Rating: 4.25 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
It’s been three years since Tim lost his husband, and he’s been focused on raising his young daughter and his job as a high school science teacher. Tim has just decided he should start dating again when he meets Jamie. Jamie who is so beautiful and so charismatic and maybe too young for Tim. With Tim in his 30s and Jamie being 22, Tim has concerns about Jamie’s age, but with them teaching at the same school, they can’t avoid the red-hot connection between the two of them.
Jamie has had only one relationship and that one was enough to leave him with more emotional scars than he ever counted on having. Jamie wants the connection of being with someone and he and Tim have so much in common and laugh all the time when they are together. Jamie was finally ready to travel and move on with his life, but being with Tim is everything he has ever wanted. Despite being in different places in their lives, the men are fully in love with each other and have never been happier, but when a secret from the past is uncovered, it has the power to change everything.
I really enjoyed meeting Tim and Jamie and having them in my life as I read Beautiful Hearts. It’s a bit of an unassuming book, as Tim and Jamie have their meet cute and then continue to orbit around each other. They have a fun banter between them based on common interests and the zing that goes back and forth between them when they are together. Tim thinks Jamie is gorgeous –well everyone thinks that—and he’s at first concerned about their age difference and wonders what Jamie sees in him. But despite Jamie having a few rough years, he is more grounded for his age and knows what he wants—and he wants Tim
There is good character development for both Tim and Jamie. Tim is trying to move on with his life after the death of his husband and Jamie lost his father who was his only close family member and then a series of bad decisions led him to a rocky relationship that ended disastrously and left a permanent and devastating mark on Jamie. That relationship had a profound impact on Jamie’s life and many of his current decisions are influenced by that difficult time.
I said at first the book was unassuming, but then it takes a less predictable path and that really added more substance and additional layers to the story and the characters. There was one side character that was shown to have a pivotal role in the story by the end of the book and I felt more was needed to make that part fully come together for me. There are also other secondary characters that seem to be set up for their own story, although this book is not listed as part of a series.
As the title says, this story has a lot of heart as Jamie and Tim find their way to each under challenging circumstances.
