Flawed Heart by Bella Jewel

Bella Jewel has quickly made her way up my go to author list. And this book does that climb absolutely no harm at all because once again she has produced a fabulous story.

The book is the story of Belle and Max and it is completely enchanting. That may sound strange given the setting and scenario that surround the two of them but it is the best word I can use, I was completely taken with the two of them but it was not all sweetness and light.

College sweethearts that were always besotted with each other and married young and I have to say that although they may have appeared to be so different, they really were perfect for each, life was just what they wanted it to be and they were happy, but it was about to come crashing down around them.

Max changed after he was witness to an event that while it did not happen to him directly it had a profound effect on how he viewed life and set him on a path from which not only he but his relationship would never survive.

His demise was fuelled by the consumption of copious amounts of drink and drugs and after a particular vicious argument between the two of him, he does the unthinkable and calls a halt to the relationship between the two of them, packing Belle out of his life, but unable to stay nearby, she goes one step further and leave town all together but she takes with a life changing secret.

I was so sad for the two of them that everything they had, everything that was so beautiful had crumbled around them, and that the opportunity to have a family surrounded by the love that they had originally disappeared, swept away from them is a sea of alcohol and chemicals.

But after five years they have are back in the same town, Belle has returned and brought their daughter with her.

Now that was going to be a kicker to Max because she never told him that had a child, Now I have to admit that this is the only part of the story that I took exception too.

I was miffed with the fact that she had kept her daughter away from her father, I mean the reason she was back was to care for her mother, so why couldn’t she have allowed her mother to have acted as an intermediary between the two of them, the little girl had done nothing to warrant being deprived of her father’s love but then as odd as her action was to me, I also understood that Max had really hurt her, he cast her away and left her broken and I also understood that sometimes it is difficult to think straight when you are handling hurt and anger. There were no winners in this situation.

But she was back and doing what she could to help her ailing mother, and it was always a case of when and not if she came across her husband again, and when they do eventually cross paths, the feelings that have been so neatly repressed for so long all come flooding back.

But can they forgive and forget, can they learn to live, love and trust again.

It was a delightful trilogy of mystery and emotion but it was the most amazing opportunity to regain the one thing that they should never have lost in the first place… each other and their family.