Title: The Shape Of My Heart
Author: Ann Aguirre
Some people wait decades to meet their soul mate. Courtney Kaufman suspects she met hers in high school—only to lose him at seventeen. Since then, Courtney’s social life has been a series of meaningless encounters, though she’s made a few close friends along the way. Especially her roommate, Max Cooper, who oozes damaged bad-boy vibes from every pore.
Max knows about feeling lost and trying to move beyond the pain—he’s been on his own since he was sixteen. Now it’s time to find out if he can ever go home again, and Courtney’s the only one he trusts to go with him. But the trip to Providence could change everything…because the more time he spends with Courtney, the harder it is to reconcile what he wants and what he thinks he deserves.
It started out so simple. One misfit helping another. Now Max will do anything to show Courtney that for every heart that’s ever been broken, there’s another that can make it complete.
The Shape Of My Heart was the third book in the 2B Trilogy. I would give this book a 3.5 star and would recommend it to others. This is Max and Courtney's story. Even though this is apart of a series it can be read as a standalone.. but I wouldn't recommend that because you will want to meet the other characters in this series because they will make an appearance and I loved the other 2 books as well! The first book was I Want It That Way and the second book was As Long As You Love Me. I really did enjoy this book it was just not my favorite in the series. But it was great to get to see about Max's past and finally get to know more about Courtney.
Max has had a rough past and he has never shared his secrets with anyone, until he met Courtney.. his roommate and one of his best friends. When he asks Courtney to go home with him to a funeral she will get to see the demons that Max has in his past and it will open up a new insight for both of them on who they really are. Courtney is insecure with her body and face because she knows she isn't the typical beauty and she is bi sexual... Max has never made her feel bad about herself of that she isn't good enough but he is just her friend... but when Max starts to show he actually has feelings for her can they open up there hearts and leave there demons and insecurities behind or will it be too much because Courtney's family doesn't agree with her choice and for that it may cause her to loose Max.
"I was planning to put a stupid red stuffed heart in the driver's seat when I got it in drivable condition. Then I was going to make a speech about how this car is like me, we're both kind of fucked up and you can't see the shape of my heart--my heart was a metaphor for the car engine-- just by looking, but we'll always get you where you need to go no matter what."-- Max
Go pick up this entire series you will not be disappointed. Thanks for a great journey with these characters and I look forward to much more in the future.
The Shape of My Heart by Ann Aguirre is the third book in the 2b Trilogy and I have to say it is my favorite to date! The readers were introduced to Max and Courtney in the previous two books, but this one delved into their pasts, what made them tick and of course centered on how they fell in love. I give this book 4 stars and I recommend that everyone read this amazing series, following a group of friends/roommates in college in Michigan and the struggles that they overcome, the family that they create with each other and the amazing triumphs that occur.
Max has been portrayed as the roommate always with a flirty smile and quick wit, the womanzier roommate who was never without someone to warm his bed, but the reader quickly discovers in this book that he is anything but those things. Fiercely protective of those he loves, trying to save every fallen girl he meets and carrying the guilt of losing his family make him a much deeper character then the reader originally believes him to be. Courtney is the newest roommate who takes over Lauren's part of the room after she returns home, is a sarcastic character with a heart of gold, who is not ashamed that she is bi-sexual and has a unique style that makes her stand out from her fellow Ann Arbor classmates. The depth of her character is not something the reader has previously seen.
Max confides in Courtney that he needs support on a return trip home because his grandfather has died, a place that he hasn't returned to in the five years since he left, or was thrown away from by his alcoholic father, following a horrible car accident that left his brother Michael in a wheelchair. Shouldering the blame for what happened to Michael and believing his father's words that the entire family felt it was he fault, he has worked tirelessly to create a life for himself all on his own; including a college education. He admits that he can't do it alone and he needs the comfort that Courtney brings him; a comfort that she believes is because they are best friends, because a guy as beautiful as Max would never have feelings for a girl like her.
The road tip to Providence on the back of Max's motorcycle begins to stir up feelings for Courtney that she didn't believe were possible to have again. She thought that she left those feelings in Chicago after her boyfriend died when she was 16 from Leukemia. Struggling with the death of her boyfriend who was also her best friend; she turned to prescription medication to cope and later attended rehab before she began college in Michigan. Not wanting to risk losing another friend she keeps the feelings that she begins to have for Max to herself; too scared that he will never feel the same way that she does and she stands by his side becoming the rock that he can lean on while he faces his family for the first time.
It is only when Max completely opens up to Courtney, something he hasn't done with any other person in his life that he reveals his true feelings for her; telling her that she is his "due north" and he can do anything as long as he knows that he has her to ground him and support him. Courtney then finds the words to tell Max how she feels about him but also tells him about her lost love Eli and how she still talks to him when times get rough for her; finding comfort in the only person who really knew the true her, that is until Max came along. But does Max really know the true Courtney or just what she allows him to know? Everything between them comes to a head in a heartbreaking way when she takes Max home to her wealthy family in Chicago for Christmas. It is there that Max believes that he never really knew Courtney at all because she was keeping so many things from him, and he is unable to deal with the revelations resulting in him breaking both her heart and his own. Are they able to work thought everything that happened and let each other back in, to allow the love they have for each other make everything ok? You will have to read this amazing story to find out!
Ann Aguirre is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author and RITA winner with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. Ann likes books, emo music, action movies, and she writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens, published with Harlequin, Macmillan, and Penguin, among others.
