The first two books of the Broken Bottle Series, “Shadow Heart 
An alcoholic father and a disengaged mother, Nicky and her sister Jenise are poster girls of a dysfunctional family.
Focused on her studies and her dream of going to Stanford, Nicky was seemingly unaware of her own beauty and attractiveness until Ryan Tilton, a professional baseball player started noticing her. And, if that was not enough, her childhood friend Jerry started flirting with Nicky with sex in mind.
Between teen angst, her insecurities and her family’s dysfunction, Nicky finds everything confusing. The song, “Should I stay or Should I go” by The Clash describes Nicky perfectly.
Beautifully written, author Pamela Taeuffer truly has a way with words. The description of each scene and how Nicky feels is communicated very well to the point that you can actually smell San Francisco Bay and feel the wind on the beach.
Two books that should be read one after the other (they are not stand alone), Shadow Heart and Fire Heart is more than just a coming of age story. It is also a story of the modern family and the era we live in.
But, though I would love to know what happens with Nicky and Ryan, I am also done reading this series. The pacing is so slow that even after two books, nothing has been resolved. All the issues that were presented in the first book were the same issues on the second book. And sadly, there were no resolutions.
Readers today (including me) are also products of this generation which mean we have a 3-minute attention span thanks to MTV. We are also used to fast-paced storytelling, thanks to Hollywood. So, though as a reader I have fallen in love with Nicky and Ryan, the slow than molasses pacing of their story just made me lose interest.
Still, I have to reiterate that these two books are written beautifully. And I still recommend it; but I have to warn you that story development is very slow. Hence, if you don’t mind that, then, these two books are for you.
“Shadow Heart
Nobody wants to talk about them, but there are events that occur in our lives that become deep, dark secrets we hold inside. And they dramatically influence who we are and who we become.
Such is the case for seventeen-year-old Nicky Young who was raised by an alcoholic father and disengaged mother.
When Nicky tries to make her way into the world she is confronted by the demons of her dysfunctional and sometimes violent upbringing.
Unlike many of her friends, she has shied away from boys, makeup, and clothes, instead focusing on achievement and her goal of getting into Stanford. But when Nicky meets Ryan Tilton, a sexy, high profile professional baseball player eight years her senior, a strong desire is awakened in her.
Nicky questions Ryan’s motives for wanting to be with an inexperienced girl. Is he a scoundrel or does he genuinely care about her? Nicky is both excited and frightened, torn between protecting her heart and wanting to trust. Ryan brings his own demons–losing his father at the age of fourteen, and a sexual partner from his past who will not leave him alone.
Will their young, uncertain love be enough to help them open their hearts and experience intimacy they both crave so deeply or are Nicky and Ryan on a collision course?
Loosely based on the author’s life growing up in San Francisco, this inspired contemporary romance novel deals with the disturbing secrets siblings share, the dance between love and protecting one’s heart, and the innate desire to connect with another even when it means risking everything.
There are times in our lives when we encounter love so profound, so powerful that the life you’ve always planned for gets interrupted by the love you’ve desperately longed for.
Such is the case for 18-year-old Nicky Young. High School is officially over, and she has been planning on attending Stanford, but the very hot and very desirable Goliath baseball star, Ryan Tilton, has other ideas.
As their relationship begins to heat up, Ryan wants her to commit to him. Nicky wants him, too, but suspicious of his intentions. Especially when ex-lovers keep showing up! How can she commit herself to Ryan when she is so close to the independence she has longed for ever since she was a young girl?
As they become more and more intimate, childhood memories of being abused by her father and her sister’s rape at age 14, feelings of deep shame come pouring through Nicky’s mind. She desperately wants to open her heart but cannot live through the pain of being abandoned again.
What lengths will she go to stay strong when what she really craves at the deepest levels of her being is standing right in front of her?
Fire Heart is the second novel in the Broken Bottle Series which is loosely based on the author’s life growing up in San Francisco. This inspired contemporary romance novel examined the dance between love and protecting one’s heart—the innate desire to connect with another even when it means risking everything.
