The Fire Between High & Lo

There was a lot of angst in this one. Layer upon layer of heartbreaking, harsh angst with heavy themes of drug use and abuse. The drug use is typically a major turn off for me in a story and it's often damn near impossible to get me to side with a character when they are involved in either of these things. But somehow, Ms. Cherry didn't make me hate the character enough to stop reading. She's a talented writer and that's the only way I can explain cheering for Logan's HEA. I could see his struggle, feel his pain, and saw him breaking. In the hands of many authors, I would have thrown my ereader out the window at certain points in the story, especially early on. It's not just that this guy can't seem to catch a break, it's his reaction and how he dealt to some of the situations that made me want to yell at him. But I saw him growing in the story, I saw him wanting to make a change in his life after he reconnected with Alyssa.

The angst became a bit overwhelming and I had to pause to recover before continuing. Everyone experienced some form of heartbreak, sadness, and pain. I needed some light. This was a true emotional rollercoaster. There were some parts where I thought the forgiveness came too easily and quickly.

I was emotionally exhausted when I finished but glad I read the story. I battled between a 3.5 and 4 star rating on this one because of the darkness and heartbreak. But in the end (for me), if a story still lingers in my mind after some time and takes me through a wealth of emotions, it deserves a bump in the rating for that.