, but the thorns remain."
How do I review this story? I'm not sure how, to be honest. I went into it not knowing anything except that it's about a man getting revenge. I expected some intense hate to love, but this story isn't that. This is about people making mistakes, being consumed by grief and anger and believing you deserve vengeance. It's about finding yourself and letting go and falling in love when you think you'll never get that again.
I'm not going to say anything else about the plot (but i will have detailed content warnings at the end of this review, if you're interested) but it's told almost entirely in the males perspective and it's detailing his journey of revenge. It's edgy and angsty and painful and beautiful and profound and heartbreaking.
I've been a fan of Jennifer Hartmann's writing since I read Still Beating, but Chelley St. Claire is a new to me author, as I believe this is her first novel. I loved the writing and Evans inner monologue. Our main character isn't a hero, he's flawed ad he's going to fuck up and make you angry and it's something I really adore about this story. I loved the characters and the banter and how truly deep this story felt to me. It's on the longer side and it's a major slow burn, but if you love an angsty painful story I'd definitely give it a shot!
Some Quote I Loved:
"Vengeance can be very, very patient. It’s used to waiting, after all."
"My heart has been frozen solid for well over a year… freezer-burned. But I feel the ice melting away—slowly, merely a trickle—and it’s a feeling I wouldn’t mind getting used to."
"No matter how cold it is, no matter how cold I am—no matter how frozen my heart feels—I always find myself melting when I’m with her. I always find warmth."
“You make me want to go skinny dipping at midnight, and dance in the rain, and wish on falling stars, and believe in a life so exhilarating, so liberating, that it feels almost tangible.”
*
*
*
CW: cheating, miscarriage, physical violence, gun violence
How do I review this story? I'm not sure how, to be honest. I went into it not knowing anything except that it's about a man getting revenge. I expected some intense hate to love, but this story isn't that. This is about people making mistakes, being consumed by grief and anger and believing you deserve vengeance. It's about finding yourself and letting go and falling in love when you think you'll never get that again.
I'm not going to say anything else about the plot (but i will have detailed content warnings at the end of this review, if you're interested) but it's told almost entirely in the males perspective and it's detailing his journey of revenge. It's edgy and angsty and painful and beautiful and profound and heartbreaking.
I've been a fan of Jennifer Hartmann's writing since I read Still Beating, but Chelley St. Claire is a new to me author, as I believe this is her first novel. I loved the writing and Evans inner monologue. Our main character isn't a hero, he's flawed ad he's going to fuck up and make you angry and it's something I really adore about this story. I loved the characters and the banter and how truly deep this story felt to me. It's on the longer side and it's a major slow burn, but if you love an angsty painful story I'd definitely give it a shot!
Some Quote I Loved:
"Vengeance can be very, very patient. It’s used to waiting, after all."
"My heart has been frozen solid for well over a year… freezer-burned. But I feel the ice melting away—slowly, merely a trickle—and it’s a feeling I wouldn’t mind getting used to."
"No matter how cold it is, no matter how cold I am—no matter how frozen my heart feels—I always find myself melting when I’m with her. I always find warmth."
“You make me want to go skinny dipping at midnight, and dance in the rain, and wish on falling stars, and believe in a life so exhilarating, so liberating, that it feels almost tangible.”
*
*
*
CW: cheating, miscarriage, physical violence, gun violence
December 8, 2021
***Beta Read***
.
The Thorns Remain by Jennifer Hartmann and Chelley St. Claire was a complete emotional rollercoaster. It will shock you. It will rock you to the core. And the angst will break you beautifully. And trust me, the tears and the pain are all worth it. It was an extremely inspiring slow burn romance with unforgettable characters far from perfect. Evan and Josie started as something twisted and cruel but their friendship and later, partnership changed everything. It's not an easy story. It will push your boundaries and make you feel all the raw, gritty, complex and confusing feels. If you survive it without wanting to kill the authors, you will win.
.
The Thorns Remain by Jennifer Hartmann and Chelley St. Claire was a complete emotional rollercoaster. It will shock you. It will rock you to the core. And the angst will break you beautifully. And trust me, the tears and the pain are all worth it. It was an extremely inspiring slow burn romance with unforgettable characters far from perfect. Evan and Josie started as something twisted and cruel but their friendship and later, partnership changed everything. It's not an easy story. It will push your boundaries and make you feel all the raw, gritty, complex and confusing feels. If you survive it without wanting to kill the authors, you will win.
January 6, 2022
4.5 Stars ⭐️
September 7, 2025
2-3 drama vs writing ⭐️
Time of death 11:21 am. This is a well written drudgery, and it’s packed with kitchen sink adventures, and social realistic outings. Sigh, It’s so slow, and I am dnf’ing at 35%.
Evan’s wife cheated on him, with Josie’s husband and they are now divorced, he spends the next 18 months plotting revenge, by seducing Josie, who is still married and unaware. Sounds promising, but no.
This is all good and dandy, but he takes no responsibility, he doesn’t even blame his now ex wife, he only blames Josie’s husband. That just comes across as very juvenile in my book. Secondly he is becoming her friend, while still raging, after 18 months. It’s felt incredible immature and I had to call time of death on this one.
The book has an endless tirade of descriptions about doing dishes and working out, I almost fell asleep. I am a romance reader and I am constantly immersed in Viscounts and Billionaires and that has clearly messed with my mind, because Evan works at a grocery store, and as a writer, but still.. my lady boner evaporated. I am sorry, but I like my dreamworld.
I don’t want everyday problems in my books.
I feel terrible about my feelings regarding this book, because the writing is so witty and smooth, but there was no DRAMA OR TENSION. I felt I was in a boy child’s head, because at 35% it was only his POV.
Should you read it? No its filed under literary Ambien (Shout out to Sarah)😁
Time of death 11:21 am. This is a well written drudgery, and it’s packed with kitchen sink adventures, and social realistic outings. Sigh, It’s so slow, and I am dnf’ing at 35%.
Evan’s wife cheated on him, with Josie’s husband and they are now divorced, he spends the next 18 months plotting revenge, by seducing Josie, who is still married and unaware. Sounds promising, but no.
This is all good and dandy, but he takes no responsibility, he doesn’t even blame his now ex wife, he only blames Josie’s husband. That just comes across as very juvenile in my book. Secondly he is becoming her friend, while still raging, after 18 months. It’s felt incredible immature and I had to call time of death on this one.
The book has an endless tirade of descriptions about doing dishes and working out, I almost fell asleep. I am a romance reader and I am constantly immersed in Viscounts and Billionaires and that has clearly messed with my mind, because Evan works at a grocery store, and as a writer, but still.. my lady boner evaporated. I am sorry, but I like my dreamworld.
I don’t want everyday problems in my books.
I feel terrible about my feelings regarding this book, because the writing is so witty and smooth, but there was no DRAMA OR TENSION. I felt I was in a boy child’s head, because at 35% it was only his POV.
Should you read it? No its filed under literary Ambien (Shout out to Sarah)😁
October 21, 2024
3.5⭐️.
This one started off pretty slow to the point that I was wondering if I’d be able to finish. I stepped away from it for a minute, started something else and came back to it with a new set of eyes. I had to keep reminding myself that Jennifer Hartmann wrote this book alongside another author so the flow and beauty of what I’m used to and what I love about her books wasn’t there. Once I opened my mind, I was able to get into it and ended up liking it.
Literally every relationship in this book was so messed up but beauty still was found in the end.
This one took me through a few emotions- from annoyance to anger to me being a bit tearful. I enjoyed the ride and will continue to read her entire backlist.🩷
This one started off pretty slow to the point that I was wondering if I’d be able to finish. I stepped away from it for a minute, started something else and came back to it with a new set of eyes. I had to keep reminding myself that Jennifer Hartmann wrote this book alongside another author so the flow and beauty of what I’m used to and what I love about her books wasn’t there. Once I opened my mind, I was able to get into it and ended up liking it.
Literally every relationship in this book was so messed up but beauty still was found in the end.
This one took me through a few emotions- from annoyance to anger to me being a bit tearful. I enjoyed the ride and will continue to read her entire backlist.🩷
January 2, 2022
3,5. It’s refreshing read what this author writes! The point of view from the male character I think is hard to put into words and I loved.
But…. I thought Evan a little too much slave to the past, and a little unbelievable.
Unfortunately!
But…. I thought Evan a little too much slave to the past, and a little unbelievable.
Unfortunately!
April 14, 2022
3.75 ★
Evan Campbell is fueled by vengeance to inflict pain equal to his own. As the pieces of his plan click into place, unexpected complications arise leading to lies and revelations that can’t be undone.
Narrated from Evan’s POV, the timeline periodically shifts from the present to the past and this structure serves to underscore the betrayal Evan experienced. Though he is a doting father, and Summer is the one bright spot in his life, the blackness in his soul is running the show.
In starting this book, I was expecting to side with Evan but I definitely got to a point where his trajectory was set for catastrophe and I was bracing for impact. Although, there is one character that I despised throughout, I was surprised to see my feelings change about others. With Evan’s decisions and the plot developments, the story seemed to spiral toward the end, but I also see the intent behind this direction. That said, I am relieved it wasn’t an easy resolution.
The Thorns Remain is about the of lasting effects of betrayal and the road to redemption. This book would appeal to those seeking an angsty and twisty read.
*This was a (F)BR with with Twinsie Hawkey and Loyda*
For more reviews/reveals/giveaways visit:
Evan Campbell is fueled by vengeance to inflict pain equal to his own. As the pieces of his plan click into place, unexpected complications arise leading to lies and revelations that can’t be undone.
“I was damaged to the point where hell felt like home, and I don’t think I ever really planned to leave.”
Narrated from Evan’s POV, the timeline periodically shifts from the present to the past and this structure serves to underscore the betrayal Evan experienced. Though he is a doting father, and Summer is the one bright spot in his life, the blackness in his soul is running the show.
In starting this book, I was expecting to side with Evan but I definitely got to a point where his trajectory was set for catastrophe and I was bracing for impact. Although, there is one character that I despised throughout, I was surprised to see my feelings change about others. With Evan’s decisions and the plot developments, the story seemed to spiral toward the end, but I also see the intent behind this direction. That said, I am relieved it wasn’t an easy resolution.
The Thorns Remain is about the of lasting effects of betrayal and the road to redemption. This book would appeal to those seeking an angsty and twisty read.
*This was a (F)BR with with Twinsie Hawkey and Loyda*
For more reviews/reveals/giveaways visit:
January 17, 2022
This started out so good but then it just derailed and became a mess ( well it was supposed to) but the revelations that came were too many and too ridiculous😒
Even when everything had been revealed I kept thinking of how messy Josie and Evan's relationship was going to be as the ex wife is always going to stay in picture because of the kids. And the way their relationship started will always be a big cause of mistrust
Moreover by the end of the book the spark between Josie and Evan and my interest had totally fizzled out. I was skimming just to finish😣😣
I feel like the plot became too big for the authors, they tried to play with four characters and introduced plot twists in plot twists and just lost me somewhere in the first turn.
December 17, 2025
Really on the fence between 3-4 stars for this one, so I’d say 3.5 would be my rating. The premise was intriguing to me and I found myself engaged and wanting to keep reading. However, I didn’t love the slow burn and felt the book could have been shortened just a little. I appreciate the themes in this story and overall enjoyed the book, but wanted to love it a little more than I did.
Read
May 20, 2024hell hath no fury like a scorned evan; that man can plot a revenge. and screw it all up too.
it was a hell of a roller coaster, and it's always more fun riding it with the anti-hero. though there was more pain than fun here, but whatever. you get me.
it was a hell of a roller coaster, and it's always more fun riding it with the anti-hero. though there was more pain than fun here, but whatever. you get me.
March 15, 2023
“Roses Fall, But The Thorns Remain”
Jennifer Hartmann is the writer of one of my favorite books, The Wrong Heart. That’s why, when my dear friend Sanzida recommended this book to me, I didn’t hesitate but started reading it. Only at the end of the book, I realized that J. Hartmann wrote it first with another title and then revised, edited and rewrote it with Chelley St. Clair.
*********************************************
At first, I was disappointed with this book and honestly, a bit bored. I wanted to skip pages to see if I would come to the good stuff because it was becoming more and more repetitive, making me consider dropping it. This is a long book with 450 pages and up until pages 160 or so, it doesn’t feel promising. However, after a certain point, it starts to get better and better. Slowly but surely, it really gets better. You just need to hang in there and be patient.
*********************************************
The book is told by the hero, Evan. Only the epilogue is told by the heroine Josie. This is one of those books in which we need to see the hero’s point of view from first hand so that was a good call to write it in his POV.
At first, I didn’t like Evan. Actually, I disliked him a lot. I still don’t know how I ended up loving him later. I guess he really owned up to all his mistakes and sincerely regretted for them all, that’s why.
I like revenge books if they are done well but if you want to read a good revenge book, this is definitely not it. This is a book in which you learn how negative feelings like the need for revenge will ruin you. This is a book in which we see how revenge has destroyed the life of the person who initiated it rather than giving him the satisfaction and closure.
*********************************************
Evan’s wife betrays him in the worst way. He takes his revenge on her but it is not enough. He wants to take his revenge on the guy she slept with, as well, by sleeping with his wife. He thinks that he has taken his wife from him and he will do the same to make things even. His wife, Josie, will be the collateral damage in this scenario.
*********************************************
I like revenge books where the two betrayed people come together, make a plan and take their revenge on the people who betrayed them but in this case, it’s not like that; Josie is clueless and Evan is cruel to make a plan like this, without caring about how much he will ruin her.
*********************************************
As I said, the book is boring and repetitive at first and we listen to Evan’s broken heart from him so many times that I doubted if he would ever forget about his ex-wife and fall for another woman.
The book goes to Past and then turns back to Present and in the Past sections, we see how much he loved his wife, how long they were together, how beautiful their relationship was etc.
I see it was bad – having no clue and then experiencing that shock. He didn’t see it coming. And then, of course, he couldn’t digest it. And for that reason, he planned an ugly way of getting even with the guy who slept with his ex-wife.
*********************************************
Because they were rich, Evan assumed that this guy’s wife Josie was an uppity bitch and that’s why, he thought he needn’t care about her. But the more he got to know her, the more he was shocked to see that Josie wasn’t what he expected. She was so much more different from a trophy wife. And while their daughters were becoming best friends, Evan and Josie also became good friends who started to develop feelings for each other.
Evan didn’t stop his plan as soon as he realized that Josie was a good woman. Evan didn’t stop his plan as soon as he realized that he was having feelings for Josie, either. Instead, he made some mistakes to get rid of those feelings. For example, he kissed Josie’s friend. He slept with a woman he used to sleep with before. He resisted having feelings for her. However, eventually, he accepted that he was falling for her and he was going to hurt her in the worst way and he knew she didn’t deserve that.
The book is not only about Evan's dilemma about what to do about it. It is bigger than that. It is more complicated than that. It has so many unexpected twists and turns and so much heartbreak that in the end, I found myself feeling sorry for some characters I never thought I would care about.
Things get messy, really messy after a certain point. It becomes a huge clusterfuck with the involvement of Josie’s husband, his friend and their children. The web of lies each person weaves becomes so destructive that it really destroys everyone who are in the way.
The book teaches us how hatred, anger, resentment and revenge may harm you and how accepting the pain and eventually letting it go will free you.
*********************************************
The book is definitely NOT SAFE for the readers who don’t like blurred lines, dishonesty and cheating. However, if you can deal with these triggers, then the book has a good story to tell, which is worth reading. You should just beware in mind that everyone in the book makes mistakes, minor or major. It's like the mirror that tells that we, as human beings, are all flawed - in this way or another. We need to face our mistakes, learn from them and grow to be better people. That's briefly the gist of it.
*********************************************
The writing of the book is not impressive at the beginning but it gets really better later, making you feel it all. There are a few editing mistakes, though, so it needs revising.
*********************************************
Here are some good QUOTES from the book.
Revenge.
They say it’s sweet in the end, and I sure as hell believed them. I could almost taste that honey on my tongue, like a balm I needed to quell the bitterness curdling my insides. The mere thought of it had become an addiction, and I fucking craved it.
But it was all a lie.
I was blindsided. What I got was anything but sweet.
And not once did I think about who I might hurt along the way. I never considered the casualties that may fall across my path of destruction, or the people who never deserved the fallout of my wrath.
Not once.
I cared only for myself—for my own shallow, splintered heart.
…
In the end, I never expected things to be worse than when it all began.
I never expected the wreckage left in my wake.
I never expected her.
***
Envy, Hate, Vengeance. They’re my own deadly sins, but right now they keep me going. They keep me putting one foot in front of the other.
I don’t think Josie deserves what I’ve pulled her into… I really don’t.
But this isn’t about what she deserves.
This is about what I deserve.
***
I refuse to think about whatever the fuck just happened between me and the woman who’s at the center of my revenge scheme—who’s married to the very man who ruined my life.
I refuse to fucking think about it.
I refuse to think about the way Josie Grant felt against my chest, warm and alive, as we danced in a sea of hula hoops with the smell of cotton candy on her skin and her hair made of autumn.
I refuse.
She approaches me with caution, resting her hand against my arm to subdue whatever it is she thinks I’m feeling. It works for a startling moment. My body relaxes on contact, almost like it’s instinct. Like it’s wired that way.
Like she is the antidote to my pain.
But the logical part of me kicks back on, and I know that she isn’t. Josie Grant is a part of my problem. She’s a part of my pain. She shares his name for fuck’s sake.
She’s the way to hurt him.
***
I frown, watching her collect her guitar and purse and walk out my front door.
It closes behind her, and I stand there.
I stand there, staring at it.
And then… I break.
I burst.
I explode.
I’m throwing dishes, pulling pictures off the walls. I’m slamming my fists against the table and kicking the chairs. I’m yelling and swearing and tugging my hair until it hurts.
It hurts.
It fucking hurts.
Fuck.
***
I hate this sinking feeling in my gut.
I fucking hate it—this little voice telling me I’m just as bad as my traitorous ex-wife. I’m silently betraying the woman beside me who has only shown me kindness and compassion. I’m hurting her and she doesn’t even know it. She feels sorry for me, and she shouldn’t. She should hate me.
She will hate me.
And that fucking hurts.
And I hate that it fucking hurts because it means I’m starting to care about her.
Fuck.
I can’t help but wonder when it changed. I try to pinpoint the exact moment, the precise look, the touch, the laugh, the smile—I try to figure out when exactly this stopped being about revenge.
I try to figure out when I started falling.
***
“Please. Just leave it alone. You fucked up, she fucked up, and now you’re even. It was my fault. Don’t use this to hurt her even more.” It’s as raw and real as I could ever be. This isn’t about me anymore. I no longer give a fuck about my goddamned crusade to destroy Benjamin Grant.
His eyes narrow as he scans my face, reading me like an open book. He nods slowly as if coming to some kind of grandiose realization. “You’re in love with her.” Benjamin seems to ponder this for a moment when I don’t deny it, and then a disbelieving bark of laugher leaves him. “Jesus, this is rich. You try to seduce my wife to satisfy your lust for revenge, but you fall for her in the process. Now you can’t go through with it, can you?”
The irony is not lost on me.
Vengeance swirls around me.
Untethered. Victorious.
It’s finally free.
And I am empty.
I’m empty and alone, but not for long. Its companion has joined the victory party.
Self-Loathing is here to fill the gaping wounds left in the wake of my brilliant plan, and I am struck with the reality of the lie I stupidly bought into.
When this started, I was angry and betrayed… and now?
Now… I am so many fucking worse things.
***
I just wanted to hurt him, Josie. Nothing else mattered until you mattered.
***
“I love you.” She continues to stare at me, wordless. “But I don’t deserve you.”
***
My palm is still pressed against her chest. I look down through my tears at the pool of crimson staining both of us as the gruesome realization hits me… her blood is on my hands.
This is what I created.
This is what I set in motion.
This is the price of vengeance.
***
I inhale a frayed breath and ask, “Do the thorns make the rose any less beautiful?”
“No,” she whispers. “But it makes it harder to hold.”
***
You can’t choose what life throws at you, you can only choose how you react to it.
Jennifer Hartmann is the writer of one of my favorite books, The Wrong Heart. That’s why, when my dear friend Sanzida recommended this book to me, I didn’t hesitate but started reading it. Only at the end of the book, I realized that J. Hartmann wrote it first with another title and then revised, edited and rewrote it with Chelley St. Clair.
*********************************************
At first, I was disappointed with this book and honestly, a bit bored. I wanted to skip pages to see if I would come to the good stuff because it was becoming more and more repetitive, making me consider dropping it. This is a long book with 450 pages and up until pages 160 or so, it doesn’t feel promising. However, after a certain point, it starts to get better and better. Slowly but surely, it really gets better. You just need to hang in there and be patient.
*********************************************
The book is told by the hero, Evan. Only the epilogue is told by the heroine Josie. This is one of those books in which we need to see the hero’s point of view from first hand so that was a good call to write it in his POV.
At first, I didn’t like Evan. Actually, I disliked him a lot. I still don’t know how I ended up loving him later. I guess he really owned up to all his mistakes and sincerely regretted for them all, that’s why.
I like revenge books if they are done well but if you want to read a good revenge book, this is definitely not it. This is a book in which you learn how negative feelings like the need for revenge will ruin you. This is a book in which we see how revenge has destroyed the life of the person who initiated it rather than giving him the satisfaction and closure.
*********************************************
Evan’s wife betrays him in the worst way. He takes his revenge on her but it is not enough. He wants to take his revenge on the guy she slept with, as well, by sleeping with his wife. He thinks that he has taken his wife from him and he will do the same to make things even. His wife, Josie, will be the collateral damage in this scenario.
*********************************************
I like revenge books where the two betrayed people come together, make a plan and take their revenge on the people who betrayed them but in this case, it’s not like that; Josie is clueless and Evan is cruel to make a plan like this, without caring about how much he will ruin her.
*********************************************
As I said, the book is boring and repetitive at first and we listen to Evan’s broken heart from him so many times that I doubted if he would ever forget about his ex-wife and fall for another woman.
The book goes to Past and then turns back to Present and in the Past sections, we see how much he loved his wife, how long they were together, how beautiful their relationship was etc.
I see it was bad – having no clue and then experiencing that shock. He didn’t see it coming. And then, of course, he couldn’t digest it. And for that reason, he planned an ugly way of getting even with the guy who slept with his ex-wife.
*********************************************
Because they were rich, Evan assumed that this guy’s wife Josie was an uppity bitch and that’s why, he thought he needn’t care about her. But the more he got to know her, the more he was shocked to see that Josie wasn’t what he expected. She was so much more different from a trophy wife. And while their daughters were becoming best friends, Evan and Josie also became good friends who started to develop feelings for each other.
Evan didn’t stop his plan as soon as he realized that Josie was a good woman. Evan didn’t stop his plan as soon as he realized that he was having feelings for Josie, either. Instead, he made some mistakes to get rid of those feelings. For example, he kissed Josie’s friend. He slept with a woman he used to sleep with before. He resisted having feelings for her. However, eventually, he accepted that he was falling for her and he was going to hurt her in the worst way and he knew she didn’t deserve that.
The book is not only about Evan's dilemma about what to do about it. It is bigger than that. It is more complicated than that. It has so many unexpected twists and turns and so much heartbreak that in the end, I found myself feeling sorry for some characters I never thought I would care about.
Things get messy, really messy after a certain point. It becomes a huge clusterfuck with the involvement of Josie’s husband, his friend and their children. The web of lies each person weaves becomes so destructive that it really destroys everyone who are in the way.
The book teaches us how hatred, anger, resentment and revenge may harm you and how accepting the pain and eventually letting it go will free you.
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The book is definitely NOT SAFE for the readers who don’t like blurred lines, dishonesty and cheating. However, if you can deal with these triggers, then the book has a good story to tell, which is worth reading. You should just beware in mind that everyone in the book makes mistakes, minor or major. It's like the mirror that tells that we, as human beings, are all flawed - in this way or another. We need to face our mistakes, learn from them and grow to be better people. That's briefly the gist of it.
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The writing of the book is not impressive at the beginning but it gets really better later, making you feel it all. There are a few editing mistakes, though, so it needs revising.
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Here are some good QUOTES from the book.
Revenge.
They say it’s sweet in the end, and I sure as hell believed them. I could almost taste that honey on my tongue, like a balm I needed to quell the bitterness curdling my insides. The mere thought of it had become an addiction, and I fucking craved it.
But it was all a lie.
I was blindsided. What I got was anything but sweet.
And not once did I think about who I might hurt along the way. I never considered the casualties that may fall across my path of destruction, or the people who never deserved the fallout of my wrath.
Not once.
I cared only for myself—for my own shallow, splintered heart.
…
In the end, I never expected things to be worse than when it all began.
I never expected the wreckage left in my wake.
I never expected her.
***
Envy, Hate, Vengeance. They’re my own deadly sins, but right now they keep me going. They keep me putting one foot in front of the other.
I don’t think Josie deserves what I’ve pulled her into… I really don’t.
But this isn’t about what she deserves.
This is about what I deserve.
***
I refuse to think about whatever the fuck just happened between me and the woman who’s at the center of my revenge scheme—who’s married to the very man who ruined my life.
I refuse to fucking think about it.
I refuse to think about the way Josie Grant felt against my chest, warm and alive, as we danced in a sea of hula hoops with the smell of cotton candy on her skin and her hair made of autumn.
I refuse.
She approaches me with caution, resting her hand against my arm to subdue whatever it is she thinks I’m feeling. It works for a startling moment. My body relaxes on contact, almost like it’s instinct. Like it’s wired that way.
Like she is the antidote to my pain.
But the logical part of me kicks back on, and I know that she isn’t. Josie Grant is a part of my problem. She’s a part of my pain. She shares his name for fuck’s sake.
She’s the way to hurt him.
***
I frown, watching her collect her guitar and purse and walk out my front door.
It closes behind her, and I stand there.
I stand there, staring at it.
And then… I break.
I burst.
I explode.
I’m throwing dishes, pulling pictures off the walls. I’m slamming my fists against the table and kicking the chairs. I’m yelling and swearing and tugging my hair until it hurts.
It hurts.
It fucking hurts.
Fuck.
***
I hate this sinking feeling in my gut.
I fucking hate it—this little voice telling me I’m just as bad as my traitorous ex-wife. I’m silently betraying the woman beside me who has only shown me kindness and compassion. I’m hurting her and she doesn’t even know it. She feels sorry for me, and she shouldn’t. She should hate me.
She will hate me.
And that fucking hurts.
And I hate that it fucking hurts because it means I’m starting to care about her.
Fuck.
I can’t help but wonder when it changed. I try to pinpoint the exact moment, the precise look, the touch, the laugh, the smile—I try to figure out when exactly this stopped being about revenge.
I try to figure out when I started falling.
***
“Please. Just leave it alone. You fucked up, she fucked up, and now you’re even. It was my fault. Don’t use this to hurt her even more.” It’s as raw and real as I could ever be. This isn’t about me anymore. I no longer give a fuck about my goddamned crusade to destroy Benjamin Grant.
His eyes narrow as he scans my face, reading me like an open book. He nods slowly as if coming to some kind of grandiose realization. “You’re in love with her.” Benjamin seems to ponder this for a moment when I don’t deny it, and then a disbelieving bark of laugher leaves him. “Jesus, this is rich. You try to seduce my wife to satisfy your lust for revenge, but you fall for her in the process. Now you can’t go through with it, can you?”
The irony is not lost on me.
Vengeance swirls around me.
Untethered. Victorious.
It’s finally free.
And I am empty.
I’m empty and alone, but not for long. Its companion has joined the victory party.
Self-Loathing is here to fill the gaping wounds left in the wake of my brilliant plan, and I am struck with the reality of the lie I stupidly bought into.
When this started, I was angry and betrayed… and now?
Now… I am so many fucking worse things.
***
I just wanted to hurt him, Josie. Nothing else mattered until you mattered.
***
“I love you.” She continues to stare at me, wordless. “But I don’t deserve you.”
***
My palm is still pressed against her chest. I look down through my tears at the pool of crimson staining both of us as the gruesome realization hits me… her blood is on my hands.
This is what I created.
This is what I set in motion.
This is the price of vengeance.
***
I inhale a frayed breath and ask, “Do the thorns make the rose any less beautiful?”
“No,” she whispers. “But it makes it harder to hold.”
***
You can’t choose what life throws at you, you can only choose how you react to it.
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