Behind Her Smile by Olivia Luck

BUY LINK: Behind Her Smile

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Behind Her Smile by Olivia Luck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Michellle
ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review



“I want everything this man has to offer. His lips are heaven. His touch is divine. He moves to kiss the line of my jaw, the corner of my lips and then, wonderfully, his lips are on mine again. I whimper. More. This is what a kiss is supposed to be like. ”

A raw, gritty, poignant and emotionally charged tale that will consume and grip your heart. Olivia Luck has truly outdid herself with Behind Her Smile, as she showcases raw emotions and vulnerabilites to the core. With her smart, edgy, and consuming prose, she has delicately orchastrated and constructed a tale of romance, betrayal, lies, secrets and facades.



L-O-V-E. LOVE. Four letters. A simple word. It is easy to spell but hard to define. Love can be consuming. It can bring laughter, joy, happiness, and light into our lives. But love can also destroy. It can ruin us. Taint us. And love can be blurred. And in the case of Behind Her Smile, Ms. Luck showcases all the facets of love from a wanted and hopeful love to a maddening kind of love of control.

“I love him. The kind of effortless love that comes as natural as breathing. The kind of love that soothes even the sharpest pains. The kind of love that makes you want to be fully honest, even if it means revealing ugly and unattractive parts of your personality because you trust the love.”

It is easy to judge and say wow this person has an amazing life. But looks can be deceiving. In the case for Karolina Morgan, the picture perfect life that the public perceives is nothing but perfect. She may have the perfect husband, the perfect house, and the perfect life. But nothing about her life is perfect. The man she thought she married out of love, slowly showed his true colors when he stripped pieces of Karolina until there was nothing left but an empty void of loneliness and fear.

“Alec Christos saw me. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same.”

In this gripping tale of survival, hope, and second chances, Ms. Luck has perfectly weaved layers upon layers of raw emotions. As readers are consumed with Ms. Luck's words, we are able to really FEEL the depth of confusion, emptiness, and sense of longing that Karolina craved from her husband, David. It is easy from an outsider's perspective to judge Karolina as to why she stayed in a five year marriage with a man that destroyed and shattered pieces of her, but what we fail to realize is the depth of emotions and feelings from the perspective of women who are just like Karolina.

Fear. It can be debilitating as it holds you back from truly living. And for Karolina, she was fearful of the future and what David could do to her. She wanted his love and affection. She craved it because she didn't have that growing up. And so Ms. Luck was able to display why Karolina was drawn to David and his manipulative ways. What I truly love about this book is that Ms. Luck doesn't sugarcoat anything. She gives her readers the harsh reality of abuse. It is ugly. But luckily for Karolina, there was a glimmer of hope and comfort and she found that in her friendship with Alec. Her friendship with Alec was confusing but it was real. It brought a genuine smile to her face. So can Karolina finally gain the strength to break away from the facade and truly be happy and shatter the perfect image?

“The kiss is wild. I can almost taste his hunger. He nips at my lower lip until I welcome his deeper assault. Our tongues duel. My hands rise to grip the lapels of his jacket, drawing him closer to me. His passion does nothing to outshine mine. I can’t get enough of him.”

Olivia Luck truly outdid herself in Behind Her Smile. In less than three hours, Ms. Luck held me hostage as I was immersed and doused with so much emotions. My heart broke for Karolina as she struggled to find freedom, happiness, and independence. It is easily to say Karolina is a weak heroine but I do not see her as weak. I see a young woman slowly finding her voice and strength. A young woman who had to crawl out despair and darkness to see the beautiful things in her life. Behind her Smile is a story that must be read. It is not your ordinary contemporary romance of hearts and flowers but this book is so much more. It is about shattering the image of perfect and rediscovering yourself. So if you are looking for a story, where second chances and hope is the happily ever after ending that will leave you breathless then I highly recommend you to read this book.



Olivia Luck

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