~*★Review★*~ Beneath The Scars by Melanie Moreland

Title: Beneath The Scars

Author: Melanie Moreland

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Series or Standalone: Standalone 

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer: Melyssa 

After coming across this author while reviewing for another blog, I was quickly drawn into the world she creates, completely enraptured by her writing style and the romance that seemed to spin effortlessly across the page.

And I did it by starting with her newest release, which meant any books by her that I read later, I’d be doing in a backwards order. Which is the place I find myself now as I review her 2^nd book, Beneath the Scars.

Right from the moment I opened the book on my kindle, I was held captive, maybe even more so than I was with the previous book I had by her. Description in a book is tricky for any writer. You always question how much is too much. For this reader, the level at which people, places and things were brought to life in this book was perfect. I could close my eyes at any given moment after reading a passage and feel myself in the characters place.

The book came alive for me and the characters right along with it. It was a beautiful thing to witness, or really, be a part of.

It’s not often that I use the term magical romance when describing books I read. Mainly because for me, it’s such hard thing to obtain these days with all of the books I read. I’m always on the lookout for that book that will sweep me away and hold me captive to the very end, with characters that are so well crafted that only do you become invested in them, but their every up and down as well. Right up to their happily ever after (if there is one).

This book did all of that and so much more for me during the two days that I took to read it. It earned the title of magical romance. Even now, hours after I’ve finished reading it, the scars of what the characters went through is still with me.

Now I could easily sit here and break down the book for you, telling you every minuscule thing that happens, but this is one of those stories that you have to really experience for yourself to truly understand its power.

What I will say is that the journey that both Megan and Zachary are on is not an easy one. To be quite honest, there was quite a bit of time at the start where I was sure that I was going to hate my first romantic hero. So connected was I to Megan and her struggles, what brought her to where she eventually meets Zachary that when he would say harsh things to her, they cut me just as deep. I shed tears. Wanted to throw my kindle and just tell him and this book to screw itself.

Now for most, that would seem like a reason NOT to read it. But for me, was a reason to stick it out. I had to see the moment where those walls of his, the ones he had built so high after what happened to him came crumbling down around him. And I got that and so much more. Zachary by the time I turned the last page, had not been the hero to hate, but the one that I desperately loved. Felt for. Adored. But more than all of that…understood.

I don’t know if it was the fact that Megan was a writer, but I’m hard pressed to find a female character that I was so easily able to like early on. It made what happened to her later, all of the pain she experienced with and without Zachary cut that much deeper and leave scars of their own on my heart. Which made what did occur as the story begin to wind to an end that much more meaningful to me.

And in the same way that she did with Over The Fence, the author also shows you this couples life in the ending chapters, the life they have in the future, when the story that gets them to their happy ending has long passed and they’re enjoying their life together and just like the other story, this one was just as heartwarming.

It should be noted that this book definitely has a beauty and the beast feel to it, yet just like Megan, I saw nothing truly beastly about it. I just saw someone equally as broken as she was that was in desperate need of healing. Both of his mind and his heart.

This book was a full body experience for me. Equal parts frustrating and happy, love sick and swoony, I felt and still feel everything and I have the feeling that I will be for quite some time, which for me, is the best part of reading a book. The way it resonates long after it’s over.

Thank you Melanie Moreland for writing another book that by the time I turned the last page had me believing again in the healing power of love. It was a beautiful journey for two flawed but beautiful characters and one I won’t soon forget.