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BLURB:

Life and a dismal last name are the only two things Beyah Grim’s parents ever gave her. After carving her path all on her own, Beyah is well on her way to bigger and better things, thanks to no one but herself.

With only two short months separating her from the future she’s built and the past she desperately wants to leave behind, an unexpected death leaves Beyah with no place to go during the interim. Forced to reach out to her last resort, Beyah has to spend the remainder of her summer on a peninsula in Texas with a father she barely knows. Beyah’s plan is to keep her head down and let the summer slip by seamlessly, but her new neighbor Samson throws a wrench in that plan.

Samson and Beyah have nothing in common on the surface.
She comes from a life of poverty and neglect; he comes from a family of wealth and privilege. But one thing they do have in common is that they’re both drawn to sad things. Which means they’re drawn to each other. With an almost immediate connection too intense for them to continue denying, Beyah and Samson agree to stay in the shallow end of a summer fling. What Beyah doesn’t realize is that a rip current is coming, and it’s about to drag her heart out to sea.

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“I think when you’re the worst of people, finding the worst in others becomes a survival tactic of sorts. You focus heavily on the darkness in people in hopes of masking the true shade of your own darkness. That’s how my mother has spent her entire life. Always seeking the worst in people. Even her own daughter.”

With my lack of reading time lately, I definitely want to choose books that are top-notch and enjoyable to read. Heart Bones definitely ticked those boxes for me! Colleen’s last two books have felt like a return to her roots, with characters we can’t help but fall in love with. This book felt like a mix between Ugly Love and Hopeless, with damaged characters who were keeping the circumstances of their pasts under wraps. I couldn’t wait to find out what made Samson and Beyah tick and what made them so easily drawn to one another. 

“Kindness doesn’t sink as deep into your skin as the damage does. The damage stains your soul so bad, you can’t scrub it off. It stays there forever, and I feel like people can see all my damage just by looking at me.”

I loved the way this story evoked a range of emotions and made me think deeply about the relationships of the characters, as well as the decisions they made. Heart Bones forces readers to reflect on morally ambiguous situations, making it clear the world is not as black and white as it seems. I always appreciate books that show characters rising up to make themselves better despite their circumstances. It was inspiring to witness the growth of Beyah and Samson throughout the novel. I couldn’t get enough of this book and I certainly don’t want to give too much away. Just know, you will feel every word of this one and be underlining numerous great quotes along the way! Colleen’s books are compulsive reads, so you definitely can’t go wrong here!

Rating: 5 stars

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Purchase on Amazon.

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