Casee‘s review of Hearts Awakened (Hearts of the South Series, Book 6) by Linda Winfree.
A lifetime ago Mark Cook’s pregnant wife vanished, taking everything and leaving an empty, aching hole in his life. Since then, as penance for his failure as a husband and father, he’s refused to allow himself to live. Refused to lay his sleeping heart on the line for any woman.
Enter Tori Calvert, his best friend’s baby sister. Suddenly, against his will—and against his better judgment—that same damaged heart seems determined to reawaken. And Mark’s not sure he can withstand the pain.
When she was a teenager, a vicious attack ripped away Tori’s very essence as a woman. Finally she feels ready to focus her existence on something other than her job as a rape crisis counselor. And to step outside the shelter of her loving, protective family. She trusts Mark more than any man, yet fear holds her back.
Fear that even the healing light of love may not be enough to banish the shadows of the past.
Given the backstory into these two characters, I really expected to love the book. While Tori wasn’t my favorite character at first, she grew on me. Or so I thought. Mark Cook a.k.a. Cookie has been an entertaining character from the beginning. It’s only in this book that we learn that there is more to Cookie than his humorous comments to any female in the vicinity, single or not.
Tori has gone through one of the worst things that a woman can go through; a brutal rape. Coming out on the other side, Tori has done what she can to overcome the event that has defined her life. Though she’s a counselor herself, Tori still has issues that she hasn’t confronted. Issues that hold her back from fully living her life. When she has to go to Florida to speak at a seminar, she thinks that her brother will be coming with her. Something comes up at the last minute and Mark comes to take his place. As well as her brother’s best friend, Mark also lives in the same apartment complex that Tori does. She’s had feelings for him for years, but she is literally unable to act on them.
Mark has his own feelings for Tori. He is sure that the trip to Florida is a bad idea. Being cooped up in a car with a woman that can barely stand to be enclosed in any space with a man, it feels like a time bomb waiting to go off. And that’s before he’s forced to confront his past. It was 20 years ago that Mark’s pregnant wife disappeared and never came back. Mark has moved on, but always wondered if he would have done something different that day, would they still be alive?
The relationship between Mark and Tori is like a minefield. For 20 years, Mark has stuck to one night stands w/ women that are easily to let go of. Tori has never been with a man and doesn’t know how she ever will be. Away from home, they come to a sort of understanding to give a relationship a chance. But that’s before they go home.
Holly has often referred to Tick Calvert as “Tick the Dick”. While I didn’t agree before this book, I could definitely see it here. He was so adamant about Mark staying away from Tori b/c he knows what kind of man Mark is. As his best friend, you would think that he would know better. Sure, he had a lot going on, but GMAB. What kind of friend and brother is he? He put his own feelings first instead of theirs, which was just effed. And he was an ass about it the whole time.
As for Tori, she was spineless. She went along with what Tick said b/c she was scared. Which is fine, I suppose, but she didn’t admit to herself the real reason that she was going to walk away from Mark. As for Mark, he’s devastated that Tori walks away, especially right after he opens his heart back up. So I didn’t really care for Tori in this book. She seemed so selfless in the previous books, but in this one she was not. At the end of the book, it seemed that Mark deserved better.
3.75 out of 5.
This book is available from Samhain Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
This is definitely the book where Tick the Dick makes his first appearance. Looking back on my review, I liked this one much more than you did. Although I noted, too, how Tick should have been more accepting of his best friend. And Mark does deserve the absolute best. He’s an awesome, awesome hero.