Review: Wow! Just...WOW!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2013
I, like many, fell head over heels for Rhye when I first met him in Ruining Me. He was the perfectly imperfect bad boy. And though my heart wanted him to get his HEA with Jay, my head knew it wasn't meant to be. So, when I found out he was getting his own book, I was over the moon happy! If anybody deserved to find some happiness (besides Jay, of course) it was Rhye. There was just one little thing I didn't think about in that moment of joy.That Rhye's story would be so damn heartbreaking.To get to any happy ending for someone so lost, it is going to be hard. Rhye is fighting against some serious demons that he chooses to bury under a haze of drugs and sex. It has cost him everything, even his love for music. I believe he thought he would never connect with it again and that only propelled the drug usage and sex binges even more. His mentality was "what's the point of being sober when you have nothing left and no one gives a damn?"."We all have a weakness. Something that unleashes our eternal demons to gnaw away at our morality until it is picked clean from the bone. Sometimes, it leaves us with nothing. Numb from all emotion. Blind from what is right in front of you. What happens then? What's left?"Syn comes into his live when he needs someone the most, but would never admit it. She is the innocent to his bad, the pure to his dirty. If there ever was a couple that were worlds apart, it would Rhye and Syn. But that is the very thing that made them perfect for one another. She sees something in him that he no longer can see in himself. She believes enough for the both of them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even if there will be moments of darkness getting there."Syn doesn't offer me empty words, broken promises, or careless caresses. It's something I've never known: giving without getting back a single damn thing. I don't understand it, and I'm afraid I never will."I loved that the darker side of Rhye's drug use was not glossed over. It was very much a real part of who he is and deserved to be present in his story. There is no magical fix and there are good days as well as bad. As someone who has seen the daily struggles addiction can bring to a loved one's life, I felt Nicole did a great job of making you really understand how tough it can be. I also commend her for how she ended things. As much I love my fairy tale endings, it is nice to have them be realistic sometimes too.Wasted Heart holds true to the angst type storyline from both Ruining Me and Ruining You. It may not be as heart wrenching, but it is still tough, especially if you already love Rhye. And even though it is part of the Ruining Series, it could be read as a stand-alone, although I would say it would be easier to understand Rhye's struggles if you read the other two books. It is mild on the steam, but for me at least, that was fine because that is the way the story was meant to be told. Overall, just an amazing read from start to finish!