Review: But the one love and passion that he does have is for painting ...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 23, 2014
Beauty in the Ashes is an emotional story about two broken people who are so damaged from their past that they are not sure if they will ever be whole again.  I felt for both Caelen and Sutton and wanted them to find their HEA.Caelan is living his life day by day and drowning himself in drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of this past.  I don’t want to go into too much detail about what happened in his life to cause this pain and anger and for him to be in this dark world.  He is just so angry at the word and to be honest in some ways he has every right to be.  The other people in his apartment complex only know one side of Caeln and that is the mean angry, drunk guy who is always yelling at them for making too much noise.  No one understands him or even cares to get to know him  For the past six years he has turned to his addictions to help him feel numb.  He is addicted to drugs and alcohol.  But the one love and passion that he does have is for painting which he seems to do often.  When he meets his new neighbor Sutton, things change for him.  There is something about Sutton that he is drawn to.  He knows she is different. And the harder he tries to push her away the more she makes it difficult to do so.Sutton has her own past that she is running from.  There is something about Caelan, besides his good looks, that intrigues her.  She sees the pain in his eyes and knows that there is a story behind that pain but is not exactly sure what it is.  When she does find out she doesn’t judge him or pity him.  She is there for him and gets him.  Sutton and Caelan have chemistry and this undeniable passion for each other.  When they are together they are explosive.  They start to feel when they are with each other,which scare the both of them.  The walls that they have both built begin to crumble.  They need each other, and hope that together they can become whole.  But how can two people who are so broken heal again?  Is depending on someone who is just as broken as your are, healthy and the best way to move on?  Is the love they have for each other strong enough to survive?I loved both Caelan and Sutton and my heart just broke for them for all that they went through.  I felt the love, the passion but also the need that they had for each other.  This book was dark at times and Caelan was at times a complete jerk.  But knowing what he went through and where his anger was coming from it was completely understandable.  What Sutton went through will break your heart and make you sick.  She was a strong girl at times but also had her weaknesses.  I felt the pain and the fears that she felt.  I just wanted to see these two beautiful yet broken people be happy.Micalea Smetzler did a wonderful job with this book.  It deals with very real and very deep issues.  This book is so different from I am used to from Micalea, but I think she did an wonderful job with those issues.  There was a twist and an ending that honestly I did not see coming but I have to say it as real and so true to the story.  It was the perfect ending to this story.  With that being said I wished that I saw more of a buildup to the relationship between Sutton and the secondary characters in this book. But overall I loved this book and cannot wait to see what Ms. Smelter has in store for us next.