Two of Hearts

by Christina Lee (Goodreads Author)

A gripping standalone adult contemporary romance about finding yourself while taking a second chance at your first love…

Dakota Nakos was always the resilient, strong-willed achiever. But when her father dies and she’s entrusted with the family’s casino, she feels vulnerable, scared, and more than a little emotional —not exactly the best time to see an old lover she’s never really gotten over.

Dakota once meant the world to Shane Garrity. Then suddenly he left town to train as a U.S. Marshal, and their love for each other crashed into a memory. Now he’s come home for her father’s funeral, and one look at the girl he left behind stirs up both memories and regrets, and reignites a fire he feared he’d lost forever.

Dakota may be the same driven girl she always was, but she’s also changed in ways neither could have anticipated. She’s not just a young woman searching for own identity in the Native American community in which she was raised, but one questioning her new life outside her father’s shadow. Above all she wonders if Shane can push past her weakened defenses to rekindle what they once had, or whether the intense blaze between them will ultimately reduce her heart to ashes.

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Source: eARC for Honest Review Courtesy of Penguin Group

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Standalone

My Two of Hearts Review ...

This book is considered a standalone adult contemporary but it is also can be a continuation from Whisper to Me from the Between Breaths series. We first meet Dakota Nakos and Shane Garrity in Whisper to Me, where we get to witness the beginning of their friends to lovers relationship but it's very short lived and they both go their own ways.

Now five years later after the death of Dakota Nakos's father, Shane returns for the funeral but stays to get some answers from the mysterious death of Mr. Nakos. As well to see if their is anything left between him and Dakota because he still has feelings for her and wonders if it is reciprocal.

"Because I've always loved you, Dakota Nakos. Always. Even back then."

From the beginning Dakota tries to fight the pull towards Shane. Mainly because she is uber stubborn, but Shane won't take no for an answer and pushes Dakota to be honest with him about her feelings. Once he finds out that the feelings are reciprocal he quickly entangles himself into her life.

"No, angel. No more nights apart if we can help it. We've had five years of that."

Dakota and Shane are super sweet together but Dakota resorts to old habits when it comes to communicating with Shane. When things get to emotional she runs first before she has all the information so she doesn't get hurt.

"And you didn't talk to him about it?" I shook my head. "Not this shit again." She grasped at my shoulders. "You need to talk to him." (Couldn't agree more with Rachel)

Dakota is a very prideful, stubborn woman, but she also is scared to fully live life to her fullest. With the help of her friends and family she's able to finally open her heart and find out what love is all about.

"If there's one thing I've learned, Dakota, it's that you make your home with the person you love. And everything else will fall into place."

Thank goodness that there was a mystery involved in this book with all the drama that is arising with the casino and the death of her father. If it wasn't for this mystery I most likely wouldn't have enjoyed this book that much as it would have only been full of miscommunications and assumptions which really drives me mad in books these days as I'm always wanting more than just that plot.

3.5 Shane Garrity loving thumbs up!