HER DEFIANT HEART (Damaged Hearts #1) by Monica Murphy-Review & Excerpt Tour
Read Today Exclusively on –> iBooks
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 29, 2018
Life can feel like a cruel joke. I grew up poor and motherless, with a father who never got over his wife’s abandonment. But now he’s gone too, and I’m dead set on finding the woman who so carelessly tossed me aside when I was a baby.
I want revenge. And I’m going to get back at my mother any way that I can.
I change my name. Start my new life in college, and just happen to cross paths with the gorgeous, ultra-rich Rhett Montgomery. He’s immediately interested in me, not that I’m surprised.
You see, I planned it that way. I meant for him to find me. He’s the one connection to my mother, and I’m using him, so I can destroy her. But I didn’t plan on Rhett being so charming. Sweet. Sexy.
And I definitely didn’t plan on falling for him either.
•••••••••
REVIEW: HER DEFIANT HEART is the first instalment in Monica Murphy’s contemporary, new adult DAMAGED HEARTS romance trilogy focusing on college students Rhett Montgomery, and Jennifer ‘Jensen’ Fanelli.
Told from first person point of view (Jensen) using preesent day and memories from the past, HER DEFIANT HEART follows our heroine as she sets a plan into motion to destroy the mother she knew nothing about. At almost two years of age Jennifer Fanelli lost her mother when the woman she no longer remembers walked away without looking back. Years of hardship and her father’s inability to let go of the past found our heroine planning to confront the woman her destroyed her life, beginning with befriending a young man she knows to be her mother’s step-son. Enter Rhett Montgomery, fellow college student and all-around popular guy, and the man with whom Jen would fall in love. What ensues is Rhett’s pursuit of the woman he knows as Jensen, and the potential fall-out as Jennifer’s secrets are about to be revealed.
Jensen, as she calls herself, struggles on a daily basis but having battled an alcoholic father for most of her life, wants revenge against the woman who broke her father’s heart. Getting close to Rhett Montgomery meant one step closer to her ultimate goal but Jensen never thought she would lose her heart along the way.
The relationship between Jensen and Rhett is one of immediate attraction although Jensen never expected to lose her heart to the man in question. Rhett is the perfect boyfriend, not what Jensen thought him to be, which makes her ambition to destroy her mother’s life, that much more questionable and confusing. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic, language and text.
The world building focuses on the growing lies Jensen tells to keep secret about the path upon which she has embarked. We learn how Jensen’s earlier years were filled with a mother’s rejection, a father’s loss of control, and a childhood marred by emotional abuse, and thoughts of being unwanted and unloved. Jaded and tired our heroine battles between head and heart wondering if vengeance is the most important direction in her life.
HER DEFIANT HEART is a story of struggle and rejection; hatred and vengeance; secrets, lies and moving on from the past. The premise is heart breaking; the characters are broken, colorful and charismatic; the romance struggles with Jensen’s inability to let go of the past.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
He glances over his shoulder, then returns his attention to me. “They can wait.”
I’m surprised he’s putting talking to me above wanting to spend time with his friends. “Well, my homework can’t.” I gesture to the open textbook by my laptop. “Nice to see you again.”
“Nice to see you again? That’s all I get?” He slides into the booth seat across from mine, leaning across the table like he wants to get closer to me. “I bet you don’t even remember my name.”
“I bet you don’t remember mine either,” I toss back at him, tacking on an annoying giggle after I say it.
He makes a face, like he knows I’m fake as hell. “Jensen.”
“Rhett.”
His smile is back, wider than ever. “You should come sit with us.”
“No, thank you.” My voice is prim, like a snotty rich girl’s would be. Wouldn’t they find it hilarious to know that I spent my teenage years living in a mobile-home-slash-trailer park, in the decrepit old fifth-wheel my dad called our new home right before I started eighth grade.
One brow lifts. “My friends would love to meet you.”
“I doubt that.”
“It’s true.” He glances over his shoulder again, and they call out to him, a couple of choice words ringing in the air. The waitress glares, stomping over to their table to give them a lecture I suppose, and Rhett whirls around so he’s facing me once more, his expression full of amusement. “Or maybe not.”
“Go hang out with your friends,” I tell him gently, wanting to give the impression that I am the perfectly understanding girlfriend. He might not have those types of serious thoughts about me—yet—but my good behavior can enter his subconscious, right?
“Jensen. I want to see you again.” He reaches across the table and touches the top of my right hand, his warm fingers practically burning my skin. I snatch my hand away from his, my fingers trembling as I clutch my hands together in my lap.
One casual touch from him and I feel like I’m going to erupt in flames.
It’s terrifying.
Monica Murphy is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is both self-published and published by Random House/Bantam and Harper Collins/Avon. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance.
She is a wife and a mother of three who lives in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she’s not writing, she’s reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She’s a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.
FOLLOW: Goodreads/ Website/ Facebook/ Twitter / Newsletter Sign Up
