Review by AnnaKathleen -- Heartaches 2 by H.M. Irwing

[AnnaKathleen]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Heartaches 2" by H.M. Irwing.]

---

2 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Anna Simmons and Rafe Brown have both been through hell. Broken and victimized, each has their demons, enemies, and nightmares to face. When the justice system they have put their faith in fails them, they discover fighting for justice on their terms can make the difference between remaining a victim and becoming a survivor. The question soon becomes do they fight together, or alone?

Heartaches 2, the second installment of the Bad Boy Vibes series, by H.M. Irwing creates a beautiful and poignant narrative of abuse, survival, and moving forward with hope. Filled with heart wrenching chaos, but also humor, love, friendship, action, and moments of spite and revenge, I can gladly say this book packed a punch I was not expecting.

While this novel is the second of a series, I did not feel completely out of touch by reading it as a standalone. In fact, the author weaves flashbacks and references throughout the story just enough to remind past readers of what has happened while informing new readers of details without creating a dragging pace. This, combined with character dialogue and interactions, resulted in plot depth and character development that was surprising for an erotic romance novel. It is important to note that the work had moments of unpredictability and freshness, but also had small moments that I could easily recognize where the story was headed. Because of the moments of predictability and the suddenly rampant, random, and sometimes unemotional sex scenes in the second half of the book, my spirits fell the longer I read. Despite this, I often felt excited reading, especially the first two thirds of the novel, and think many readers could also appreciate the work.

Heartaches 2 has a page-turning effect and an air of being “unputdownable” that eventually became too much of a good thing, like too much candy creating a painful cavity. The latter part of the book was nonstop drama and I found myself having to take a break from reading merely because I was reminded of a soap opera. Some revelations and plot twists had seemingly no root in the story – just appearing out of nowhere, and it made it hard to stop and savor the anticipation and results.

I enjoyed H.M. Irwing’s Heartaches 2, but the content in later chapters paired with occasional writing errors resulted in my weighing the pros and cons of the story and my rating for quite some time. With this in mind, I give this book 2 out of 4 stars due to a story that began wonderfully, albeit with some errors, but became both overly complicated and less interesting. My advice to future readers is, be prepared for plot tangles, drama, and possible triggering themes.

******
Heartaches 2
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like AnnaKathleen's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Fu Zaila]

Great review Anna! I love it when sequels can be read as a standalone, with enough backstory to appeal the readers without making them feel lost. But a soap-opera type erotic romance isn't really my kinda book. Thank you for your review.

[AnnaKathleen]

Great review Anna! I love it when sequels can be read as a standalone, with enough backstory to appeal the readers without making them feel lost. But a soap-opera type erotic romance isn't really my kinda book. Thank you for your review.

Thank you for checking my review out! I agree, I enjoy sequels that are substantial enough to stand on their own too. The genre isn't one I often read, but it sounded interesting enough to try. What kind of books do you prefer?

[Fu Zaila]

Great review Anna! I love it when sequels can be read as a standalone, with enough backstory to appeal the readers without making them feel lost. But a soap-opera type erotic romance isn't really my kinda book. Thank you for your review.

Thank you for checking my review out! I agree, I enjoy sequels that are substantial enough to stand on their own too. The genre isn't one I often read, but it sounded interesting enough to try. What kind of books do you prefer?

I'm more of a contemporary-YA-historical-fantasy kinda person. I love YA romances but too much romance kinda puts me off. How about you?

[AnnaKathleen]

Great review Anna! I love it when sequels can be read as a standalone, with enough backstory to appeal the readers without making them feel lost. But a soap-opera type erotic romance isn't really my kinda book. Thank you for your review.

Thank you for checking my review out! I agree, I enjoy sequels that are substantial enough to stand on their own too. The genre isn't one I often read, but it sounded interesting enough to try. What kind of books do you prefer?

I'm more of a contemporary-YA-historical-fantasy kinda person. I love YA romances but too much romance kinda puts me off. How about you?

I read a bit of everything but I lean towards YA fantasy, sci-fi, horror and mystery. Romance is okay in small doses and contemporary has to have a good plot. I sometimes get bored if there is too much romance or if the story is too much like everyday life. I like to escape when I read lol

[Fu Zaila]

Thank you for checking my review out! I agree, I enjoy sequels that are substantial enough to stand on their own too. The genre isn't one I often read, but it sounded interesting enough to try. What kind of books do you prefer?

I'm more of a contemporary-YA-historical-fantasy kinda person. I love YA romances but too much romance kinda puts me off. How about you?

I read a bit of everything but I lean towards YA fantasy, sci-fi, horror and mystery. Romance is okay in small doses and contemporary has to have a good plot. I sometimes get bored if there is too much romance or if the story is too much like everyday life. I like to escape when I read lol

I haven't tried a horror-mystery in a long time. Same! But I do tend to enjoy realistic every-day-life kinda stories since they're so relatable. I do like to escape sometimes too lol

[Okafor Prosper]

I've read and reviewed the books in the bad boy vibes series, and I didn't really enjoy Heartaches 2. It had too many erotic scenes with less focus on Rafe and Anna's story. The book started to get more interesting for me towards the end though. Heartaches 3 is my favorite. I concur with your rating on this book. Nice review.

[AnnaKathleen]

I've read and reviewed the books in the bad boy vibes series, and I didn't really enjoy Heartaches 2. It had too many erotic scenes with less focus on Rafe and Anna's story. The book started to get more interesting for me towards the end though. Heartaches 3 is my favorite. I concur with your rating on this book. Nice review.

Thank you for checking out my review. I completely agree! I enjoyed the parts of the story that didn't focus the erotic aspects. I loved seeing the relationships and friendships. I was debating whether or not to pick up the third book. If it's your favorite, I assume you recommend it?

[AnnaKathleen]

I'm more of a contemporary-YA-historical-fantasy kinda person. I love YA romances but too much romance kinda puts me off. How about you?

I read a bit of everything but I lean towards YA fantasy, sci-fi, horror and mystery. Romance is okay in small doses and contemporary has to have a good plot. I sometimes get bored if there is too much romance or if the story is too much like everyday life. I like to escape when I read lol

I haven't tried a horror-mystery in a long time. Same! But I do tend to enjoy realistic every-day-life kinda stories since they're so relatable. I do like to escape sometimes too lol

Relatable stories are good. It mainly depends on my mood. If you're open to my suggesting a few horror/mystery books to check out... Final girls and The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager are both good. As well as Raven's Peak and it's sequels by Lincoln Cole. I highly enjoyed all of those works.

[Okafor Prosper]

I've read and reviewed the books in the bad boy vibes series, and I didn't really enjoy Heartaches 2. It had too many erotic scenes with less focus on Rafe and Anna's story. The book started to get more interesting for me towards the end though. Heartaches 3 is my favorite. I concur with your rating on this book. Nice review.

Thank you for checking out my review. I completely agree! I enjoyed the parts of the story that didn't focus the erotic aspects. I loved seeing the relationships and friendships. I was debating whether or not to pick up the third book. If it's your favorite, I assume you recommend it?

Yes I'm recommending it. I think you'll enjoy it.

[AnnaKathleen]

I've read and reviewed the books in the bad boy vibes series, and I didn't really enjoy Heartaches 2. It had too many erotic scenes with less focus on Rafe and Anna's story. The book started to get more interesting for me towards the end though. Heartaches 3 is my favorite. I concur with your rating on this book. Nice review.

Thank you for checking out my review. I completely agree! I enjoyed the parts of the story that didn't focus the erotic aspects. I loved seeing the relationships and friendships. I was debating whether or not to pick up the third book. If it's your favorite, I assume you recommend it?

Yes I'm recommending it. I think you'll enjoy it.

Alright, well thank you.

[Fu Zaila]

I read a bit of everything but I lean towards YA fantasy, sci-fi, horror and mystery. Romance is okay in small doses and contemporary has to have a good plot. I sometimes get bored if there is too much romance or if the story is too much like everyday life. I like to escape when I read lol

I haven't tried a horror-mystery in a long time. Same! But I do tend to enjoy realistic every-day-life kinda stories since they're so relatable. I do like to escape sometimes too lol

Relatable stories are good. It mainly depends on my mood. If you're open to my suggesting a few horror/mystery books to check out... Final girls and The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager are both good. As well as Raven's Peak and it's sequels by Lincoln Cole. I highly enjoyed all of those works.

I've heard a lot about Riley Sager and her books, I'll definitely check them out. And I've also seen Raven's Peak around the site. Thank you for your recs

[AnnaKathleen]

I haven't tried a horror-mystery in a long time. Same! But I do tend to enjoy realistic every-day-life kinda stories since they're so relatable. I do like to escape sometimes too lol

Relatable stories are good. It mainly depends on my mood. If you're open to my suggesting a few horror/mystery books to check out... Final girls and The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager are both good. As well as Raven's Peak and it's sequels by Lincoln Cole. I highly enjoyed all of those works.

I've heard a lot about Riley Sager and her books, I'll definitely check them out. And I've also seen Raven's Peak around the site. Thank you for your recs

No problem! I hope you enjoy them. Happy reading!