Reviews

Be Still My Heart by Charlie Cochet

bhavyamarya's review

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3.0

“Oh my God, he cooks too? Why aren’t you chaining him to your radiator?”
“First, this is Florida. Where am I going to find a radiator? Second, because that would be illegal.”

So, I didn't really have a problem with the romance in this book. I actually kind of liked it. It's not gonna be my favourite but it was definitely better than the first one.

I also loved the amazing group of friends this book has and their relationships with each other. Their interactions with each other were making me smile throughout the book. To say it was OTT would be an understatement. But not gonna lie, I didn't hate it.

Now, let's come to the reason this book is not getting more stars. The mystery/plot in this book was so weak I could almost cry. Literally saw that coming from a mile away. It was probably the most obvious plot twist I have ever read.



Honestly the only thing that's gonna make me read the next book is my curiosity about the next couple. I'm sensing a pattern here. Charlie cochet is just giving me breadcrumbs of the next relationship so I can't help but read the next book in the series even though I'm not in love with the previous books. Also, there's my compulsive need to finish a series once I've started it. So ig there's two reasons. ✨

booksafety's review against another edition

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4.0

Book safety, content warnings, and tropes & tags down below.

Red (Russel) is the character I’ve been most excited about after reading the other two books. He’s a gentle giant, redhead, freckled, and infamous puppy eyes that can get him whatever he wants. He’s got PTSD, but he also listens to and dances to disco when cooking. I loved him. He met Laz in book 1, and they had an instant connection and good chemistry which definitely kept going in this one. These books are just straight up easy entertainment. Fun, hot and, atleast in this one, a better mystery/suspense than in book 1.

Greg Boudreaux did a fantastic job on the audiobook as usual.

Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Bodyguard, murder attempt, fashion photographer, private security, PTSD, nightmares, therapy, miscommunication (nothing absolutely horrible), asshole ex boyfriend, forced proximity, friends to lovers

⚠️⚠️ Content warning ⚠️⚠️
Cheating ex boyfriend (not on-page)
Abusive ex boyfriend
Violence
Attempted murder
Explicit sexual content
Recalling war situation


⚠️⚠️⚠️ Book safety ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Cheating: No
OM drama: Yes, mildly
Third-act breakup: Almost?
POV: 3rd person, dual POV
Strict roles or versatile: Strict roles

wisecraic's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

wildfaeriecaps's review against another edition

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5.0

Red and Laz are so freaking sweet my teeth hurt. I love how this book stressed communication and working through problems. That's something so great about this series. Mental health is taken seriously and seeking help is praised. Love it. Also the rant Laz goes on about artists deserving to be paid. I approve.

re-read: red is too pure for this world.

re-re-read: Still very much love this book, though the villain gets a bit cornier every time I read it.

mxdeannaf's review against another edition

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4.0

I was lucky enough to win an ARC for this book. I love these characters and I can’t wait to read more in this series. I enjoyed reading Laz and Red’s story. More people should know about ptsd and its effects.

leelee68's review against another edition

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5.0

I loved them together. I loved seeing everyone again. This series is the best.

always_anxious's review against another edition

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4.0

FINALLY ENJOYING A BOOK AGAIN.
I didn’t even wanna start this but since it was already on my Kindle, I did and it was glorious.

This doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s a little bit OTT, it can be very wordy and sometimes focuses too much on describing the surroundings and some internal thoughts BUT even with those things, I still enjoyed the heck out of it.

Was it because it got me out of a bad mood? Maybe.
I really enjoyed the world and the cast of family/friends. I can already tell that if the other books by this author are all this easy-going then I’m going to be digging into the backlog since this series is a spin-off.

There’s action, danger,humor.
OH, THE SPICE

ofbooksandromance's review against another edition

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4.0

I love these guys. I love all the characters so much. Everyone is so nicely portrayed and fleshed out. And I loved Laz and Red together. They were made for each other.

Only things that bothered me was the made up relationship conflict and the way the case ended, it was way too fast and not fleshed out at all. Wish we got a bit more on that considering it was a very important part of the book.

gmh's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5⭐️

haletostilinski1's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5 stars!

This was really good! I was excited to delve into Red and Laz's story after their introduction in the first book.

Red is still recovering from being shot, so he still isn't back to work with King's Security quite yet. He hasn't seen Laz in months since he left Red's bedside when his best friends/brothers showed up, because Laz thought he was being a burden.

Laz, just getting out of an abusive relationship with Bryan, has some shit to go through in this book, and Red continues to - and always will - deal with his PTSD. But together Laz and Red are sweet and adorable - and also, really hot and sexy and passionate together ;)

When Ace meddles as Ace does, Red and Laz see each other again, only Laz gets shot at, and it's clear that someone is trying to kill him. This isn't like with Colton and Ace where Ace was Colton's bodyguard, because Red still isn't back at work and Mason - Ace's ex from book one - takes over the case, and in the mean time Red is staying with Laz at Colton's (and now Ace's) house while Colton is on a business trip.

There was a bump in the road for these two, but I liked that it made sense -
SpoilerRed didn't talk to Laz yet about his fears and that he went to see his therapist because he was afraid of scaring Laz away with his PTSD problems, as it did with his ex, and Laz, having recently gone through a cheating ex, lets his insecurities get the best of him and assume the worst, and he doesn't talk to Red about it
. Ultimately I felt Laz was more in the wrong, even though I understood his insecurities and jumping to conclusions. Still didn't make it right, and I would have liked a longer conversation about it with these two, but what we did get was good. Still, a follow up conversation would have been good, I think.

At least from that, they learned from their mistakes and their relationship could become stronger. They got through their first fight, yay!

I totally started to suspect who the person was wanted Laz dead pretty soon and I was totally right! I kneww ittt. Sometimes people do the craziest things for the craziest reasons...

Overall this was fun and enjoyable - a little slow going for me at first, but not too bad - and Red and Laz are two sweethearts who are even bigger sweethearts together, although, like Red says, Laz is a minx in the bedroom ;)

Also, we got a set up for our next couple - Lucky and Mason. I wasn't expecting it but I am HERE for it, mmkay. Also, I call it now that Gio, Laz's brother, will be King's love interest. If not I will be shocked lol.

I'm really enjoying this series, so much. Can't wait for more! :D