Tattered Stars

The Tattered & Torn Series, Book 1

De: Catherine Cowles

Narrado por: Andi Arndt, Zachary Webber

Be brave. Just for sixty seconds. Twenty breaths.

One night changed them both forever.

Their lives shattered, beyond repair, with jagged edges and pieces askew.

Now, Everly has a chance to make things right. To bring healing to the place where everything fell apart. But it means facing the family her father almost destroyed, and the boy with the dark eyes - now grown - who still haunts her dreams.

Just one breath away from having your life ripped out from under you.

The last thing Hayes wants is another reminder of all the ways he failed 16 years ago. When Everly drives back into Wolf Gap, his only mission is to get her to leave. For his family’s sake, and for his own, those demons need to stay buried for good.

But everything about this woman is a surprise, from her spine of steel to the sanctuary she hopes to create with the land her mother left behind. And Hayes is powerless to stay away.

As a careful friendship sparks into something more, someone watches. And they’ll do anything to tear it all apart....

©2021 Catherine Cowles (P)2021 Catherine Cowles

Great small town, romantic suspense story!

“I love her. And that’s not going to change. I also know it won’t be an easy road or a simple one. But it’ll be worth it.”

Heartbreakingly beautiful, this romance of second chances and forgiveness gripped me from the first page, a story woven with suspense and intrigue, Hayes and Everly were unforgettable. The underlying mystery of vandalism and kidnapping kept me guessing, while the love between Hayes and Everly built slowly giving me that satisfying feeling of watching two people fall in love. It definitely took time to build trust between them, a love between them was anything but easy with the painful history their families shared. My heart hurt over the wrong assumptions Hayes made about Everly from the start, but he certainly made up for it in the ways he opened his heart to her, showing her how love was supposed to be. SWOON! I love when a hero can admit he’s wrong and do everything in his power to make up for it.

“That’s one of the greatest gifts a person can give another. The freedom to be who they truly are.”

In coming back home to Wolf Gap, Everly had done everything in her power to become stronger than her past, not letting the hurt her father and family caused dictate her future happiness. I admired her trying strength that had her persevering nevertheless, no one was going to keep Everly from her dreams! I loved the underlying theme of being brave and conquering your fears, Hayes and Everly had both overcome so much and deserved the happiness they found in each other.

Tattered Stars is an unforgettable story of two broken souls learning to heal their hearts together and discover a love that can withstand anything. If you love a small town, romantic suspense story that will make you swoon, definitely check this one out!

A fantastic series starter with great narration.

What a great start to a new series this was. With good world building and a small town with loveable characters you just can’t go wrong with TATTERED STARS. Catherine takes us to Wolf Gap, a small town near the mountains full of ranches. Everly and Hayes are connected by an event that was completely out of their control but has bound them in their guilt. Everly returns to her hometown after her mother dies to try to make a new start, but her family just won’t let her move on. Hayes has grown into the town Sheriff and all-round protector.

After a rocky start their friendship grows and morphs into a love that is strong, passionate and unending. With a little suspense Catherine draws you into this story, keeping you engaged and compelling you to just keep reading (or listening).

We meet some side characters who I cannot wait to read their books. This book has a strong sense of family and community at its core, and I loved how Hayes’s family took Everly into the fold and accepted her as their own.

With this winning combo of voice actors you are in for a real treat with this audiobook. Andi and Zach put you right there in the moment. You feel all the feels and have a front-row seat to relationships, drama, action and a little spice too.

If you like a story with animals you’ll love this one. With a cute chipmunk, gorgeous horses and a loyal canine programme dropout you’ll get your animal lover fix too.

A fantastic series starter that is sure to suck you into the town of Wolf Gap.

Enjoyable Romance Read

I enjoyed the way the story unfolded and the character development. The narration was good and I will check out the next book in the series.

Beautiful!

Beautiful love story with two people who learn to trust each other and see past preconceived notions. Cowles writing is beautifully engaging, carefully explorative, heartwarmingly eloquent. The pacing builds beautifully to the conclusion as the plot is interesting and engaging with a beautiful romance at the helm!

The narrators do a wonderful job bringing these characters to life and keeping the story clear and moving along.

Good book

Liked the story and the plot was good. Liked all the characters and will read more form this author.

Overcoming

Sometimes there is an author that you just love and that is Catherine Cowles for me. She brings it every time I read one of her books.

This book started off with a bang with the main character finding courage to do the right thing against her family. To do the right thing knowing your family will turn on you is such a beautiful and hard concept.

Everly was raised in the mountains away from people. She was raised to believe that people, the government, and the medical field were all out to “get” them “poison” them… without spoiling the beginning of the story she ends up leaving her family and comes back to her home town 16 years later. Her story is a story of healing and of strength. She takes care of herself and trusts no one always expecting the next shoe to fall because most of the time it does.

Hayes is the small town sherif. He is a protector and also holds it on his shoulders that he needs to protect everyone and also play peace keeper too. His story is also a story of healing, forgiving, and letting someone in.

I predicted the twist in the story but had such a fun ride that was not upset about it!

Romance and suspense!

The fresh start and new beginnings gave life to this book! I loved the suspense factor and kept me wanting more. Now on to book 2!

Cozy comfort listen 😍

This was my first book by Catherine Cowles and I am now on book 3 in this series and I’ll be working my way through her backlist. Reading her books, or listening as the case may be, just has that vibe of cuddling up with a blanket and a cup of tea - it has this cozy comfort feeling of home. Don’t get me wrong though, you are in for a ride! A little suspense, a lot of swoon, and a pinch of spice makes for a page turner!

Now to focus on this book specifically. The setting is the small town of Wolf Gap, Oregon. Our MMC is protective, grumpy Hayes Easton. Our FMC is brave, strong Everly Kemper. An event 15 years ago connected their families in a way that profoundly effected them both. Everly moved away but is now back in town. Hayes’ initial reaction is poor, getting them off on the wrong foot. His reaction is due to his instinct to always protect his family, but once he gets he head on straight and sees things for what they are, his protective instincts encompass Everly as well.
Watching Hayes try to protect Everly and his sisters while they all snap at him for being strong independent women is my favorite! Though, he might not be wrong, this bunch seems like they can get themselves into trouble… especially with enemies lurking around what seems like every corner.

If you are a fan of Devney Perry’s small town romance, you’ll love Catherine Cowles too! I also highly recommend this on audio! This first book is narrated by Andi Arndt and Zachary Weber and I absolutely love them both! Andi is one of my fav female narrators, she absolutely brings Everly to life and has so much emotion in her voice. And Zachary fit perfectly as Hayes with his sexy voice!

Suspense & Swoon

Well, I have mixed feelings about this book because I really did love the storyline and the characters. I'm really invested in this family and I am very anxious about waiting for the others in the series mostly to see if my predictions are correct, but as this was my first by Catherine I wasn't aware of the very low steam level (not sure if that's common with her writing). It was almost a fade to black (almost) and a very, very slow burn, so I was a little thrown considering I usually see that info in the reviews (and I read a lot of reviews before I started). I don't have a problem with closed door/low-steam/fade to black/lack of detail/call it what you will, I just like to know what I'm getting into ahead of time because the heat between Ev and Hayes was really good, great chemistry! I feel like their build up needed more payoff, but that's obviously a personal preference. That being said, I did get some steam at the end (giving it a 1/5 for that) but the story and writing overall was great and obviously kept me interested enough that even without the steam I kept going. This reminded me of the Harlequin Intrigue novels I used to steal from my mom ☺️ Full of suspense and drama, and definitely left me wanting more of these characters.

I don't think I really need to say much about the narration because I'm a huge fan of both narrators, so going in I already knew I would love it and it's pretty hard to be unbiased here. Zach and Andi are both fantastic and their voices, style and pacing work so well together it feels like a seamless story.
4/5 story, 4/5 narration
❤️🎧❤️

Awesome start to a new series! ❤️

Everly has been through a lot in her life, especially her childhood. She comes back to the town she grew up in and has to deal with family members that hate her. Everly is a very strong, loving woman and I am so happy that Hayes changes his views about her. I love the characters in this book - they are like one big family, just like Catherine's other books. This book was a great start to a new series! It was suspenseful, loving, sad, emotional, and so much more! And you couldn't ask for better narrators than Andi and Zachary - they are the best and really brought the characters to life! I can't wait to listen to the next book!