My name is Clover Calloway and I’ve lived two separate lives.

The first, I like to call “my past.” I never talk about it. I try not to think about it. My rockstar days of playing in one of the hottest bands on the planet are over. Along with the most volatile, beautiful, tragic love story of all time.

Over the past five years, I’ve settled into my second life. My “normal life.” The one where I work a normal job, hang out with normal people and fall in love with a normal, but wonderful guy. The life where I’m admittedly a little bored, but also safe.

My past wasn’t boring. But my past broke my heart into a million, unfixable pieces. So, I’m determined to keep it where it belongs—behind me.

And the man responsible for the shattering of me? Malachi Porter, lead singer and mastermind of Bright Tragedy, should stay there too. Far away from me and this idyllic life I’ve carved out for myself.

But what happens when my two lives collide?

When Malachi comes crashing into my perfectly normal world, he threatens to destroy it, promises to annihilate everything I’ve replaced him with.

He upends everything I thought I wanted and forces me to question the reasons I left Bright Tragedy all those years ago.

But I didn’t walk away five years ago, I ran. As fast as I could go. And while my heart is whispering that it’s different this time—that he’s different—my brain is screaming for me to run again.

Malachi Porter isn’t a normal guy. And he doesn’t belong in my “normal life.” But, nevertheless, he’s bound and determined to make a place for himself here.

I just hope my heart can survive him, that we don’t burn into another bright tragedy.

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Rachel Higginson is the best-selling author of The Five Stages of Falling in Love, Every Wrong Reason, Bet on Us and The Star-Crossed Series.

She was born and raised in Nebraska, and spent her college years traveling the world. She fell in love with Eastern Europe, Paris, Indian Food and the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka, but came back home to marry her high school sweetheart. Now she spends her days writing stories and raising five amazing kids.

*** ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review. ***

This whirlwind roller coaster got me. My heart is still beating like a drum, to the rhythm of Clover and Malachi’s story. It looked like a tragic song, talking about things that crushed their souls, abusive and destructive, the kind of one that ended badly. And damn if that book didn’t get me emotional. Be ready for a long review… 

The « normal » life Clover was living in turned upside down the moment Malachi and the band came back into her life, disrupting her balance. It took one look to bring everything back again. The fire between these two ex lovers was still there, bringing to the surface the good and the bad again. Like a broken record. How to move on when the one who used to be your everything, broke your heart and the only solution at that time was to leave everything?

I’ve been drawn to the imperfections, to the tortured side of these characters who went through so much, who were once each other’s everything. 

Until they weren’t. The author managed to write about two star crossed lovers who didn’t know how to stop the crazy ride of excess, when love supposed to save it all. Sometimes it wasn’t enough. Sometimes you had to save yourself from it, even if you felt like your heart was shattering to pieces.

I was emotionally overwhelmed and I couldn’t put it down. There was no pretending, things were just laid out in the open, raw, brutal and heartbreaking.

Clover and Malachi went from very awkward moments, to the intense ones, and mostly the kind of ones they felt deeply in their souls. The passionate and craving feelings they couldn’t escape. Like their souls had recognized again, inevitable, intangible but still with this dark side, hanging on, a shadow that might jeopardize everything.

The dynamic between Clover and Malachi was so fascinating to me. I was looking for every interaction. They didn’t do things by halves. Their unfinished story was only the beginning of something new, but as you might guess, old habits die hard and even if the feelings seemed to be there, the cut was a bit too deep and painful to heal. 

Clover was afraid of the excesses she saw when she was in the band. She just wanted to play music and not being caught in a downward spiral and vicious circle. Missing the music but not the reward. Keeping things simple, settling for « normalcy ». Until Bright Tragedy came back into her life. With the very intense Malachi, a man who was still fighting against his demons, trying to be a better version of himself.

I was such a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching story filled with so much passion, talking about tough issues with main characters who didn’t hold anything back. They just made my heart sing.