Review: Scorned (#1, From the Inside Out) by S.L. Scott

My Thoughts

Irresistible. Addictive. Sexy. Intense.
The best I’ve seen from S.L. Scott and one of my favorites this year!

• Related Posts: 2014 Favorites

Synopsis

We shared a love that regulated every heartbeat and every breath we took. It was all encompassing. I thought our love could withstand time and anything thrown our way. 

I was wrong. So wrong.

I used to be happy. I used to be Juliette Weston when Dylan Somers filled my life with promises of love and a happy ever after. But when he took my heart and broke it into a million pieces, I became someone else entirely. In one afternoon, I lost my soul mate. I lost everything I knew myself to be. 

Three years later, the man who destroyed me is back. 

To assuage his guilt? To finish the job? It doesn’t matter… I won’t let him this time. I’m stronger. I’ve moved on. He won’t affect me. 

This is a story of love and betrayal. Pain and loss. Happiness and fate. It’s about finding your true destiny.

This is our story.

And it’s not for the faint of heart.

My Review

“I HATE HIM with all my soul and every fiber muscle and nerve of my being. Dylan Somers broke me and my heart simultaneously, destroying everything I knew my life to be.”

The synopsis alone had me hooked, but as soon as I began I was irreversibly sucked in by the story, into a raging vortex of anger, hurt and yes — scorn. Because Juliette Weston had been scorned. Left alone in a freshly emptied apartment with a broken heart, her pain and a damn coffee maker. After years of being with the love of her life — or so she thought — their relationship had begun to struggle and strain, but the shocking outcome… the empty apartment… the shattered heart, was too much for her to bear.

Over the years, sadness morphed into an anger always alive below the surface. Juliette became Jules, and a dutifully built wall guarded her once-fragile heart. No more. She didn’t allow herself to think of him. And she hadn’t been open to others either. She focused on her career. Her future. That was enough. Her heart was once again in tact. Things were different. She was different.

Until she saw him again.

And he saw her.

“After three years of heartbreak, tears and numbness, the power of his words is the key, turning the lock on the chest that’s buried in the recesses.”

Suddenly, at the sight of him, that anger crested and overflowed beyond the surface. But it wasn’t only anger, it was recognition of the man she once loved. It was an uproar of so many feelings all at once and she felt her wall begin to fissure and crack. I was totally riveted at their dynamic. I could not get enough. Every time they saw each other the air was charged with longing, want, anger, love, regret… I seriously reveled in it. I think I held my breath with every scene they shared. And of course, things are never what they seem, and big, bad awful Dylan shows us that there is so much more to what happened. And Jules’ heart (along with mine) began to soften.

“I’ve been hurt and can’t seem to let go of the pain. I hate Dylan, but I don’t want to hate him anymore. I want to embrace life.  But I have questions. Questions like — Why? Why did he leave me that day?”

And as fate would have it, the very man that shattered her heart, began to break down her walls and open her up in a way she hadn’t been in three years. Brick by brick, she let the world in again. Unfortunately for Dylan, fate also brought Jules face-to-face with Austin Barker. Another man who made a play for her heart.

Austin was a wealthy and frequent art buyer and client of Jules’ gallery. There had been some interest there, but it wasn’t until Dylan broke through her walls that Jules made herself available to the another chance at love.

“Maybe he can heal me.
Maybe that’s why we seem to work right now.
Maybe he needs me just as much.
Maybe he’s broken on the inside too.”

The dynamic between Jules and each of the men is so intriguing. I have ideas… theories to what I think may happen, clearly my mind developing a story I so desperately want to continue reading! I just loved the emotional turmoil of their tale. Loved that it was irresistibly sexy without being overdone. Emotions took center stage and I loved that. I also loved Jules as a character. She’s the perfect mix of strength and vulnerability… vigor and softness.

This is the first part of a four-part serial and I am desperately waiting to get my hands on Jealousy, part 2.

Reading Order and Purchase Links

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