Painful and Empowering all at the same time.

This book should be read after the Beautiful Mess trilogy and after Heart of Marley.

This book is profound! Forced prostitution and human trafficking is a disgusting reality in every country. There is an over abundance of sick and depraved rich people all over the world willing to pay ungodly amounts of money to rape and torture innocent boys and girls (men and women). With out these sick people there would be no reason for this pathetic excuse of a "profession". With out demand, there would be no reason to supply. In this story you realize just how deep into our governments, law enforcement, and businesses this poison goes. This book is an unfortunate truth for so many. It is a story that I wish wasn't necessary, but it is. Through the words in this story hopefully minds and eyes will be opened. Even though this book is considered a "romance novel", I desperately hope it serves to help empower those who know these ugly truths first hand and inform those that don't want to believe this to be an issue "where they live". This type of story could fit your best friend, neighbors, sibling, coworker, or anyone else walking this earth. Damn powerful story!! Everyone should read this book and all books like it!

If I could give this book 10 stars I would in a heartbeat!!!!! I've never sobbed so much reading a book before! T.K. Leigh has really outdone herself!

Human trafficking. There is absolutely nothing fluffy and/or sexy about this subject. Most of the books that are currently on the market that deal with trafficking focus on what happens while the woman is held captive, but Heart of Light focuses on after the woman escapes and how one might attempt to put their life back together.

Jolene has been held captive for over ten years, but thanks to some folks that want to take a stand, she escapes and finds herself in Florida. Here we meet our old friend, Dr. Cam. There first meeting wasn't anything special as Jolene wouldn't even tell anyone her real name.

T.K. takes us on a journey that is quite believable as we see Jolene go through a string of emotions which are full of ups, downs, breakdowns, and breakthroughs. There are times when it seems as if Jolene has turned the corner but then the slightest trigger such as a certain song will make her have a complete meltdown. T.K. doesn't shy away from and/or try to sugarcoat the range of emotions that Jolene experiences because even those of us that haven't survived trafficking know we can turn from hot to cold in a second.

Nothing sets her back like seeing one of the men from her past. The suspense and action begin and it is quite amazing to see how far these "men" will go to protect the secret of them being active participants in human trafficking. Throughout the book and especially at this point, Jolene must decide if she is going to stay in her past or if she will push through and move forward.

I thought T.K. outdid herself with the Beautiful Mess series, but oh boy, she surprised me with Heart of Light!! This book truly took my breath away. It was nice to see that Dr. Cam got his own book because he is one of the good guys. Jolene and him are fighting two different battles, but once they realize that they can lean on each other, allow others to help them, and come to grips that their past does not define them, they finally begin to see the light and all of the beauty that comes with it!

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of Heart of Light in exchange for an honest review.

** 4.5-Stars **

This book is a real jerker! I will tell you that right from the get-go! Anyone that has read TK's books, should already be prepared for it!

This story is about a woman running from her life--not the life shoe chose, but the life she was forced to live. Forced sex. Enslavement. Abuse. It is not a light and fluffy story. It's a gut-wrenching sad story. How does one survive all alone, on the run and fearful of being found?

Then you have the man. His heart has been shattered by a love he never really had to call his own. He is left bitter and beaten. The only way to come back from his past is the light he finds in this tortured woman!

Lies. Betrayal. Deceit. This book is packed with so much. I can sit here all day long and talk about this book. It's just as good, and in some ways better, than the Beautiful Mess series! It is definitely NOT a book to put down on your to-be-read list! It is a book that should be read once you have it. It's one of those books, if you don't read it immediately, you will kick yourself for not reading sooner!

"You always say that I'm your light, Jolene, without you, my world would be dark. You taught me to love again when I never thought I would. You're my light."

A zip tie of emotions knotting my throat. What an emotional read, so glad I took a chance and picked this up.

Fantastic! I really liked this book, it's a little dark, but just so well written and i read it in less than 24 hours that's how griping it was. 5 stars for me!

I am speechless and not even sure where to begin this review.

Jolene has spent much of her life without family, the loss of her Mother at a young age, her father disappearing at age 15 and turning her over to another man to care for her, but at age 18 her young life pretty much ended. She was forced into a life that none of us can imagine and wouldn't be able to find her way out for years. Escaping to a small beach town seemed promising, if she could just go with the flow and keep her head down and not get to know anyone she might be able to hide.

Cam had his guard up, he already had his heart broken once and refused to let it happen again, until he saw her. She bared a striking resemblance an important girl from his past, except her eyes, and her heart. Cam tried to push her away, but was unable to and was drawn to her spirit and sought to learn more about her and help her as much as he could. There comes a point where there is no fixing from so much heartache and trauma, would Cam be able to fix Jolene, or would she be forever stuck in her past?

I have loved every book written by T.K. Leigh, but this may top them all. I can't explain the emotions, the drama, the heart stopping storyline that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout this book. I thought Alexander was my end all be all, but I believe I was wrong. Cam will stick with your heart and make you appreciate kindness and patience all over again. Don't think that this is just a sappy love story, because you will be incredibly wrong. This story follows the human trafficking issue that is much more prevalent than some of us would like to imagine. The emotions are real, the independence that Jolene desires will make your heart swell, and abuse that she suffers will make you weep. And just when you think you know what is playing out, the author will throw all of your thoughts and emotions out the window.

This book is geared towards anyone 18 and over and it's a strict warning at that. This warning is not only for sexual content, but sexual abuse, and rape. This book is not for the light hearted. With that, I must say, this will go on my list of the best books of 2014. I refuse to ruin the ending for anyone, it's one of the best parts of the book. The Heart of Marley will be out in November and will follow Cam's twin sister, and I will be on pins and needles to get my hands on it. I can't say it enough, please read this book, and I can't wait to hear what you think of it! I know that it will stick with me for awhile.

Thank you so much to T.K. Leigh for the opportunity to read this book.

T.K. Leigh is one of those authors who grip you right from the first page through the entire book and tackles subjects many stay away from, yet she does it in such a way that you learn so much about the pain that people go through and you want to help.

Jolene Bergio has been help captive for 10 years and one day she finally escapes yet she knows she will never be safe or free from her past. Then she meets a man that she is willing to trust and hopefully find the light.

Dr.Cameron Bowen specializes in working with women who have been victimized and helping them get through it and when he meets Jolene he recognizes the pain in her. But she isn't his patient and he wants to help her get through everything as a friend, and hopefully more.

Yet when Jolene's past catches up to them will he be able to save her or will she be made an example of?

This is such an amazing book that tears at your heart knowing that these things happen around us still and need to be stopped. I couldn't put the book down!

https://celebrityreaders.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/heart-of-fire-by-t-k-leigh

DNF @ 22%. This was another author who was going to be at an author event I'm planning on attending, so I wanted to read her book before then. I have a bunch of these, so I was rereading some reviews on Goodreads to try to decide what to read next (especially since I haven't been having great luck with new authors lately). I ended up finding some negative reviews that left me feeling somewhat dismayed and wary...and unfortunately I ended up agreeing with their initial observations, and even had my own set of things that went wrong for me in this book (and led to me DNFing it).

So right from the first few pages I found the switching of POVs to be haphazard and without a clear indication. Usually I read books from 1 or 2 POVs (since I read a lot of romance, it's the hero and heroine in most cases -- sometimes with one or two other characters jumping in). In the first 3 pages I think I read 4 different POVs, and there was no extra space when changing POVs, so all of a sudden it was just someone else. We had the heroine, then the housekeeper, then the security guy, then back to the housekeeper, then the boss guy, then the housekeeper's husband.... It was very muddled and I was not a fan of this style of writing. It takes me out of the story.

Then there were the main characters themselves -- the way they were portrayed felt very flat and shallow to me, and their emotions were beyond volatile. I guess I just like a bit more depth and nuance.... Jolene in particular wasn't very likable, and I just never really got behind her actions.

And then we get to the complaints that other folks have -- Jolene spends a LOT of time talking about how she can't tell anyone her name (which is totally understandable), but instead of making up a new identity or something, she just refuses and refuses (making everyone suspicious) and then like later that day she's told 2 people, and confessed her whole story to another woman. Um what? That didn't sit right with me. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't repeated OVER AND OVER how she couldn't tell anyone her name...to have her just trust people so quickly just felt unrealistic. She's also really enthralled with Cam's silver eyes already, it just feels like everything was moving at a really rapid pace.

I was mildly curious about what would happen plotwise, but the characters and writing style bugged me enough that I figured it wasn't worth my time, especially with the ginormous number of other books I have on my TBR pile.

I was definitely kept guessing with this book and I have to say some of it was unexpected which I think is a sign of a good book!! I was gripped from start to finish, already one clicked heart of marley!