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.

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.

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.

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.