Her Defiant Heart (Damaged Hearts #01) - Monica Murphy

Title: Her Defiant Heart (Damaged Hearts #01)
Author: Monica Murphy
Rating: 3/5

Thanks to Social Butterfly PR and NetGalley for letting me receive a digital copy of this book.

Life can feel like a cruel joke. I grew up poor and motherless, with a father who never got over his wife’s abandonment. But now he's gone too, and I'm dead set on finding the woman who so carelessly tossed me aside when I was a baby.

I want revenge. And I'm going to get back at my mother any way that I can.

I change my name. Start my new life in college, and just happen to cross paths with the gorgeous, ultra-rich Rhett Montgomery. He's immediately interested in me, not that I'm surprised.

You see, I planned it that way. I meant for him to find me. He's the one connection to my mother, and I'm using him, so I can destroy her. But I didn't plan on Rhett being so charming. Sweet. Sexy.

And I definitely didn't plan on falling for him either…

I struggled with Her Defiant Heart for the same reasons I couldn't fully enjoy reading Summer Heat by Rachel van Dyken - it's a book published by Apple first. Exclusively. And since I'm not a huge fan of Apple as a company, I was biased, thinking why the hell would my favorite author cooperate with them?! Why would they exclude many, many fans, not owning an iBooks account, not owning any Apple products?! I was devastated, heartbroken, yes. And then super glad when I found out the books would finally get published for the public market, letting every reader dive into the series'. Wooop!

At first, I was really excited to start reading Her Defiant Heart. I love Monica Murphy for multiple reasons, she's definitely one of my favorite authors out there. But I was so tired and could only read like two chapters until I decided to go to sleep. During that night, I even dreamed about the story, wondered how it would go on. That's a fabulous sign, right?! I'm not even sure if this happened to me before, but I felt the spark, felt hopeful this could become something great... And then I hated the female lead - Jenny/Jensen. Like, seriously. I hated her. Still do. She's super messed up, ice-cold, slutty (though that's refreshing to all the virgins in YA/NA books, but has become kind of a trend as well). Sure, her past is tragic, I wouldn't want to trade places with her, but wow, she's bitter.

And Rhett is way, way, way too good for her. I just couldn't imagine why he would go for her, chase after her like he did, be as kind as he was. That's because Monica Murphy creates guys like that. If you have read her Never series, you'll know what I'm talking about. She either writes bad boys or she writes those perfect, hot and charming dudes every mother would want to magically come to life from the pages. Dreaming is the key word here. And swooning, lots of it. I was swooning over Rhett so hard, he's described as cute, hot, charming, smart and just about every other positive feature there is. Unlike Jenny/Jensen. Ugh. All the wrong choices for all the wrong reasons. I know her character probably has to be this way for the story itself to work out, but she's just so annoying. And what was that about doing the same mistake twice, packing her things again? I don't understand.

There's some sort of darker shade to this novel compared to the other books I have read written by Monica Murphy. Everything's more mature, darker, a bit more of the forbidden fruit kind. So don't expect a light read, this will leave you thinking and also wondering how far one will go for revenge. The idea itself is pretty good, but gah, I just couldn't stand the female lead, I'm sorry. However, I know I'll read book two and three in the series as well. I just have to know how it continues. Plus, it's still a series written by Monica Murphy after all. She's great!