Rejected Heart

The Westwoods, Book 5

De: A.K. Evans

Narrado por: Jason Clarke, Ava Erickson

Layla Snow knows she screwed up. It’s been years since she made the biggest mistake of her life and walked away from the only man she’s ever loved.

Liam Westwood has lived a shell of a man for years after the love of his life walked away from him. He knows he should move on, but he can’t. Liam’s haunted by the memory of her.

Unfortunate circumstances force Layla to return to Landing, and the last thing she needs is to run into Liam.

But it’s a small town, and word travels fast. When Liam learns Layla is back, he seeks her out.

And Layla learns just how much damage she’s done.

©2025 A.K. Evans (P)2025 A.K. Evans

Emotionally Intense & Angsty

Rejected Heart is all the best things that I love about author AK Evans’ writing: complex and dynamic characters, fantastic world building, deep emotions, and thoroughly engrossing love stories. I have been waiting for Liam’s story since the siblings were first introduced and it does not disappoint. It was obvious from previous books in this series that he had been emotionally destroyed by something, and wow is it intense! So much angst, hurt, resentment, anger, and unknowing, all because Layla absolutely sucks at communicating with people and is selfish beyond words. Liam is so beautifully built, and his emotions and reactions are completely justified—there is just no excuse for what Layla did and continues to do through the entire novel. I love how Liam stays true to himself and his love for her though all their time apart. He is the epitome of grace and understanding. This story really is breathtaking and heartbreaking, and the tension and frustration builds and builds to an epic explosion. The narrators did a wonderful job of bringing this story to audio life. Their performances really brought out the best and worst in the various characters, and I felt like I was right there in the moment so many times.

An Emotional Second Chance

Liam has been key to helping his brother and sister go for love in the previous books in the series, but he, himself, was never happy. In Rejected Heart, we get to find out his story. We are hit with all his emotions in ways not typical of romance novels. It is gut wrenching and you can't help but want to wrap him up in your arms and tell him it will be okay. I love that his family understand and accept him without trying to change him. He becomes the beloved, fun uncle to his niece. Layla is a bit hard to like, but I get her point. Her mother was a stay at home mom whose husband left her with nothing. Her mother struggled and Layla wanted to make sure she had something to fall back on. Unless you have lived in that kind of poverty, it is hard to understand why she would feel so strongly about that. Her point of view is kind of hard to take because she didn't talk to Liam and tell him anything. It took Liam exploding at his brothers and Cooper going to see Layla to get it through her head she was destroying this man. The narration was perfect for this. Liam's pain and anguish was brought to life in a way that made it seem real.

Another winner in the series

We are back with the Westwood siblings, who little by little have found love. This time Liam, whom we have met in other stories in the series, finally gets his story.
Eight years ago, Liam Westwood and Layla Snow were HS sweethearts . But that all changed when she walked away. Leaving a devastated and brokenhearted Liam . A shell of himself, even nowadays.
Fast forward to the present and Layla is back in town due to a family emergency. Back to the place she had no plans of returning.
Will they be able to reconnect and heal old hurts?
The rollercoaster of emotions was at times heartbreaking as well as heart wrenching.
This listener has to confess that as much as I love Liam, I had a hard time with Layla. Warming up to her was not easy and frequently I wanted to “march up to her” and give her a lecture about how her treatment of young Liam, changed the boy and the man he became.
As always, it was wonderful to “see” how the Westwood siblings supported each other.
Lastly, the narrations of Jason Clarke and Ava Erickson, brought the story to life.
I was entrusted a copy of this audiobook. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

A sweet and turmoil filled young love to HEA.

Jason Clarke & Ava Erickson are always a dynamite duo, but I especially enjoyed them as Liam & Layla. The transition from teenagers, young and in love, to adults with years between them and broken hearts to heal was done perfectly.

While Layla leaving the way she did frustrated me to no end, I understood that she was young and insecure and wanted to make something of herself before tying her future to a rich husband, no matter how misguided her actions or feelings were.

Liam was literally perfect. The way that man loved her, and waited for her for 8 years when he could've had any woman he wanted speaks volumes to the Westwood men being raised right. His heart belonged to one woman and there wasn't anything that was going to change that.

While I wished Layla had to do a little more groveling, because Liam deserved it, I was happy to see them get their HEA years in the making.

Sweet Story

Really enjoyed listening to the audio after I read the book. The male narrator was wonderful and showed Liam’s feelings you felt while reading the book. I’ve been wanting to hear the audiobook after reading the book because I wondered what it would be like with the emotions of this book. Wow! I can’t wait for the last story in the series.

Second Chance Romance

Layla and Liam have been a pair since freshman year in high school. She can't believe Liam is spending time with her, but soon they are inseparable. Fast forward to summer after graduation. Liam proposes and Layla says no. She leaves Landing for NYC. She needs to prove to herself that she can make it on her own. Yet she has no college degree or any real experience to make it big. She sends Liam letters saying she's sorry but not explaining why she left. For eight years, Liam has been devastated. He's been living in his family's hotel and maintaining their amusement park. Layla returns to Landing to help her mom recover from an accident. They finally have that convo about why she left and how bereft Liam has been since then. I get it. I get her reasons, but I also don't. They were young...18, with the whole world in front of them. For all the time they spent together, I would think they had real conversations, the raw and deep ones where you pour out your soul. And in the end, what did her leaving prove? This was a good second chance romance.

Ava Erickson and Jason Clarke were amazing narrators for this story. They got the characters' personalities to shine and brought the emotions that were evident in every interaction the characters had.

I received a complimentary copy of the audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this review.

excellent

Writer never fails to entertain her readers. I have read every book of hers I can find.

Second Chances

We have read about Liam and we knew his story would be one of heartbreak but wow!!!

Rejected Heart is book 5 in the Westwoods Series.

Jason Clarke and Ava Erickson are incredible together and these two being the voices of Liam and Layla really brought out the characters!

If you love second chances then this is the perfect book for you. Liam and Layla were together for 3 years and everyone thought they were it for each other but Layla got scared, not wanting to stay in the small town, she fled to NY.
Liam never got over Layla even 8 years later. Determined to never put himself out like that again, Liam kept to himself.

A.K. Evans did a great job with Liam and Layla and I have to say, I was pro Liam more so, than Layla on this one!!!

My heart has been broken for Liam....

My heart has been broken for Liam since the beginning, even though I didn't know the story of how his heart got broken. I think part of that is because I understood how that kind of heartbreak changes a person fundamentally. But Liam got a second chance, and although I have my qualms about how Layla acted, she was young and if the Westwoods, and most especially Liam could move on from it, I was there for it. I was gripped from the beginning, wanting to know all the reasons and see the HEA achieved. Narrators brought the characters to life.

Second change at first love

Liam's story was one I was anxious to read and it didn't disappoint. I listened to this on audio and the way Jason Clarke brought the raw emotion in Liam's story to life was truly exceptional. In the beginning, I had a harder time connecting with Layla. It felt like she just left without having a conversation about how she felt. I had to remind myself she was barely an adult at the time and running purely on emotions and fear. Later on in the story I connected with her reasoning on such a deep, real level that I absolutely felt and related to everything. Liam's heartbreak was so utterly painful to listen to, but this man did not waiver one second on his love for this girl. 8 years?! That is TRUE LOVE. This one really shows if it's real love, no amount of time, space, or heartache will keep you apart.