A Life Less Beautiful by Elle Brooks
TITLE: A Life Less Beautiful
AUTHOR: Elle Brooks
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
PUBLICATION: June 8th, 2017
Ellis Hughes has loved the girl next door since he was ten-years-old. She was his sun, moon, and every visible star in a clear night sky. She was also his biggest regret.
When a terrible accident rips Ellis and Harlow apart, it shatters both their hearts beyond repair. More than a decade later, Ellis has paid his penance, but his regret still lingers, and the love he once harbored for his childhood sweetheart has never faded.
What Ellis believes has been destroyed forever, slowly comes back to life, only for a cruel twist of fate to intervene. Knowing he cannot live his life without Harlow in it, he faces the ultimate test of selflessness.
He must sacrifice his own heart to mend hers.
When a terrible accident rips Ellis and Harlow apart, it shatters both their hearts beyond repair. More than a decade later, Ellis has paid his penance, but his regret still lingers, and the love he once harbored for his childhood sweetheart has never faded.
What Ellis believes has been destroyed forever, slowly comes back to life, only for a cruel twist of fate to intervene. Knowing he cannot live his life without Harlow in it, he faces the ultimate test of selflessness.
He must sacrifice his own heart to mend hers.
A LIFE LESS BEAUTIFUL: Is a standalone Contemporary Romance Novel by Elle Brooks.This book is written in dual POV and smoothly transitions between Past to Present. This was my first book by this author but it most definitely won't be the last, she pulled so many emotions out of me so I'm keen to see if she'll do that again.
I'll try my hardest not to divulge any spoilers.
Ellis Hughs has been in love with the girl next door Harlow since he moved into the neighbourhood right beside her house since he was ten years old. She was his sun, his moon and the girl who hung the stars just for him. She was his everything. He can’t recall a time when his heart didn’t beat for her, it’s always been her.
We meet tomboy Harlow aged ten, who would rather hang out with her twin brothers and his friends to girls her own age any day, even if they were a lot older than her. Apart from one boy and his name was Ellis, he and her were the same age and freakier even still was they had birthdays on the exact same day.
They meet under unusual circumstances when the twins introduce her to their new friend, the boy who lives next door, not a good time to meet someone when you're holding a BB gun in your hand, and then to shooting him in the knee by accident.
That was the day I met my best friend, and it was many more years before I realised it was also the day I stumbled upon my soul mate.
The summer of 1994 saw the change in their blossoming friendship, this is when things started to change, stepping over that line of just friends to more.
First date
First kiss
First love
First sexual relationship
First heartbreak
PAST: She hasn’t seen Ellis for ten years until a wake of a town resident, both now in their thirties, he was sent to prison for a crime he committed. One snap decision that would change the shape of their lives forever. This the first time they will see each other, will their love still be strong or did it die under lock and key?
MY THOUGHTS: This book was so beautifully written, you get all the feels and angst as they move up from the ages of ten to adult life to when they reconnect, where they try and heal, find their footing again, as lovers, or just ships that have sailed in the night. You get so caught up in their love, their story, and then the rug is pulled out from under you, it's brutal, it's heartbreaking, but it was written in the stars. Like a fish out of water I was left gasping at the finality of it all, an ending quite like no other.
I'm in turmoil with how this ended, I loved everything about this book up until the ending, I'm staying strong with my rating but if I was to factor that ending and how it ended I would rate lower, but because I'm taking the whole book in all it's entirety it's getting my 4 stars.
To sum it all up, I highly highly recommend this, the love these two felt towards each other pours off the pages, your heart beats in time to theirs, you may be on the outs looking in but you feel, live through every hurdle these two faced, they definitely will leave a stamp on your heart, a love like no other.
I'll try my hardest not to divulge any spoilers.
Ellis Hughs has been in love with the girl next door Harlow since he moved into the neighbourhood right beside her house since he was ten years old. She was his sun, his moon and the girl who hung the stars just for him. She was his everything. He can’t recall a time when his heart didn’t beat for her, it’s always been her.
We meet tomboy Harlow aged ten, who would rather hang out with her twin brothers and his friends to girls her own age any day, even if they were a lot older than her. Apart from one boy and his name was Ellis, he and her were the same age and freakier even still was they had birthdays on the exact same day.
They meet under unusual circumstances when the twins introduce her to their new friend, the boy who lives next door, not a good time to meet someone when you're holding a BB gun in your hand, and then to shooting him in the knee by accident.
That was the day I met my best friend, and it was many more years before I realised it was also the day I stumbled upon my soul mate.
The summer of 1994 saw the change in their blossoming friendship, this is when things started to change, stepping over that line of just friends to more.
First date
First kiss
First love
First sexual relationship
First heartbreak
PAST: She hasn’t seen Ellis for ten years until a wake of a town resident, both now in their thirties, he was sent to prison for a crime he committed. One snap decision that would change the shape of their lives forever. This the first time they will see each other, will their love still be strong or did it die under lock and key?
MY THOUGHTS: This book was so beautifully written, you get all the feels and angst as they move up from the ages of ten to adult life to when they reconnect, where they try and heal, find their footing again, as lovers, or just ships that have sailed in the night. You get so caught up in their love, their story, and then the rug is pulled out from under you, it's brutal, it's heartbreaking, but it was written in the stars. Like a fish out of water I was left gasping at the finality of it all, an ending quite like no other.
I'm in turmoil with how this ended, I loved everything about this book up until the ending, I'm staying strong with my rating but if I was to factor that ending and how it ended I would rate lower, but because I'm taking the whole book in all it's entirety it's getting my 4 stars.
To sum it all up, I highly highly recommend this, the love these two felt towards each other pours off the pages, your heart beats in time to theirs, you may be on the outs looking in but you feel, live through every hurdle these two faced, they definitely will leave a stamp on your heart, a love like no other.
