Book Review | Shattered Dream – Natasha Madison (Dreams Series, Book One)

Shattered Dreams
By: Natasha Madison

Series: Dream
Book # in Series: 1 of 5
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Trope: Learning To Live Again, Friends to Enemies to Lovers.
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: October 18th, 2024
My Rating: ✮✮✮½
My Reading Format: kindleunlimited

Synopsis:

Montgavin Township will never be the same when one night changes the lives of six people.

The course of their lives and the trajectory of the town sets them on a collision course for disaster.

Charlie

It was supposed to be a regular day out.
Three couples celebrating the last days of summer.
When tragedy struck.
I thought I was going to marry her.
Instead, I was burying her.
I blamed the world for my pain.
I buried it all.
I became a man I didn’t even recognize.

Autumn

In a blink of an eye, everything changed.
My best friend was gone, and I was responsible for it.
I may not have been driving the truck, but I didn’t stop it.
Escaping the town was the only thing I could do to survive the guilt.
I thought I was strong enough to go back.
I was wrong.
One look from him and I knew I wasn’t welcome.
But this is my home, and I wanted to come back.
One night turned into more. But at the end of the day, I know he’ll never love me.
Besides, we all have shattered dreams.

honey-script.light

Shattered Dreams is the first book in the Dream Series by Natasha Madison. This enemies to lovers romance revolves around Charlie and Autumn. I have to warn you all. This book is not for the sensitive at heart. If you’ve lost someone in a car accident, this book may trigger you. If you’ve ever been or are currently in a domestic abuse situation, this book will very well trigger you. Just keep all that in mind before diving into Shattered Dreams.

Charlie had it all on the night when he lost everything. He had a group of friends who had his back at the drop of a dime, he had the perfect girlfriend who he recently just moved in with, and he had the most beautiful happily ever after within fingertip grasp. But all that came to a screeching halt the night of the car accident. Six friends in one vehicle, with only four survivors. His love not being one of them. The day he lost Jennifer was the day he lost his heart, and there was only one person to blame for all of it!

Autumn lived her life in complete silence of the mistreatment that was occurring behind closed doors. The night everything went wrong was the night she escaped a life of hell, only to be thrust in a greater hell. She never thought a town she had grown up in would treat her so poorly. But after two years of nonstop harassment, she finds herself running from the gossip, the sneers, and the cruel words being spewed at her. So with a suitcase packed, she leaves the comfort that is her brother and her father, and looks for a fresh start.

Now, eight years after the accident, Autumn is called home when finding out her father has stage four cancer. She’s quick to learn. Some things never change in a small town. The gossip mill is still running, and the same alliances are even stronger. Strong enough to have a generational business begin to fold under the weight of it all. But that’s not what scares her. What scares her is the hostile look her deceased best friend’s boyfriend keeps sending her way, it’s the harsh words he spews, and it’s the heat and the hate that fires a passion between the two that she can’t turn away from…. And the more time these two spend together, the more Charlie guilt Charlie has spiraling inside of him. Guilt of the fact that he used her as a tool to release his anger, when he really should have been sending that anger in a different direction.

My Thoughts:

After I finished Meant For Gabriel, I knew I needed to pick up Shattered Dreams as soon as possible. I mean, that was a doozy of a cliffhanger! I made sure to pencil in the read when I had nothing planned on that day. Judging from early reviews, I had a feeling this book was going to be a book that would have me totally invested, and I’d need time to process it before writing my review. I have to say, I loved the premise of this novel. It had the potential to be overly emotional and angst-ridden, something I adore in novels. But sadly, I was waiting for the tears to fall, and they never really did.. So let’s dive into this review.

Let’s start with Autumn. Autumn has lived her life harboring the guilt of what occurred that night. With a big heart comes the ability to shatter it easier. My heart continuously broke for this woman and all that she continued to go through. First, it was losing her best friend, then came losing respect from a town she called home, and now she’s losing her father to cancer. What more could possibly be thrown at this woman before she fully breaks and never comes back. What I really loved about this novel was the underlying lesson that was taught. That lesson being, life can be dark, but there is always going to be a light at the end of that tunnel. You just have to cast your fear and worry to the side and search for it. Bottom line, I loved the strength that began to grow within Autumn the moment she started to search for the light.

Then we have Charlie. Charlie lost everything the night of the car accident. And years later, he’s still clinging to the past. Out of the two, I was most worried about Charlie throughout this novel. The pure and unfiltered rage that he directed at Autumn had me wanting to reach into my Kindle just to knock some sense into the man. But, depression can do crazy things to a person and make people think and say crazy things they’d never say. I loved witnessing Charlie find that light at the end of depression. I loved how he, somewhat, went through the twelve stages of grief right before my eyes. I would have liked to see this in more depth through his point of view. Most of all, I loved the acceptance that came to him and the lesson that there is life after loss. This man is learning to live again, so the smiles were that much sweeter, and the laughs were even more melodious than a normal laugh. I loved seeing his figurative phoenix moment.

And when Charlie and Autumn, finally, became an item, I felt the smile never leave my face. These two had been through hell and back. It was refreshing to finally see them let go of that night and let the past stay in the past. My heart loved their love.

Now, for the reasoning behind why I gave this novel a 3 ½ star rating. I dropped a star and a half on my rating due to the fact that this novel was a bit too fast-paced for my liking. I needed more context and more dialogue. It felt like certain conversations were skimped upon due to adding in another sexy time scene. With a novel featuring subjects of loss, abuse, and a parent having cancer, I’m not too worried about how many sexual positions an author can fit into one novel. I’m worried about the issues being resolved and readers feeling full and overjoyed by the time we finish their novels. So I wish there was more conversation, more depth, and more mentions of actual love and less of lust where Charlie and Autumn are concerned. I also would have liked her dad’s prognosis to be centered a little bit in this novel. It was the reason why she came home, but it seemed like she spent more time working at the bar her family owned and with Charlie…. I wanted to feel that father/daughter bond, and I felt it was strongly missing in this novel.

Overall, I loved the premise of Shattered Dreams, I just wished for a little more from certain aspects that occurred between Charlie and Autumn. I wanted a bit more for this to be lifted up to a five-star rating. I do have to say, I’m intrigued by what Natasha Madison is going to bring to the Dream Series! I can’t wait to dive deeper!

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