Review – Unstable by SE Hall – Bookalicious Babes Blog

You can put up a front… but destiny already has your back.

From first glance, I believed this book was going to be a hot and heavy love triangle. I was ready for the angst of star crossed lovers, the agony of being separated from one’s truest love. This was truly unlike anything that I expected. This was the story of a young woman already in tremendous pain facing yet more pain as she returns to the one place that she ever planned to return to. She goes home to Ashfall to say goodbye to her beloved mother and to finally face her past. That past includes the boy on the farm next door who has grown into the man running that farm and wanting more from that girl than she’s ready to give.

Henley Gene Calvert was a twin. She, her sister Hadley and her mother were a team that survived through the hardest of times – only to be divided by a tragic loss. Henley left home and stayed away for eight years, severing her ties and trying to regain her sanity. But yet another death brings her back, only now she has to face not only her past but make decisions for the farm her mother has left her. Then we meet Gatlin. He’s been her mother’s farmhand and is determined to see Henley stand on her own and become the woman she was meant to be – strong, resilient, ready to be in control. They become friends… He becomes the one that she can depend on. But there’s someone else who wants to be her support too.

Keaton Cash has always had his eye on Henley. He watched her walk away and feared that he would never have the chance to let her know how he truly felt about her. He’s Just as determined to have her in his life as she is to ignore him. And once this alpha (oh so sexy alpha) cowboy makes up his mind to have Henley Calvert, nothing stops him – not even Henley herself.

The more of this story I read, the more it snared me. Henley’s struggle to accept her losses, accept her pain and find forgiveness was so heartbreaking. So much anguish. So much hurt. Eight years of suffering alone… my soul hurt for her. The friendship she has with Gatlin is so strong and helps to build her confidence and her belief that she can survive. But it’s her relationship with Keaton that is so incredible. Watching their relationship turn so fully on its axis. The long simmering chemistry between them and the obvious fact that they have loved each other for so much longer than Henny Penny is willing to admit to.

Beautifully written. I found myself laughing so hard and then crying much harder. I was so sucked in and so invested in Henley, Gatlin and Keaton. I couldn’t help but care and hope for a joyful ending for all involved. Unstable is such a moving tribute to the power of forgiveness, finding a path to embrace the past and forging ahead to accept all the future holds – pains and all. Even the twists and turns that we never see coming.

Incredibly well done, Stephanie!

5 Amazing Stars!

After eight years, Henley Calvert is headed home. Back to the family farm and small town she left behind, never to be thought of again.

Too much regret and shame to bear.

But she’s the only one left to see to her family’s legacy, so she must return to Ashfall and face all the ghosts that haunt her.

****

Gatlin Holt, the family farmhand, awaits her arrival, and lends a hand—in more ways than one. He reacquaints Henley with the lay of the land while helping her heal her soul with a new outlook on life.

Yet every time she thinks some peace may be within reach, Henley hits another roadblock. The biggest of which is Keaton Cash—her childhood nemesis who owns the farm next door.

****

And no, it’s not a love triangle. That’s impossible when Henley’s heart is closed, incapable of love.