Awakening Hearts
A Tale of Love Across Lifetimes
by Angie K. Love
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Pub Date Nov 11 2021 | Archive Date Dec 01 2021
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Description
Soulmate love is the most transformative and by far the most thrilling—but also the most challenging.
2014 California: Sage Morales has a strict rule against mixing her personal life with her professional one. But when her attractive new massage client, Alex Fischer, asks her on a hike, she’s tempted to make an exception. Her stormy blue eyes awaken something dormant in Sage, and there’s a familiarity—as if they hadn’t only just met.
Torn over indulging this new friendship, Sage doesn’t realize Alex being a client is far from their greatest obstacle. She’s still oblivious to her deeply-held religious beliefs and the vow Alex made to herself almost two decades prior.
1862 Ohio: Lizzy’s mundane life on the farm becomes infinitely more interesting the day Claudia arrives. A faint smile hints at the bright spirit hiding behind those guarded blue eyes, kindling a deep desire to uncover it.
When unexpected feelings bloom between the two young women, Lizzy is eager to explore them—while Claudia struggles to reconcile the dizzying sensations in her body with her unquestioned faith and need for safety.
Will the two women risk their hearts and home for a taste of their forbidden love?
Do soulmates meet again to heal old wounds from lifetimes past?
A Note From the Publisher
After release date on November 11th, the book will be available for purchase on Amazon in ebook, paperback, and hardcover formats. It will also be available in KU.
Advance Praise
Angie is an amazing storyteller. Her writing style is unique, fresh and memorable. - Tom Bross, Author
The sensuality between the women is palpable . . . The story is heart-centered, soulful, and real. - Emmy Chahal, Author
I felt a profound healing take place within me as I read, my own wounds being mended alongside the characters’. - Jen Panske
I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to read this book before its official launch date.
I believe this book will awaken something in each and every person who reads it regardless of your background or situation in life.
I was hooked from the minute I read the prologue.
There are two stories that run simultaneously through the book creating an amazing contrast between the past and present, love and heart-break, tenderness and confusion.
The author has clearly taken time to ensure the characters are real and relatable throughout making you feel a true affinity with them. They are full of colour and jump right off the page to reach you on a level not all authors achieve.
The only good thing about finishing this book is the realisation that there will be another one!
I predict that this book will become an enthralling best seller. (You heard it first here, folks!) if I could give it more than 5 stars I would! This book will stay with me for a very long time. - Emma McLeod
It’s a beautiful love story, so engaging that makes you totally drawn to the book only after a few pages. The richness of details really transport you into the captivating story, making you eager for more each page you read. The characters are very interesting and complex, and as the story unfolds, there are so many lessons on the importance of friendship, gratitude, acceptance, family and kindness. Lovely book that I highly recommend! - Flavia Godoy
I feel connected with each character in the story—I share both their pain and their joy. It’s clear Angie has poured her heart and soul into the creation of this novel. - Isabel K.
The palpable sensuality between the characters opened me up to what is possible—to what I, too, wish to experience. - Johann L.
Awakening Hearts is very well-written. The dialogue is fresh and the scenes very readable. I whizzed through the story! - Victoria Holmes, Author
Contemporary romance isn’t my normal genre, but I was glad I took a chance on Awakening Hearts. Angie K. Love’s time spanning novel about two souls whose love is eternal, is beautifully and sensitively written.
In 1862, Lizzy knows she’s attracted to women in a way her family and church would not condone. But God is love, and Lizzy, growing up in a loving family environment, is comfortable with her choice although she knows she cannot be open about it. She dreams of moving from the family farm to the city one day and living independently, making her own way in an exciting world. Not for her the expected marriage and family.
Then Claudia, a young widow with a tragic but undisclosed past, comes to live at the farm and Lizzy’s heart is captured, forever. Claudia has no idea such love can exist between women, until her heart is awakened. But when other life issues must be taken into account, the future happiness of each woman is very much under threat.
Meanwhile, in the current day, Sage is openly lesbian with supportive friends and family who understand and make no judgement on her life choices. But life proves as difficult for modern day Sage as it does for 19th century Lizzy when Alex comes into her life. Church-going Alex, whose conflict between her ‘unnatural’ urges and her beliefs turn her own and Sage’s life upside down. Poor Sage! I felt for her with every ping of her phone! And could have strangled Alex more than once!
Lizzy’s and Sage’s turmoil takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster of a journey. The writer tells their stories (or story?) from their points of view, which means we see Claudia and Alex’s heart-wrenching struggles through their eyes. This is a very clever and subtle bit of writing, which sensitively and with some depth, portrays the conflicted characters of Claudia and Alex just as keenly as the struggles of Lizzy and Sage. - Cheryl Burman, Author
Featured Reviews
Gemma J, Reviewer
Great book. A heartwarming story with nice chemistry between the main characters.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Nathalie D, Reviewer
An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It's rare that characters get under my skin as fast as these characters did. Despite the fact that the book is about 2 different times and 2 different couples (Lizzy/Claudia and Sage/Alex), I felt drawn to both stories. I could not wait to finish one chapter so find out more about the other couple while also wanting to know about the one I was reading about.
At some point the details did became too much. I felt myself losing interest in both stories, but this was most pronounced in the Sage/Alex story. However, it turned back around and I got drawn back into it.
One of the stories even managed to make me cry while reading the last chapters. They were tears of mixed feelings and it was a very powerful conclusion of the story despite going a route I wasn't really into. It speaks volumes that the writer managed to make me root for something I wasn't really into. I think this also shows the duality of the characters. Not only do they have so much duality in them, but it makes you re-think your own ideas and that's exactly what the writer set out to do.
I can only recommend this book because I really did enjoy reading it despite being a few chapters too long. It will take you on an emotional journey that's for sure.
For a long time I wondered why the author chose to add these two stories in one book. They could have easily been two stand alone novels. I'm still not entirely sure why she went this route, but I do understand that they invoke feelings that compliment both stories.
Thomas P, Librarian
The concept was sound: following a pair of soulmates in two different time periods with the POV alternating between the past and present versions of one of them. The characters, also, were interesting and vivid, and I found myself invested in their respective plights. Lizzy and Claudia's story reached out to me.
However, I feel the book should've been left in a room with an editor and a machete. There were entire passages that felt like they were repeated across multiple chapters describing the intensity of Sage's and Lizzy's feelings for their partners, and more than once I had to set the book aside and pause, to allow my attention to reset. I read the last quarter or so in one sitting, so it was much more apparent then.
Technically, it was competent. The story was affecting. The characters were well-rounded and believable in their mannerisms and actions. The dialogue occasionally felt a little stiff, but overall was good, as well. The one thing dragging it down was that it needed more refinement. There's a great story here, it just takes a little work to tease it out.
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Amy Weatherly; Jess Johnston
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