LUCKY SCARS by KERRY HEAVENS

‘In the dim early morning light as his thumb stroked softly over my back, something stirred inside me. This feeling wasn’t sexual, or practical; it was much worse. It was a spark in the frozen depths of my heart.’

Another new to us author we’ve been itching to read, and after reading Lucky Scars we immediately hunted through our TBR pile, pushing Kerry Heavens books to the top of our list! Her books sound as varied as our reading tastes, so we’re really looking forward to more from this fabulous author!

As far as emotion goes, Kerry Heavens really delivered some tender and touching moments throughout Ziggy and Bea’s story that hit us right in the heart. Despite its timeline, this is a slow burn love story that moves from friendship to become so much more. Told with warmth and a smidge of humour, the story was heartfelt, painful in the telling of Ziggy and Bea’s backstories, and yet, the mood never became morose. Instead, we were inspired by two people weighted down with self-condemnation who began to see through their pain to slowly believe they were worth loving.

‘This was a love that filled my broken soul, and at that same time, threatened to scar me worse than all the other scars I had.’

Beatrice (Bea) Lawson is a thirty-five-year-old successful businesswoman responsible for producing three of the top ten game apps the previous year. Starting her gaming company four years previously from nothing, Bea is a workaholic, throwing all her passion and time into her company, which is currently being courted as a buy out from a big corporation. Bea’s closed off emotionally with no time or inclination for a relationship, and this is something she’s very firm about!

Bea’s happy in her bubble, until…on the day she’s due to me the corporation execs, she bumps into not one, but two men who tilt her axis. Jonathan who stirs something sexual in her – this guy is, in Bea’s words…‘He’s like a walking embodiment of what you get when you go on Pinterest and type in ‘suit porn.’ and Ziggy Jones (we loved the homage to David Bowie here!) who stirs feelings in her heart, and speaks to her creative side when it’s discovered Ziggy is the elusive and mysterious ‘Starman‘ the most coveted artist in her industry. Bea wants Ziggy as her full-time creative director for a year, it’s a coup that could see her small business compete with the biggest.

‘He was everything. Everything. And he would never let anyone appreciate him for the generous, caring wonderful man that he was.’

Ziggy accepts, and they strike up a deep friendship, soon realising they are kindred spirits due to their painful pasts. Bea and Ziggy both have gut-churning, tear-inducing stories to tell and there is no way we’re going give hints to their backstory, nor divulge the reasons for Ziggy and Bea being so closed off because we feel it’s paramount, from an emotional perspective, that their stories be heard from them – that the words come directly from their hearts to yours.

“So there, now you know my sad story.”

For us, this story was all Ziggy and Bea, as it was supposed to be. We believed their connection, and every moment spent with them elicited such wonderful feelings, and it is, for this reason, Jonathan’s part in the story was a bit of a distraction. Whilst we understood his purpose, our focus was always on Ziggy and Bea and their developing love story, however, this must a small blip in a story we absolutely loved. For those of you wondering, we must point out this is not a love triangle.

The last 30% of Lucky Scars had us swooning, grasping our hearts and cheering on two lost souls who, thanks to the crazy universe, managed to find their missing piece. After putting our emotions through their paces, Kerry Heavens upped the swoon factor by delivering a sweet and beautiful epilogue that was the cherry on top of the book cake. And…the jar of stars…THUD!

“But we deserve some happiness, don’t we?”