Wake My Heart

Jasper Falls, Book 1

By: Lydia Michaels

Narrated by: Ashley Trumpler

When Ryan Clooney moves to the outskirts of his small town, the last thing he expects to find is love. Cursed to always be single, he’s burned out on blind dates and pity “plus-ones”. He’s through waiting for "the One" to arrive. But once he meets Maggie - the beautiful, young widow next door - his plans change.

Maggie O’Malley is not looking for love. Since losing her husband, she has withdrawn from small-town life and prefers to be left alone. But her new neighbor doesn’t seem to understand personal privacy, and the more he intrudes in her solitary life, the more she remembers how wonderful friendship can be.

Determined to reach Maggie’s heart, Ryan has an awakening of his own and learns what love is all about.

©2020 Lydia Michaels (P)2023 Lydia Michaels

Wake My Heart by Lydia Michaels Review

Now to start off since this is my first audiobook, I loved it. With audiobooks I can literally do whatever I want and still listen and being that way, I finished this book in two days-ish and usually takes me a couple of weeks to finish a single average book though I’m mostly going to put that I finished it so quickly on the fact that I just loved the story. To start off the book is so not my cup of tea to start off with and was just nothing that I was into besides the forced proximity, and do you know what I still loved it and I still gave it five stars even though it’s not something I would usually like but the small town, widow, guy-next-door neighbor all in there and ended up liking it. In the beginning, it was really sad, and I was like oh this is really sad, and then when the guy when the love interest comes in the play, I was going to stick around for that, and then he’s the one thing I got to say I love the most about Ryan. That is from day one with Maggie before even knew her name or anything he was always trying to make her comfortable and trying to be nice more than he would do for other people he was just from day one just instantly drawn her and of course he fell first. He fell so damn hard it was literally it was so well portrayed then there was Maggie. Maggie my girl is independent, and she is so strong to go through what she did after losing her husband literally her first everything, and just being frozen in time for two years being lovesick and heartbroken. Then this guy walks into her life and flips that all around. The story really portrays grief in a realistic sense in how there really no time limit on grieving and there is no pain limit on how much it can hurt, and it really puts in a mindset of how people think and all the unusual things that they might do when they’re going through a loss which I found really heartfelt and deep. Then on the romance side, it was so well portrayed it was so cute I just described it as cute because it was when it was the two of them alone together it was just so sweet and pure fluff. Definitely expect me to read the rest of the series in the future.

I love this book!

Wake My Heart was as hard for me to get through as it was compelling. I knew from the blurb that Maggie had lost her husband. What I didn't expect was just where in the healing process she would be, how raw her feelings would be, and just how thoroughly it would hit home for me. I can relate so well to the pain, the way you go through the various stages of grief only to start back at the beginning and do it all again. I can't really say how accurate her moving on would be because I haven't made it there yet, but it felt real to me. Maggie's back and forth as she struggled to reconcile her feelings for Nash with her new feelings for Ryan was so emotional and at the same time, it was somehow cathartic for me. And Ryan! Oh, my goodness, Ryan is everything a woman in Maggie's situation could want. He's sweet, he's patient, he's considerate... The list goes on, but I'm sure you get my point. I don't think I've ever rooted for a couple as hard as I rooted for this one.
As great as Maggie and Ryan are, they're just a drop in the bucket. This book has a whole passel of terrific characters. Well, there may be one or two flies in the ointment, but that's true of any group. As the start of a series, this first Jasper Falls book is full of possibilities for what's to come. And as impressed as I am with the story, I'm even more so with these characters who feel so real they practically leap off the page and as emotional as this story was, it wasn't without its humor. Several times, I would be bawling, and then something hilarious would happen, and I'd be laughing out loud. It's just that good.
Since I did listen to this one, I need to mention Ashley Trumpler. To the best of my recollection, this narrator was new to me, but she's now on my list of narrators to look for. She absolutely nailed the many emotions in this book. From a character drinking too much and slurring to another singing off-key to Maggie's grief and then the attraction between her and Ryan - Trumpler gives us all of that and more. I don't know how this author and narrator came together, but I can't imagine a more perfect pairing for this book.
I'll stop there before I give away too much, and just sum it up by saying this book is one of the best I've heard this year, and it's one I won't soon forget. If you haven't had the pleasure, I'd highly recommend it. I'm headed straight into book 2 because I can't wait to see what's next. Lydia Michaels has certainly set the bar high for this series, and she's done it right off the bat.

Love this emotional story

I read this book when it came out, and loved it, so I was excited to listen to it too. it was much longer than I expected, but I loved it just as much. the narrator did a pretty good job, but didn't distinguish her voice for different characters like some do. there were a couple of times Maggie's voice was more masculine sounding (for her range) and I wasn't sure if it was Maggie or Ryan. but her Irish accent was great, that impressed me.

Emotional

4 star Review Wake My Heart (Jasper Falls #1) by Lydia Michaels

AUDIO REVIEW:

What an emotional roller coaster of a story this book was. There were times that my heart just about broke for widow Maggie O'Malley.

Maggie was broken and destroyed by the death of her husband Nash in a car accident two years. Her grief was palpable and was well portrayed by narrator Ashley Trumpler.

When Ryan Clooney moves into the house next door, he is drawn to Maggie. The care, love and support he offered her was heartwarming and I fell for him.

The last thing Maggie ever expected was to fall in love again, but Ryan is persistent and slowly she opens herself up to him and the chance to love and live again.

An emotional story that drew me in and wouldn’t let me go. The narration by Ashley Trumpler was good and I found her easy to listen too.

great story, tons of angst!

Oh so much angst! If you love an emotional, angsty love story, this book is for you!!

Maggie is a young widow completely lost to her grief. Her family has tried to support her but she's pushed all but her sister, Perrine, away. She’s got PTSD from her husband's death by car accident and severe social anxiety. No longer able to get into a vehicle, she walks everywhere.The only place she goes every day is to work and the cemetery to visit his grave. It's really a sad and lonely existence.
Until one day when she gets a new neighbor.
Ryan is outgoing and friendly and manages to befriend Maggie. He's like a sweet puppy that's looking for his forever home!

Their relationship is not easy and there's a LOT of 1 step forward, 2 steps back before they get their HEA.

If angst, tragedy, overcoming emotional trauma is your jam, you'll love everything about this book!

Narration by Ashley Trumpler, who is new to me. I loved the emotion she gave to Maggie and Ryan, her accents are fabulous for the side characters. I really wish this book had been done duet style because it would've brought this audio to the next level. I was really missing a male voice in this one.

A beautiful, deeply emotional 5 Star listen!

I am recently new to Lydia Michaels books, but she's definitely moved up to the top of my list of favorite authors. This book was so full of raw emotion (and I do mean raw), that I felt like she had stripped me down in order to build me back up, like a drill sergeant does with new recruits.
Maggie is a young widow who was really, really struggling to move on from her husband's death. It literally took EVERYTHING out of her. She exists, but isn't living anything you could call a life.
Ryan, who moves in next door to Maggie, is just a total sweetheart. He's the kind of guy who would help anyone and stays close to his very large family, even while saying how much they drive him crazy. Him wanting to get close to Maggie is difficult to "observe" most of the time, because she has perfected holding people at arms length, doesn't want to change that and can't see how she could ever surface from her grief.
This was a beautiful, beautiful, deeply emotional story of a love that plainly HAS TO exist. The getting there is painful and full of scabs being ripped off again and again. A wonderful, wonderful read. I listened to the audio version and the narration by Ashley Trumler could not have been done any better. Every bit of emotion rang truer with the voice she gave it.

I was gifted a copy of this audiobook by Valentine PR. All thoughts are my own.

Great Story

I only rated this 4 stars because I listened to the book on audio and didn’t care much for the narration.

I hated what Maggie had to face at such a young age, but it goes to show you that once you start reflecting back on that young, first love, that it might not have been as great as you thought it was. She loved Nash with her whole heart, but learning about Nash through her memories showed that a he may have had other dreams.

I loved how Ryan tried to be patient with her, how he tried his best to help her, but she would always push him away. Don’t get me wrong, she knew she had feelings for Ryan, but she was afraid that she would forget Nash.

All it takes for her to open her eyes to what she has, is discovering her sisters cheating fiancé.

Really liked the idea behind this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

Heart broken.

This is my first book by Lydia and it won’t be my last. This was a heart breaking story about life after losing the love of your life.

Maggie was such an incredible character, she went through so much after losing her husband. After he dies, she lives a life like it’s on autopilot, until Ryan her next door neighbour came into her life.

This book is full love emotions, laughter, passion and pain. It consumed me from page one!

Bittersweet

Maggie suffers a devastating loss so she’s in no mood to social when the new neighbor moves in. Ryan is intrigued by the young widow next door. This story is a bittersweet love story and I enjoyed every second of it. The narrator did a great job of bringing life to the story.

Heartrending story of learning to love after loss

Maggie and her husband had been together since they were fifteen, living a perfect marriage of sensual bliss. When a car accident claims her husband’s life, Maggie is unmoored. Two years have passed, and she is nowhere close to healing, socializing too little and drinking too much. When Ryan moves into the house next door, he is captivated by Maggie. But her grief and her guilt about moving on, as well as the rivalry between her late husband’s family and Ryan’s, could prove to be too insurmountable.

The best books are the ones that grip you emotionally. Stories involving loss and grief are always an instant-read for me. The depth of emotion the author must convey awakens something within me. The way in which Lydia Michaels depicts grief in Wake My Heart is very well done. The guilt, the anger, the despair, and the emotional cutting Maggie struggles with are all very realistic and handled with tenderness. Ryan’s patience and understanding as Maggie grapples with her inner demons, letting her set the pace, make him such a compassionate partner. The narrator, Ashley Trumpler, elevates the emotional depth in a phenomenal performance, delivering a convincing portrayal of a woman broken by her husband’s passing and the weight of her suffering. Wake My Heart has set a very high bar for the Jasper Falls series, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book.