A Flawed Heart by April Emerson

A Flawed Heart
By: April Emerson
Publisher: Secret Cravings Publishing
Published: July 14, 2014
Genre: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Length: Novel
Heat Level: Spicy
Reviewer: Marchelle
Date: August 7, 2014

 

Claire Brighton has just finished college and is abandoning her warm, southern home in favor of gritty New York City. Her search for the perfect roommate leads her to Lydia Taylor. Lydia lives a life of privilege in her father's penthouse, but like Claire, she's ready to go out into the world on her own. Claire and Lydia rent a little apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, near Lydia's older brother, Jason. Claire is intrigued by Lydia's stories of Jason, who is the black sheep of the family—and a musician. The minute Claire hears him sing, she falls for him. Claire thrives in her new urban surroundings, treasuring her time with Jason and exploring her new found sexuality, but both Claire and Jason carry shadows with them. They're each fighting wounds of their past. Will they defeat their demons? Will their feelings for each other last?

Claire leaves her home in Georgia to move to Brooklyn, New York. She has just graduated college and although I don't think it's ever really stated why she's made such a drastic life change, it appears she is trying to decide what to do with her life. She finds her roommate Lydia through Craigslist and luckily they get along really well. Claire meets some new friends through her relationship with Lydia but none of those introductions are as life-changing as the minute she meets Lydia's brother Jason.

Jason is the typical bad boy musician/singer with a whole truckload of baggage stemming from his mother's death. He and Claire are inexplicably drawn to each other and the relationship gets rather intense pretty quickly. They have various issues to work through, with the biggest one being his jealousy and her trust issues.

It felt at times that the characters were making a big deal about things only to get over them rather quickly. When Lydia finds out Claire is hooking up with her brother, she confronts Claire and makes her promise not to get involved with him. That only lasts a couple pages and then Lydia is over it, never really mentioning it again. Jason flies into a rage any time he sees Claire even speaking to another guy but he's over it after a few minutes. I had to keep reminding myself that the characters are still fairly young and the dramatic flair is probably a reflection of their age group. If I was younger or if the characters were more mature, I may have enjoyed this book more. That being said, I think a younger demographic (probably twenty-somethings to early thirties) would be more likely to give this book 5 stars.

Overall it was a good story. Seeing where the relationship was going in the last couple chapters was a nice touch. In my opinion, that extra glimpse into Claire's life at the very end wrapped the story up beautifully. That is the part that will probably stick with me the most.