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Hearts Aligned by M.E. Montgomery
Polaris Series Book 4
Contemporary Holiday Romance
December 6, 2016
165
“There’s plenty more fish in the sea.”
Great advice if you’re a fisherman. I wasn’t. I also wasn’t a player. I wasn’t a ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ kind of guy. I wasn’t scared of commitment. That is, until Melissa Cross showed up, stole my heart, and then disappeared with the pieces. It took awhile, but I made a new life for myself, one that didn’t include any part of her. Except, it turned out, it did. Our lives are more connected now than they ever were…and maybe my heart wasn’t as disconnected as I fooled myself into believing.
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“Keep your friends close and your heart closer.”
I always assumed this little pearl of wisdom from my mother meant to treasure the man I fell in love with more than anyone. Until the day I learned that it really meant to hold tight to your heart, because once you gave it away, nothing in the world hurt more than leaving it behind when the relationship had to end. I thought I’d moved on. I thought I’d built a new life that didn’t - couldn’t - include Chris Matthews; until the man I’d never forgotten showed back up in my life. Turns out I must still own a piece of my heart, otherwise, I’d never be able to feel it shatter all over when I saw him again. Our lives seemed destined to align, but would there ever come a time when our hearts would as well?
“My heart is yours.”
Love is never, ever easy. There will always be roadblocks, speedbumps and it will constantly be under construction. It is impossible to love and not to be hurt. Because when you love you entrust your heart to someone else. And inevitably, that person will make a mistake- small, or great- that will leave a mark on your heart. But if you’re very, very lucky, then section by section the roadway is mended, and you can carry on towards your destination- a happily ever after.
In Hearts Aligned, M.E. Montgomery gives us the story of Chris and Melissa. Once enmeshed in a love that was all encompassing, time, tragedy, and pain have separated them. When the story begins, the two have not seen each other for years.
Chris Matthews is in a pretty good place in his life. He co-owns a construction company with his brother-in-law and works daily doing what he loves. He’s in a relationship with a woman who’s caring, considerate, and fun. His relocation back to his hometown has helped him feel closer to his siblings, his nieces and nephews and the friends who are like family. He’s finally started to forget the girl from his past, and to mend his broken heart and move on with his life. So everything is going really well for him. Until it isn’t. 
Melissa Cross is tired. She left behind- no, more like, abandoned- the man she loved, in order to come home and play mom to her troubled stepbrother and to deal with the fallout from her stepfather’s incarceration. She works hard, she takes classes at night, she cleans the house obsessively and she worries about her brother, Joshua. And that’s pretty much her life in a nutshell. Until Josh gets hurt on a job site at his construction internship. And Melissa comes face to face with a blast from the past.
The pair have a LOT to figure out. Chris is in a happy relationship. Melissa is still convinced she needs to focus on Joshua and protect those she loves from anything and everything potentially upsetting. But the love that existed between the two in the past hasn’t necessarily dissolved. It’s only been hibernating. And spring is just about here…
Ms. Montgomery weaves a tale of second chances, of making choices, and of how strong true love really can be if it’s let free. 
