2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Heartaches 2 by H.M. Irwing, the second book in the Bad Boy Vibes series continues the tale of Anna Simmons and Rafe Brown from the first book. Both victims of past sexual abuse, Anna and Rafe eventually find solace in each other, living on a military base with their friends. But try as they might, they are unable to escape the ghosts of their past that come back to haunt and even to reclaim them. As a dangerous truth about Rafe is revealed, the duo tries to halt the impending marriage between Rafe's aunt and Anna's rapist with the help of Suzie, a luscious young maid.
The author has dared to venture into sensitive issues such as rape, sexual abuse, and gay rights and has drawn several strong characters to carry the plot. Anna's character shows surprising strength and undaunted nature although bordering on being impulsive and obsessive when Rafe is concerned. Another important character is Pat Cash, Rafe and Anna's gay friend, whose hesitation over confessing his proclivities to his parents is a painful reminder of how a major part of our society looks down upon homosexuality.
Apart from the above-mentioned points, the book managed to disappoint me on several fronts. Keeping in mind the sensitive nature of the subject matter, I was expecting a more mature tale. While the story showed the victims' agony and their feeling of vengeance, the author did not seem to portray them with enough authenticity. Also, Rafe and Anna's mutual obsession seemed unreal and bordered on being unhealthy.
The pace of the story left much to be desired. Even after going almost halfway through the story not much had happened except for Rafe and Anna breathing each other’s' names every few minutes and a few fights with occasional entries of the Prestons and Eric Dayton (rapists of Anna and Rafe, respectively). When the story finally began to unroll, even then it felt too haphazard.
The cover did not do justice to the book. While the book dealt with serious issues such as sexual abuse, the cover indicated something of a more erotic nature that might put some readers off. Also, the covers for all three books in this series were almost alike. I believe a little variation would have done better.
The language seemed unnecessarily dense, overly dramatic at some places and repetitive at others. I felt myself slipping off times and again. Sometimes, even with a good storyline, the reading experience becomes cumbersome because of the writing style. I was going to say this was one of those experiences, but to be honest, I did not care much for the storyline either.
I rate the book 2 out of 4 stars. As for grammatical and printing errors, it contained very few. Considering the subject matter I believe this could have been made into a serious book, but Heartaches 2 was simply not what I hoped for. However, fans of the romance genre might like to read this. While this book is mainly for young adults, this is in no way suitable for the much younger audience because of its contents.
******
Heartaches 2
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Shrabastee's review? Post a comment saying so!
