Still Beating

One of the best books I’ve read. I couldn’t put this one down! I love how it made me laugh, cry and blush.

One of the most unique books I’ve read. Hard hitting romance but with a psych thriller twist. Really enjoyed it. Can’t wait to read more by Hartmann. 9/10

4.75/5. Overall, this was a really good book. It was triggering in some spots and not at all what I was expecting. Between the rape and miscarriage, I had to take a break. However, the break wasn’t long because the book kept me on my toes the entire time.

This book is very haunting, dark and deep. You definitely need to be in the right mind frame to read it and prepare yourself for some pretty graphic and tragic events. Please read trigger warnings before reading and read responsibly (it’s recommended for 18+). Your mental health matters most. ❤️‍🩹 “Still Beating” is a dark and tragic love story that will leave you questioning right from wrong and good from bad, all while contemplating what really is possible. It isn’t an easy story to experience, but it holds the potential to lead readers to its own kind of hope and raw vulnerability, showing you that true human connection can be the most healing balm of all- if you’ll allow it to be. Dean and Cora have a difficult relationship from the start, which becomes even more tumultuous and complicated with the trauma they are both thrown into, being abducted together by a psychopath and forced into nightmarish scenarios beyond comprehension. All they had to rely on was each other, which formed a unique bond between them. But having known each other for 15 years, and Dean being Cora’s sister’s fiancé, how do they manage all the feelings and emotions that ensue? I’m very conflicted by this book. While I will always welcome a story of tragedy turned to true love, this book was beyond anything I’ve ever read before. It was truly heartbreaking, tragic, vulgar and evil, but also thought provoking and hopeful. It took me through so many emotions, bending and breaking me, then healing me, only to bend and break me again. I cringed at the moral dilemmas in this book, at the strong language and explicit s$xual scenes. But I also genuinely felt myself rooting for the characters, needing all of them to find the ending they deserved. The connection I felt with these characters was unique, and I applaud the author for such good character development in this book. It’s impossible to NOT feel for them. And there’s something beautiful about that despite how tragic and haunting this story is. The author also did a good job of exploring the complexities of grief, trauma, and PTSD, which I appreciated. I felt a lot of this book was unnecessary and dragged on when it didn’t need to. Using so much of the book to include even more explicit s$xual material was unnecessary in my opinion. It added nothing to the story. While I really liked Cora in the beginnng, the last 1/3 of the book she started to annoy me, using Dean for her own pleasure and then tossing him to the side. While I understand this was part of the trauma bond between them and a true cry for healing, it dragged on too long. Dean didn’t deserve such a tumultuous ride after all he had already endured, and especially after how he had gently cradled Cora’s heart throughout it all. Big props to Dean. I truly admired him and appreciated the depth he brought to the story. I really struggled on how to rate this one. I ended up giving it the ratings I did because it provoked emotion and the ending was quite beautiful. However it is not a book I would recommend for everyone to read, it is definitely not for the faint of heart, and I would only recommend it to a choice few of my bookish friends. It was almost a DNF for me. If you should choose to read this book, allow yourself to be ready to experience darkness and struggle, but also hope and healing. It will give you quite the ride. The hope and healing at the end made it worth finishing in my opinion, but I would not read it again.

Was really interested how this book would end and was not disappointed