I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

De: Ruby Lang

Narrado por: Jasmin Song

She's the unlikable heroine from his past.

Ben Nakamura never forgot spiky, beautiful Natalie Chen, who was the joy and plague of his last year at university. She may even have been the inspiration for the main character of his YA fantasy series. But the Nat who walks back into his life is less angry, less edgy-and just as vulnerable.

Can she be part of his future?

Nat returned to Vancouver to care for her dying mother, and now, after confronting the person she used to be, needs time to figure out who she wants to become. All the more reason for her to stay away from Ben, the boy she hurt so long ago. But Ben has grown in confidence, maturity, and in all the ways that make him irresistible.

Ben and Nat may have changed, but is it enough to keep them from breaking their hearts again?

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart is a novella of around 22,000 words with an HEA. It deals with sensitive topics including anxiety and mental illness, grief and the death of a parent, and difficult family relationships. In addition, it contains depictions of sex and alcohol use.

©2023 Ruby Lang (P)2024 Scribd, Inc.

One of my all time favorite novellas in audio form!

Ruby Lang does a lot of things well, but one of my favorites is the way she creates women who are “kind of an a**hole” and the men who love them. In her novella, I am Trying to Break Your Heart, Natalie Chen used to be an a**hole but mostly she is trying not to be one now. Ben Nakamura used to be in love with her and he is trying not to be in love with her again. Nat is much more successful than Ben. Natalie lost her mother to cancer the year before, and now she is unofficially taking care of her sister, Maya. She still has sharp edges, but she’s softer and less guarded.

Nat and Ben were housemates in college who occasionally had sex. Eventually Ben broke things off because he had feelings for her and she wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship. From Ben’s perspective, Nat was much cooler than he was and barely knew his name. From Nat’s perspective, she was hurt, angry, and flailing. She feels badly about the way she treated Ben. It quickly becomes apparent that what ever lack of depth they think their college relationship had, they impacted each other profoundly. Ben based his “unlikable” main character on her. Nat’s 13 year old sister calls him, “the one that got away.”

Novellas can sometimes feel rushed, but I am Trying to Break Your Heart is like breathing – it takes all the time it needs. The air between Natalie and Ben is saturated with feeling and their connection feels like gossamer. Ben and Natalie handle each other so delicately, like one wrong move will slice them open.

Jasmine Song brings the story to life.