Heartache and Hope

Heartache Duet, Book 1

By: Jay McLean

Narrated by: Stephanie Rose, Brandon Utah

Ava Diaz needs saving.

She just doesn't know it yet. Just like she doesn't know a thing about the boy she sits next to on the first day of senior year.

He thinks she's a brat. She thinks he's entitled.

Maybe first impressions don't always last...

Because Connor Ledger's about to save her. He just doesn't know why.

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Jay McLean (P)2020 Tantor

Heartbreakingly beautiful

this book and performance was so beautiful, i sobbed so hard my chest hurts. I am running to the next book

“Sometimes hope is the only thing that gets us through to the next day.”

Take my heart and break it into pieces, why don't ya! Although with a title like Heartache and Hope coming from Jay McLean, I wasn't expecting any less than heartbreak. This is book 1 in a duet and it ends in a heartbreaking cliffhanger, and let me tell you, Stephanie Rose and Brandon Utah were simply amazing with this narration.

Ava is living the life, one of the popular girls at school, girlfriend of the basketball team captain, until her mom returns home from deployment and everything changes. Connor just moved here looking for better opportunities to catch the eye of basketball scouts to secure his endgame, which now involves Ava. But Connor also has his own demons to battle thanks to the fact that he was abandoned by his mom when he was three years old.

Both the MCs have so much unresolved trauma and deal with so much stress that it's no surprise when everything blows up and shatters their heart to pieces along with the readers.

Quote: “Never in my life have I wanted a girl more than I want her. And not even in the physical sense. But just talking to her or being around her. To feel this all day, every day. It feels like my soul’s on fire, and she’s holding the match.”

Love this series

This is such a good book with two broken people who find strength in each other. Well worth a credit!

Read this & make sure to have book 2 ready to go!

It's been a hot minute since I've read a book about high schoolers. Heartache and Hope did not disappoint. It had all the great elements I love in my teen dramas from angst to the new guy in school.

Connor transfers into a private a high school on a scholarship. He's working towards playing basketball in college and then the ultimate goal of playing in the pros.

Ava is the girl whose mother returns home from the military with a lot of trauma. During her mother's time in the military, she was a POW and also suffered in a horrible accident which has left her unable to be left alone.

Connor & his dad move next door to Ava and he quickly becomes enamored with her. Since Ava's mom has mental issues and needs constant care Ava tries to keep her distance from him. She knows she can't offer him things like other girls can - like going to watch him play, etc. Connor convinces her that he doesn't care and he just wants whatever she can give him of her time.

That's all fine and dandy until it isn't. The story continues on in the next book: FIRST AND FOREMOST.

HEARTACHE AND HOPE
● high school sports romance
● friends to lovers
● war trauma
● basketball
● teen angst
● duet: cliffhanger
● dual pov

Heartbreaking

Excellent narration… heartbreaking start to this duet. Can’t wait for the second half and learning their HEA. 💕