Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Swan Hearts

SERIES:  Plum Valley Cowboys

AUTHOR:  Emmy Sanders

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  315 pages

RELEASE DATE:  November 3, 2022

BLURB:

Longtime friends. Blurred lines. And the secret that threatens it all.

Jake
There are three things my best friend Nash Dupree and I are good at. Fishing. Fighting. And another F-word that sure isn’t friendship.

Nash has been by my side for the last thirty years, but despite our long, complicated history, there are some things the town bartender still keeps close to his chest. And now those secrets are threatening to tear us apart.

That friend of mine may be running from his feelings and tackling ghosts only he can see, but I refuse to let him run away from me just because he’s scared.

I love that stubborn fool, and after everything we’ve been through, I’m not giving him up without a fight.

Nash
Since the moment I set eyes on Jake Hanson, he’s had his hook in me. No matter how hard I tried to keep the lines of our friendship from being muddled, I was powerless to resist his pull.

But the big-hearted veterinarian deserves more than I can give. And if he found out the truths I’ve been hiding, he’d see me as another pet project to doctor and mend.

I never meant for us to get so tangled together, and if we could go back to those simple days spent fishing out on my dock, oblivious to what the future had in store, maybe I could do things differently. Maybe then, I wouldn’t keep hurting Jake.

But I can’t erase my past mistakes. All I can do now is make things right. And hopefully, when I’m long gone from Plum Valley, Texas, Jake will finally understand the truth.

That he’s better off without me and always has been.

Swan Hearts is a friends-to-lovers romance spanning three decades and told in dual, alternating timelines of present and past. There’s mutual pining, an on-again/off-again dynamic, a good dose of angst, and one hard-fought HEA. It’s book 4 in the Plum Valley Cowboys series but can be read as a standalone.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the fourth book in this series.

Nash Dupree inherits his late Uncle’s bar and property in Plum Valley, Texas so he moves away from his family in Canyon.  This isn’t such a big deal because he’s never felt at home in his small family.  One of the first people he meets is Jake Hanson.  He comes into the bar on his 21st birthday and they become fast friends – even though Jake is only home for the summer from college and is going to Vet school.  For the next few years they spend their time together when Jake is home – at the bar, fishing at Nash’s property, whatever best friends do.

After Jake finishes his education, he comes out to his family.  The summarily reject him and from then on Nash is really his best friend and family.  Jake feels more for Nash and he sees glimpses of maybe something more than friendship.  After several years and a few near misses where Nash almost gives in to his desire for Jake, they do have a sexual experience together.  But Nash is determined to keep Jake at arm’s length and call this a one off.

For years, Jake and Nash are back to best friends.  Then they go on a camping trip together and they get off together again.  Once again, afterwards, Nash shuts down and they go back to being friends.  Jake is not willing to give him his friend despite the fact that he feels much more than friendship. Rather than risk driving off his best friend – the guy who, after being rejected by his own family said he’d be there always – Jake let things go back to being friends.

Another few years go by and Nash has tried to keep his feelings totally at bay. They have been friends only.  But then he snaps – and they are friends with benefits.  At this point, they are spending every night together, but then something happens.  Nash again breaks things off with Jake. In a really hurtful way.  Thank god Jake is stubborn and he refuses to let things go.  It takes everything he has to break though Nash’s walls and find out why he’s behaved this way all these years.

Whoa. I have such mixed feelings about this story.  Too many times I wanted to literally bash Nash over the head.  The way he jerked Jake around – for 30 years – just killed me.  In a way I understood it – the times, the fear about his own family and life, the things he’d dealt with.  I just couldn’t get past how hurtful he ended up being to Jake.  I really also struggled with how Jake kept coming back for more.  I get that he loved Nash, but he just kept getting his heart broken. I know he didn’t want to lose his friend, but I just had a hard time with it.  Jake is like the best guy ever and he didn’t deserve all the hurt he was dealt.  A less strong person would have been destroyed by all he’d been through, but he just kept that positive attitude.  That he loves Nash despite Nash’s reluctance to love him back – I wasn’t sure if that was smart or stubborn or crazy. I was happy at the end, but man it was a long painful road to get there.  If you can gird your loins for all the back and forth, on and off and plain stubborn reticence, you might really enjoy this one.

RATING: 

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