Title: In Your Heart
Series: Willow Creek #3
Author: Micalea Smeltzer
Release Date: June 16, 2015
Release Date: June 16, 2015
Add to your TBR: Goodreads
Purchase Links: Amazon US / Amazon UK
In Your Heart was a best friends to lovers tale that made me smile and swoon even when I was anxious and reeling because it felt real and meaningful. I loved this installment of the Willow Creek boys and getting to know two characters that have been on the fringes.
Ezra and Sadie became friends after their best friends Maddox and Emma, respectively, started dating. As they were brought into each others social circles, they started a best friendship all of their own. They spent time together but past the initial attraction, their relationship was purely platonic. As time went on, Sadie started dating and eventually got engaged to another man who resented her relationship with Ezra. Slowly Sadie started distancing herself from her friends and hadn’t talked to Ezra in six months by the time she found her fiance cheating on her two weeks before their wedding. Even so Ezra was the first person Sadie called when she needed help after leaving her cheating ex.
Ezra has always been the strong and steady one in the band. When Mathias and Maddox needed help, he was there to pick up the pieces and put things back together. Sadie is bubbly and a little crazy and felt like she was always trying to fit in, but with Ezra she felt safe and protected. Once single again, she realizes that maybe her feelings weren’t so platonic after all. But after Ezra makes it clear he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship by dating so she tries to be okay with whatever he can give her. Eventually, though, Sadie isn’t sure she can continue just being friends with Ezra when her heart is pleading for his.
This book was a lot more angsty than the first two. Of course Ezra is seriously sweet and dependable just like all the other Willow Creek boys, but their situation was different. They had to work around the family that Willow Creek had become. That said, I wanted Ezra to open his eyes to the possibilities that were right in front of him and claim Sadie as his. At times I was frustrated that he let Sadie hang by this invisible thread for so long, because at first it seemed like he was the one pining for Sadie. As soon as they started their secret affair though, he genuinely seemed content to keep their relationship hidden. Sadie, for her part, seemed to me like the one who was initially oblivious to Ezra’s feelings toward her but it became obvious that she had fallen harder than she thought and was pining for Ezra in a way that he wasn’t pining for her.
Even though my poor heart was put through the ringer with their will they/won’t they back and forth, their story and most especially the ending were perfect. I was so happy that Sadie finally put her heart out there even if Ezra was a little stupefied at first. I had faith that he would come through and he did. Big time. It was one of the best win-her-back scene I’ve read in a while. Ms. Smeltzer has done a phenomenal job in this series with her ability to write the interconnected and continuous storylines of previous characters in a standalone format. And with the lead in to Hayes’ story, I am ready for the next installment of the Willow Creek boys
Blurb
I thought I had found love.
I thought I had found my forever.
I’d never been more wrong in all my life.
Sadie Westbrook’s seemingly perfect life comes to a screeching halt when she catches her fiancé in bed with another woman. Suddenly, everything she believed in is tested and there’s only one person she can turn to—the guy who has been by her side ever since their best friend’s fell in love and became inseparable.
Ezra Collins—the bassist for the band Willow Creek—has only ever had one weakness, and her name is Sadie. When he receives a frantic call he rushes to her aid, helping to pick up the pieces of her crumbling life—even if that means letting Sadie live with him.
The close proximity tests the limits of their friendship and as the lines between friends and lovers blur they’ll have to decide if falling in love with your best friend is worth the risk of losing them.
Review
In Your Heart was a best friends to lovers tale that made me smile and swoon even when I was anxious and reeling because it felt real and meaningful. I loved this installment of the Willow Creek boys and getting to know two characters that have been on the fringes.
Ezra and Sadie became friends after their best friends Maddox and Emma, respectively, started dating. As they were brought into each others social circles, they started a best friendship all of their own. They spent time together but past the initial attraction, their relationship was purely platonic. As time went on, Sadie started dating and eventually got engaged to another man who resented her relationship with Ezra. Slowly Sadie started distancing herself from her friends and hadn’t talked to Ezra in six months by the time she found her fiance cheating on her two weeks before their wedding. Even so Ezra was the first person Sadie called when she needed help after leaving her cheating ex.
Ezra has always been the strong and steady one in the band. When Mathias and Maddox needed help, he was there to pick up the pieces and put things back together. Sadie is bubbly and a little crazy and felt like she was always trying to fit in, but with Ezra she felt safe and protected. Once single again, she realizes that maybe her feelings weren’t so platonic after all. But after Ezra makes it clear he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship by dating so she tries to be okay with whatever he can give her. Eventually, though, Sadie isn’t sure she can continue just being friends with Ezra when her heart is pleading for his.
This book was a lot more angsty than the first two. Of course Ezra is seriously sweet and dependable just like all the other Willow Creek boys, but their situation was different. They had to work around the family that Willow Creek had become. That said, I wanted Ezra to open his eyes to the possibilities that were right in front of him and claim Sadie as his. At times I was frustrated that he let Sadie hang by this invisible thread for so long, because at first it seemed like he was the one pining for Sadie. As soon as they started their secret affair though, he genuinely seemed content to keep their relationship hidden. Sadie, for her part, seemed to me like the one who was initially oblivious to Ezra’s feelings toward her but it became obvious that she had fallen harder than she thought and was pining for Ezra in a way that he wasn’t pining for her.
Even though my poor heart was put through the ringer with their will they/won’t they back and forth, their story and most especially the ending were perfect. I was so happy that Sadie finally put her heart out there even if Ezra was a little stupefied at first. I had faith that he would come through and he did. Big time. It was one of the best win-her-back scene I’ve read in a while. Ms. Smeltzer has done a phenomenal job in this series with her ability to write the interconnected and continuous storylines of previous characters in a standalone format. And with the lead in to Hayes’ story, I am ready for the next installment of the Willow Creek boys
4 “Best Friends” Stars
Reviewed by Paige V.
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Never too Late
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Excerpt
I looked up at the sky and the birds flying above us. “I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore. I spent two years with a guy that stripped me of my identity. I feel like all I have of myself is my store and the rest I’m left questioning. I tried so hard to please him, to make him happy, and in the end I made myself miserable. I was just so desperate for it to work out that I overlooked how toxic our relationship was. How stupid is that?”
“You’re human,” he replied. “We have this inane desire to belong to something that is greater than we are on our own. That desire is so strong that we can fool ourselves into believing things that aren’t true.”
“So, I’m not crazy?” I cracked a smile.
“Definitely not crazy.”
His smile was comforting and I reminded myself for the hundredth time that everything would be okay.
I rested my head on his shoulder and a moment later his head rested on top of mine.
A smile touched my lips.
I’d missed this—having someone that understood me completely, even when I didn’t know myself.
Author Bio
Micalea Smeltzer is a bestselling Young and New Adult author from Winchester, Virginia. She’s always working on her next book, and when she has spare time she loves to read and spend time with her family.
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