Can You Read a Series in a Month? Review #1 ~ Clipped Wings ~ Helena Hunting

Berls @Fantasy is More Fun and Michelle @Because Reading hosted this challenge last year and I really wanted to participate but just couldn't do it. THIS YEAR, I'm in! For all the details on the challenge, click the graphic above.

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The first book in the Clipped Wings series is a novella, Cupcakes and Ink. For my review, click here. I re-read it this month but didn't re-review it. ;) While it isn't absolutely necessary to read Cupcakes and Ink, it really does set the stage well for Hayden and Tenley's story.


Clipped Wings by Helena Hunting
Clipped Wings #1
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Source: I received a complimentary copy from Gallery Books via Netgalley. I also won a signed copy in a giveaway. This did not affect my rating and my review is provided voluntarily.
Rating: 4.5 Bookworms
Challenges: #BloggerShame, Can You Read a Series in a Month?, #ShelfLove
Goodreads

Synopsis
An emotional love story that follows the touch-and-go relationship of Hayden and Tenley; two young people who desperately want to love and be loved but are afraid to completely let go of their pasts.

As Hayden and Tenley navigate their newfound but slightly unstable relationship, they want to trust each other, but Hayden is hiding a dark and shameful past that he doesn't ever want Tenley to find out about. And Tenley has secrets of her own that could make Hayden run away forever. When Tenley asks Hayden to put a beautifully elaborate tattoo across her back, the two form what they thought was an unshakeable bond. But when Tenley's past shows up on her doorstep, will Hayden stand by her side...or run?

"Everyone has scars, Tenley. If we're lucky, they're only on the outside." -Hayden

After reading Cupcakes and Ink, I knew I was invested in Tenley and Hayden. I adored them, empathized with them each individually and I was so very anxious over what they were each dealing with - the scars they both carried on the outside and the inside. As they became better acquainted and I, therefore, got to know them better, my heart broke for them both.

"I hadn't considered the possibility that I might find someone who would understand what I had endured and want me anyway, even though I wasn't whole." -Tenley 

I think these two are soul mates because it felt like their souls must have recognized in the other the mutual pain and guilt they each were burdened with. It bought them into each others' orbit and both were loathe to let the other go. But they were both hiding things from the other. Despite them both having reason for it, the secrets threatened their bond. They did bring out the best in each other though. It was juts difficult to decide whether they could risk their hearts again.

You know the saying about how you'll never have more heaped on your plate than you can handle? Well, these two have had quite the heaping but they've proven their strength by surviving. And it seems they have a bit more to deal with before they can have some happy.

I hate that I've let such an incredibly written and emotionally draining book languish on my shelf. I've already started book #1.5 though. I still *have* to know where Tenley and Hayden go from here.