Title: Tangled up in Pain
Author:  Charlotte Byrd
Publisher/Year:  Byrd Books 2/21/19
Length:  198 Pages
Series: Tangled #2

Overview

Everything comes at a price. What if this one is too high even for him to pay?

Jackson Ludlow, the recluse billionaire of New York, is beautiful and captivating but also damaged and alone. 

He thinks he is the only one with secrets, but he’s wrong. 

My past is coming for me. It’s forcing me back there: the place that ruined everything. 

I don’t want to go. He can’t make me. 

But there’s no way out. 

My Thoughts

When we left off from the first installment, we saw things heating up between Harley and Jackson. Both are damaged and have secrets, and while all were not revealed we see that there’s something deep here that adds to the chemistry. The last bit was a bitter wake up call – Harley’s mom was in a car accident and she’s been asked to come home. Harley left Montana for a reason. the memories haunt her and her relationship with her parents turned sour. She doesn’t want to go, but we all know that it’s the right thing to do right?

The story from here takes quite a few twists and turns. We know that there’s something special between Jackson and Harley, and that’s proven when Jackson offers up his jet for her to fly home and he goes with her. She’s preparing for the worst but the scenario that she walks into at the hospital is not even one of the ways that she thought this would go. Her parents faked it. All because they wanted to reconnect on their terms not hers.

There’s an explosion of emotions at this point, we watch how anger takes over and how there’s no hope for a reconciliation at all since Harley was tricked. I mean, she’s not wrong if you think about it – what parent does that – pretends to be on their death bed just to get face time.

What comes of this forced trip though is something entirely different and more powerful. We watch Jackson develop a new found appreciation for the world and we see that he’s coming out of his shell. He opens up to Harley about quite a few things, and in return, we see that they have something true and real even though it’s so fresh and new. He admits that he’s in love with her and she reciprocates and we think that everything will go smoothly from here on out.

He gives her the freedom to write her novel and in turn, she frees him from his solo existence. At the same time, Jackson works to rebuild the bridge between Harley and her father and we see that start to take shape. There are many conversations that aim to provide clarity on the past few years and while it’s not a perfect reunion, we see hope on the horizon.

That all crumbles when Jackson gets a call that he’s been duped in a ponzi scheme and has lost half a billion dollars. All money that was going to go into his struggling company in the hopes to keep it afloat. That causes a rift between the two yet Harley wants to be there for Jackson. There’s hope that they persevere, yet someone gets in their way.

Woodward – a man who was due to invest in the company – he makes claims to Harley’s reputation and that tears everyone apart. Jackson goes on a rampage, and at the same time questions Harley – she in turn breaks up with him because her character should never have been in question and that means that the last 25% of this story is one fo pain and torture.

We have the return of Jackson’s ex-wife and we see that they are on far better terms than we knew. We don’t know the circumstances of Jackson’s pain, but we assumed that it was partly due to her. Doesn’t seem like that now when she moves into his house.

The other plot here where we’re left off at the end is Parker, the man who was stalking Harley in book one and who’s now out on bail. He comes after her and we don’t know how it’s going to end. So….on the cliff once again and now i’m off to book 3 to see if we survive. Enjoy!