Heart Trouble by Jae

Heart Trouble by Jae

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Second time I’ve read this book, fourth Jae book read this week, and, I’ve now learned, fourth (not counting short stories) in that Hollywood series.

I assume that there are two reasons why this book is not currently listed as the fourth in that series: 1) neither of the mains are actresses (unlike at least one main in each of the proceeding books in the series), though there are actress side characters; 2) there is a fantasy element to the story not present in the Hollywood Series books.

So, why do I see this as being the fourth book in that Hollywood series? Simple enough – same location; same people/characters appear in this book and in the prior books; while no main is an actress , attending movie premieres is still an element in the book.

Laleh Samadi is a waitress who appeared in book three of the Hollywood series and stars in this book here. Her best friends appear to consist of the women from the prior books – Jill being the closest friend of the bunch – this is the third book in the series wherein Jill played an important role, leaving the first book as the only one not to include her. Grace, Crash, and Lauren also make appearances – though Grace again is just there (first book she was mentioned a few times as being super gorgeous; second book she starred as main character; third she’s again mentioned a few times – there but just barely having a role larger than one that could have been filled by a cardboard cutout of her; and then in this book here she’s ‘caught’ kissing Lauren at a party and . . . well, Jill says that Laleh should talk to Grace about a specific issue but that talk either never occurred or wasn’t covered by this book, so she’s even less here in this book than in previous; I assume that it is Lauren being kissed, I’m not sure if her name was even used in this book – she has no role other than being someone to be kissed by someone famous and lesbian; Crash has a larger role, but barely. No, of the side characters who have previous starred in their own books, only Jill ‘shines’.

Laleh has heart issues to start off the book and ends up in the ER. While the book description says ‘emergency room physician’, the book itself made a big point of using the phrase ‘emergency department’. So maybe I should not put down ‘ends up in the ER’ but . . . ends up in the . . um . . hospital? Well, whatever. She has issues with her heart, her mother drives her to the hospital, Laleh collapses, basically dies, but is revived by a doctor there. One named Dr. Hope Finlay.

Hope is a workaholic – her life, for the most part, revolves around her job as an emergency physician at a hospital. And she’s basically closed off to others – though she does somehow manage to have one friend named Jordan (a surgeon). For those who like this series and liked Jordan, you will be happy, I’m sure, to know that Jordan also stars in her own book – though it hasn’t been released yet (Falling Hard).

Hope and Laleh connect up in this book because Hope, while attempting to save Laleh’s life, shocked her with one of those thingies that shocks people. And accidentally had herself shocked at the same time – by having Laleh’s arm jerk forward and slam into Hope’s chest. Well, that’s a connection, but I meant that they connect up because Hope doesn’t believe in anything but what she can see, feel, taste – in rational logical thought. When she keeps having these unexplainable events take place after being shocked, she has to get to the root cause, she has to find that rational logical reason hidden among the vaguely supernatural illusion. Which lead her to talk with Laleh – very very tentatively. To see if she also is having weird after-effects (like suddenly knowing Farsi, despite never having attempted to learn it; odd food cravings; etc).

And so – closed off hiding from life Hope, and bubbly happy Laleh, straight Laleh, end up linked by some kind of ‘magical’ link. They both like and freak out about the connection. Hope because she cannot stand being forced to be so open with someone outside herself; Laleh because she’s feeling things she isn’t certain are her own feelings, or someone else’s.

This is a reread. I knew how this story would go – and because I knew, I was kind of grumbling to myself at times when I hadn’t been before. Because, again, I know how the story unfolds – I knew how the story ended. There are ‘reasons’ why the two women would never have hooked up, become a couple, if they lived their lives without odd little bits of fantasy popping up – what with Hope being closed off and not really dating; Laleh being, as far as she knew, straight – though not really being all that excited by any men she’s meet. So ‘something’ had to force them together. So fantasy did. But! Something had to . . . well, now I can’t say for spoiler reasons. (view spoiler)[I was annoyed that the ‘link’ had to be destroyed when I read the book the first time; was grumbling while reading the book that I knew the link would be killed – seeing them together, seeing them loving that link, that close-ness, then seeing it severed again. Yeah, I know ‘why’ the link had to be severed, but . . . seriously – ‘Laleh had to know if the feelings she felt were actually her own so the link severed;’ but! It could just as easy turned out to be ‘wiggling and rolling around in a fit of pleasure, Laleh and Hope gazed upon each other . . . then both squeaked, eyes widening in shock – they couldn’t feel the other! After allowing themselves to actually have sex for the first time together the link was severed! They were being punished! Obviously this means that they should not be together and so both part and never see the other ever again. Because I’ve turned this into Lesbian Pulp instead of Lesbian Romance.’

The action that occurred after the link was severed was ‘too easy’. They relied heavily on it – heck, it’s the reason they were able to ‘be together’. To cut through some of the bullshit that gets thrown up as barriers in other books. But . . . to go from that to ‘awkward car ride . . . oh! We need to actually use words now! I know!’. Simple. Easy.

And . . . how the bloody hell did they explain Hope’s sudden lack of understanding in terms of Farsi? That’s kind of . . . a huge thing to suddenly lose the ability to speak a language without any explanation. (hide spoiler)]

Right. Whatever. Another book that edged close to top marks – the first time I read it and now. But failed to read that high rating plateau because of how the book ended. *shrugs* meh, happens.

Rating: 5+

March 30 2017




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