Love In the Light by Laura Kaye
~ Hearts In Darkness #2 ~
5 stars
Synopsis
Two hearts in the darkness…
Makenna James and Caden Grayson have been inseparable since the day they were trapped in a pitch-black elevator and found acceptance and love in the arms of a stranger. Makenna hopes that night put them on the path to forever—which can’t happen until she introduces her tattooed, pierced, and scarred boyfriend to her father and three over-protective brothers.
Must fight for love in the light…
Haunted by a childhood tragedy and the loss of his family, Caden never thought he’d find the love he shares with Makenna. But the deeper he falls, the more he fears the devastation sure to come if he ever lost her, too. When meeting her family doesn’t go smoothly, Caden questions whether Makenna deserves someone better, stronger, and just more…normal. Maybe they’re too different—and he’s far too damaged—after all…
My thoughts
I loved this sequel!! I swear I can’t choose which one I loved more! Hearts In Darkness was well… ohmygod sexy and sweet and heartmelting, but here… we dive into their lives. We get to see the persons they are outside that elevator. And so much happend! Hearts in Darkness is a novella, but Love In The Light is twice as long, and holy shit I loved every second of it!! At least, when my heart wasn’t crumpling to pieces. Because oh, did my heart hurt.
Poor poor Caden. My heart broke for Caden so many times. I wanted to crawl into this book and hug him and tell him what he needed to know, to believe, but then, someone else can’t change your opinion on yourself. You have to do that yourself. (I am very aware of that myself, sadly.) That didn’t make his suffering any less heartbreaking though.
And my heart broke for Makenna too. Because she tried so hard to help him. To be who he needed. To convince him of the feelings she had for him. Yet his anxiety and trauma makes it nearly impossible to see beyond.
Caden’s insecurities play up big time when the first meeting with Makenna’s family doesn’t go as smooth as they’d hoped, and I so get him. There were more than a few quotes from Caden that felt like he’d picked them straight from my mind and it’s things like that that I love about reading as much as it terrifies me. It hits close to home and it’s those things that make my heart go into overdrive at the same time as it makes me seriously think about who I am and where that will lead me if I stay the same.
“Because being alone was miles better than being rejected, left, or abandoned.” ― Laura Kaye, Love in the Light
Love in the light is such a raw, emotional story. It’s about fears and insecurities and how they can start to control your life in ways that can ruin everything you don’t want to lose. It’s about being afraid of loving, but wanting to, so, so bad. It’s about closing the door to your past and make amends with it so it can’t ruin the future. It’s about breaking through walls you’ve build around yourself and getting your life back into your own hands. It’s so many things.
Caden and Makenna’s story really spoke to me and this sequel was exactly what I hoped it to be. I fell hard for Caden tattoos and piercings, but I fell so much harder for his personality. He has such a huge heart of gold filled with goodness. Oh, I get sappy all over again just thinking about it! This sequel couldn’t have been more fitting for these two. Now I’m just sad it’s over.