A review by romiandthebooks
Heart Shaped Stone by CT Ortega

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

โ˜†โ˜†โ˜† ๐—”๐—ฅ๐—– ๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—ฉ๐—œ๐—˜๐—ช โ˜†โ˜†โ˜†

First, I'd like to thank the author for reaching out and asking if I would be interested in an advanced reading copy of his book. And for his kind patience, as I received it when I was on my vacation and not a lot of reading happened that time. 

I just finished this wonderful story and it was not what I expected at all. I've enjoyed it start to finish, truly. I was emerged into the story, and absolutely loved the symbolism used in it. I found the story deep, reflective, inspiring. Altough I cannot relate to Danni's situation, I could totally feel what she was going through. I believe the author did a great job at describing her pain, her struggles, her hopes. I think Lev was a great character as well, as we all need that support and hope and optimism in our lives. I assumed what the Scath was, and was pleasantly surprised to see I was not far off when I read the end. "The Allegory of Truth" at the end of the book, provides a great insight into the symbolism used in this fantasy story. 

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ. ๐˜๐˜ตโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ต, ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ง ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ. ๐˜๐˜ตโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต.

BLURB: 
In the rolling hills of ancient Ireland, a place filled with beauty and magic, a newly freed slave wanders into the tribal village of McGinniss, only to find himself enthralled by the Queen. Hoping to make a new life, Lev is quickly thrown into the horrors that torment the town. 

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ/5

โ€œ๐‘ณ๐’Š๐’‡๐’† ๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’† ๐’‚ ๐’„๐’–๐’‘ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’†๐’‚, ๐’Š๐’•โ€™๐’” ๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’๐’˜ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’Š๐’•.โ€ ๐‘ฐ๐’“๐’Š๐’”๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’“๐’๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’ƒ

..."๐‘จ ๐’‘๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’๐’ ๐’“๐’–๐’๐’†๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’Š๐’“ ๐’‡๐’†๐’†๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’”,
๐’…๐’๐’†๐’”๐’โ€™๐’• ๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’† ๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’š ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’๐’… ๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’–๐’”. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’šโ€™๐’“๐’† ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’†๐’…, ๐’๐’๐’“ ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‚ ๐’ˆ๐’๐’๐’… ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’† ๐’•๐’ ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’…๐’†๐’„๐’Š๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’๐’”.โ€