𝔽𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕝𝕖 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 #𝟙

𝔽𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕝𝕖 𝕊𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕤

𝔹𝕪: Lilian Harris

𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕣𝕖: Standalone-Series, Contemporary, Suspense, Romance

ℝ𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖: October. 07, 2019

𝔹𝕝𝕦𝕣𝕓-

SOMETIMES THE DEEPEST SCARS ARE THOSE NO ONE SEES.

Lilah seems to have it all—a great job and a gorgeous boyfriend, but underneath the perfect exterior are bruises left behind by a monster who claims to love her.

Damian has a troubled past of his own. He vows to steer clear of love, that is until he meets Lilah—a woman whose secret is slowly consuming her. One look and he knows they’ve met before but he doesn’t know where.

Determined to help her escape the violent relationship she can’t seem to leave, he befriends her, vowing to keep her safe, but protecting Lilah comes at a price.

When their friendship turns into passion and their secrets threaten to tear them apart, will they fight for one another? Or will their demons swallow them whole?

*Fragile Scars is a steamy contemporary romance with suspenseful undertones and isn’t suitable for those under 18. It contains strong language, sexual situations, and references. It is the 1st book in the Fragile Hearts series. All the books in the series are standalone romances with a different couple, but past couples and characters do make an appearance in later books.*

Author Note: Below is a trigger warning for those who may need it. Please stop reading now if you don’t want one. This story contains graphic depiction of violence and non-consensual sex. If these are triggers for you, I apologize in advance.

Add Fragile Scars to your Goodreads TBR ➻ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47484583-fragile-scars

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𝕄𝕪 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨

Fragile Scars by Lilian Harris is the first standalone in an interconnected series, Fragile Hearts. It’s also Harris‘s DEBUT novel! Harris has added a pretty detailed warning so please heed that warning if you have triggers, this book does contain graphic depictions of violence and non-consensual sex. This one is a tough read for most even if you don’t have triggers BUT Fragile Scars brings light to a subject that if often not discussed.

Damian Prescott retired from Delta Forces 4 years ago and started his own security company JDG Global Security along with his two best friends Jax and Gabe. Damian doesn’t do relationships. He doesn’t do attachments with women period. For fear of becoming a monster like his father.

But when Jax and Gabe talk Damian into a night out at the bar, everything changes.

❝ She’s the cure to my darkness, the one I never thought I’d find, so I’m not about to let her go, not without a fight.❞

In walks a beautiful woman who immediately catches his attention.

Damian is instantly smitten with the beautiful albeit sad woman sitting at the bar with her friend.

Damian being Damian sends her a drink and a note.

❝ I don’t know what’s making you look so sad, but whatever it is, it’s not worth it. Hope tomorrow is a better day. – Damian❞

But things don’t go quite as planned, the beautiful sad girl has a boyfriend. Although Damian leaves the bar alone, he still can’t stop thinking about her.

Imagine his surprise when he moves into a new apartment and meets his new neighbor across the hall. It’s the girl who flipped him off at the bar, Lilah.

❝ You know how sometimes you meet a complete stranger and feel as though you’ve known them all your life? Yeah, that’s what happened when I saw Lilah for the second time.❞

Lilah McDaniel seems to have a perfect life. A job she likes, a sexy doting boyfriend that she’s been with for four years… but all is not as it seems in Lilah’s life.

❝ Sometimes faking it is the only way to survive.❞

Damian and Lilah start up a very complicated “friendship” and it’s not long before Damian comes to realize that Lilah is in an abusive relationship. Her boyfriend Ash is both mentally and physically abusing her.

Both Damian and Lilah have been impacted by domestic violence, although in different ways and being around Lilah is bringing back all the horrors from Damian’s childhood. Damian grew up in a house filled with violence. Ultimately watching his father beat his mother to death… Damian’s need to protect Lilah quickly comes to the surface and he vows to do for Lilah what he couldn’t do for his mother, he won’t allow her to suffer the same outcome as his mother… no matter the consequences.

Damian does his best to get Lilah to leave Ash but he can’t make her. She has to have the courage to do that on her own, and for Lilah, leaving isn’t as simple as walking away.

❝  I’m caught between a man I desperately want and a man I can’t escape.❞

Lilah has a secret. There is more than just fear keeping Lilah with Ash. Ash has leverage over her, keeping Lilah docile and at his side continuing to take abuse from a man she stopped loving a long time ago.

❝ I haven’t been in love with him for years because his version of love hurts. It’s a chronic disease with many painful side effects for which there’s no cure. So I suffer in silence, aching everywhere. But it’s my mind which hurts the most. That’s where it all stays. It never leaves. Whoever said time heals all wounds, is a liar. Time doesn’t heal shit.❞

What does Ash have on Lilah?

Can Lilah break the hold that Ash has on her?

You’ll have to check out Fragile Scars to find out!

❝ She’s a drug I didn’t know I needed, and now that I’ve had a taste, there’s no way I could give her up.❞

Okay, first of all, I have to give Harris props! This is her DEBUT novel and the fact that she chooses such a sensitive topic as domestic violence as her debut into the book world, was very risky! BRAV-FREAKIN-O for taking a chance like that. 👏👏👏 I always love authors who are risk-takers and who push the bounds a bit.

I really enjoyed Fragile Scars, but I didn’t LOVE it as much as I thought I would. The plot had a lot of potential but in my opinion, it fell short. Fragile Scars had an insta-love/insta-lust feel to it. Ordinarily, I would appreciate that, I’m not really one for the slow-burns (I’m too impatient waiting for the good stuff 😉) BUT with a book that focuses on such a sensitive topic as this one does, I feel like it NEEDED those slow burn moments. But because of the length of the book, the characters and the plot don’t have the depth that was needed to truly submerse you into Lilah and Damian’s world and to make the timing of events more realistic.

After such a long term volatile relationship in which Lilah was in, I feel like there needed to be a “grace period” where Lilah rediscovers herself and gets the mental help that she needs before she jumps into another relationship. Coming from someone who has been in an abusive relationship, I feel like the sexual relationship would have been a huge hurdle for Lilah to overcome considering all she had been through but in Fragile Scars, that wasn’t the case. The majority of victims of DV will need more than just love to help them overcome the trauma and I would have really liked to have seen Lilah get that help. We know she found love, but did Lilah find Lilah?

❝ We came so close to falling, I could just taste our love. She took root inside me, made it her home, her safe haven. But then she tore herself away, and now I’m here, empty.❞

Even though there are some pretty graphic scenes, those scenes were needed to show just how bad things were between Lilah and Ash and weren’t just thrown in for the “wow” or shock factor. You are able to feel Lilah’s fear right alongside her. I was in an abusive relationship for 5 years and I related to her so much, much more then I wish I did, in those moments. Wondering if THIS is the time that he takes things too far. I admired Lilah’s character and the courage she showed.

❝ And maybe it doesn’t make any sense because we just met, but it feels as though I’ve known you my entire life. If things were different, I’d choose you. I’m not his. Not in the way it matters.❞

Even though I adore Damian and think he truly is a modern-day knight in shining armor, his actions and his words were conflicting at times. He truly cares for Lilah and wants to protect her but he also says he won’t push but yet seems to do just that. There were quite a few conflicting dialogues and scenes where Damian is concerned.

That ending, I will say I did NOT see that coming but I’ll be the first to admit that I was glad of it.

All in all, even though I didn’t LOVE Fragile Scars and found some parts of the story not as authentic as they could have been, I did enjoy this read. With all of the added suspense of Lilah and Damian’s story, it really was a page-turner filled with anguish, pain, as well as perseverance, support, and love.

❝ I want her to know a man’s touch doesn’t have to hurt. I want her to feel it. She lays her against my chest, telling me she knows.❞

That being said, for a new author the writing was pretty good and I look forward to seeing more of Harris‘s work.

Jax and Lexi’s story is up next in Fragile Lies and I will be checking it out.

❝ But I found someone so much better than you, and through him I’ll heal all the fragile scars you’ve left behind.❞

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ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕗𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕆𝕗 𝔸 𝔹𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕠𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕖’𝕤 𝕆𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝 ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘:

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 Even though I didn’t LOVE Fragile Scars and found some parts of the story not as authentic as they could have been, I did enjoy this read. With all of the added suspense of Lilah and Damian’s story, it really was a page-turner filled with anguish, pain, as well as perseverance, support, and love. Plus, I have to give Harris props for choosing a topic as sensitive as DV as her debut into the book world. BRAV-FREAKIN-O for taking a chance like that. 👏👏👏 I always love authors who are risk-takers and who push the bounds a bit. I will definitely be checking out book two, Fragile Lies.

🔥🔥 There was some heat in this one which I was actually surprised by considering the topic. But Lilah and Damian have an attraction from the get-go and the chemistry and heat continues to pick up as the story progresses…

🌪 ℂ𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕗𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 – There was a happily ever after for Lilah and Damian. But their two best friends story is up next.

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Grab your copy of Fragile Scars today!

US: https://amzn.to/31JI8OF

UK: https://amzn.to/2Il02PV

CA: https://amzn.to/333xnXN

AU: https://amzn.to/30Jq7i6

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𝔸𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣

Lilian Harris

Lilian Harris was born in Azerbaijan and currently resides in Long Island, N.Y. with her husband, two kids, and a dog named Gatorade.

Her love of writing began with a love of books. From Goosebumps to romance novels with sexy men on the cover, she loved them all. It’s no surprise that at the age of eight she started writing poetry and lyrics and hasn’t stopped writing since.

Even though she has a law degree, she isn’t currently practicing. When she isn’t reading or writing, Lilian is baking or cooking up a storm. And once the kids are in bed, there’s usually a glass of red in her hand. Can’t just survive on coffee alone!

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