Pulse by Gail McHugh Review

READ. THIS. BOOK.

(but make sure you read Collide first)

5 Beautiful Stars

From GoodReads:

"How do you keep existing when your heart is so splintered, so completely torn to shreds, your pulse is fading?

You’re…broken. How do you move forward when every breath is nothing more than a constant ache? Living becomes an insidious reminder that you threw away the single largest part of yourself. Your…soul. No amount of distraction can pull you from the torture of losing your…life.

Now that Emily Cooper has walked away from her first love, she finds herself running toward her only love. Unraveling fast, but clinging to hope, Emily risks all she has left on the man that has consumed her every thought and dream since the day they met. Will Gavin take her back? And if so, will their reunion be a collision of two hearts destined to complete one another and rekindle a love that knew no boundaries? Or will scars from their past rip open, tearing slowly at what each of them was meant to be? Can fate, the ultimate game changer, mend the shattered road it laid out from the start?

Only time will tell…

Tick-Tock…"

My Thoughts:

Words. I'm at a loss for Words.

This book will make you FEEL, and I mean truly feel. You will feel love, you will feel abuse, you will feel destroyed, you will feel.. everything. You will laugh along with them, and cry just as much. Your body will be covered in goosebumps and chills in anticipation of what is to come. That is the joy of Gail McHugh's writing, she has the ability to make you feel each and every amount of emotion that her characters are feeling, right along with them. 

Pulse touches on so many different areas of life. From love to heartbreak, from perfection to horror, and from abuse to healing. It is one giant emotional roller coaster ride from the first page. 

It starts off at the exact point that Collide ended, Emily leaving Dillon's place. Now the question is, will Gavin take her back? Emily has made it her mission to get back the one who has her heart, and run far far away from the one who took it for granted. However, it is up to Gavin if he can bring himself to take back the girl who destroyed his own.

"'I am fucking dead, goddamnit!" He stepped closer, curled his arm around her waist, and pulled her against his chest. Staring into her watery, green eyes, he resisted the urge to kiss her again. 'You killed me, Emily.'"

This is a story about overcoming pasts. A story of being an abuse survivor, and learning to give someone your heart, with the fear of it shattering yet again. Overcoming obstacles that have gotten in the way, while more are thrown at you. It is about finding your future, and embracing whatever it may hold.

Let me tell you, Pulse is twist after twist of new situations that arise, throughout the whole book. There are not a lot of people who would be able to get through what Gavin and Emily have both gone through in their lives, and Pulse shows real struggle, and raw emotions.

"Fate had a weird way of circling back over paths that were meant to cross."

There were points in this book that I cried, I mean honestly cried. Things that you never, ever saw coming are thrown at you and completely send your brain and your heart for a loop. Heartbreaking. Completely torn apart. After one particular chapter, I had tears streaming down my face, chills all over my body, and just sat there whispering "no.." and refusing to turn the page. 

"Breathe..."

Every single person should read this book. Not only is it a beautiful story, and a very well written read, but it is a message. A message to every woman out there who is scared to take a chance because of someone who did not treat their heart (and/or body) with care. 

The dedication that Gail McHugh writes says a lot about the message Pulse is sending:

"Dedicated to women out there who have yet to find their voice, strength and courage. Never let them strip you of what you were both with. Take it back."

Quote that gave me chills:

"I think I loved you before I knew you existed."