Heartfall, p.28
Heartfall, page 28
After I finished college, Liam and I moved to Greenport. We bought a house a few doors down from the Reyes so we could see Bella as often as possible. The Reyes were already like parents to me, but they’ve also taken Liam in like a son-in-law.
My mom betrayed my trust when she read my letter from Sebastian, and things between us have never been quite the same, though I love her so much. My idea to make YouTube videos of us playing and dancing was pretty smart if I do say so myself.
We quickly became Internet sensations, and we’ve earned a lot of money. Enough money that we were able to pay off Mom’s mortgage and pay her utilities for her monthly. She doesn’t have to work anymore. It was the least I could do for everything she sacrificed for me.
Bella has never had to struggle for anything. From the moment she was born, she’s been dressed in adorable clothes from head to toe, she’s gone to summer camps, ballet intensives, and she’s on her way to being accepted into the best companies if she wants to be. I never thought of myself as a great dancer, so I’m just assuming all that talent comes from Sebastian.
Unbeknownst to me, Liam only really worked because he wanted to, and money was never really an issue for him, but he hated relying on his illegitimate family’s wealth, and I don’t even think he realized how good it felt to be free from them. We’ve made enough money to where our children will never have to ever worry about needing anything. They’ll never have to worry about needing a scholarship, carpooling, or being able to buy new pointe shoes like me. The sacrifices I made, the tears, the anguish, and the pain have all paid off for us in the end, and I’m so thankful I didn’t let the darkness drag me so far down to the depths of the ocean where I would have never been able to see the light, to find Liam. Because without him, without Sebastian, I wouldn’t be who I am. I wouldn’t be who Bella needed me to be. Who Nora, Braden, and this little one in here needs me to be. All of the people in my life, even the Nickys, Tiffanys, Robinses, and Audrinas have made me so much better. Without them, I wouldn’t be right here where I am today.
And ultimately, I guess there’s only one other person to thank for helping me find the light, the love of my life, and that’s Gina Heartfall.
Do you need somewhere to go to talk about what you just read? Someone else to talk to? Do you have a book hangover? There’s a group for that. It’s called Heartfall Hangover.
Here are some discussion questions you can talk about in there.
Why do you think the mean girls always saw Claire as a bullying target?
Claire saw what teenage pregnancy did to her mother, so why didn’t she insist on Sebastian using protection?
Why did Audrina feel the need to apologize to Sebastian, and so publically? Did she know he'd open her letter at the studio?
Why didn’t Sebastian just call for help for Audrina? What do you think led to him jumping off the pier?
How did Gina Heartfall feel on seeing Robins at the hospital?
Did Claire ever find out Sebastian was adopted?
Did Claire ever find out that Sebastian and Audrina were siblings (did I actually read that right)?
Did Robins ever know Sebastian was his son?
Follow the complete Heartfall Spotify Playlist
The following songs were either largely inspirational or mentioned in the book. They are direct links so you can easily listen to them in case you’ve never heard them before. Some contain explicit lyrics, but since you’ve just read Liam’s filthy mouth, I’m guessing you won’t mind. ;)
THE VIOLET HOUR - THE CIVIL WARS
THE LETTER - ELISE LIEBERTH
BELLA LUNA - JASON MRAZ
OUR SONG - RON POPE
YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL (EXPLICIT) - JAMES BLUNT
GIVE ME LOVE - ED SHEERAN
MOVE TOGETHER - JAMES BAY
THE GREATEST BASTARD - DAMIEN RICE
ONE - ED SHEERAN
CHERRY WINE (LIVE) - HOZIER
MY FAVOURITE FADED FANTASY - DAMIEN RICE
ADORE YOU - MILEY CYRUS
TENERIFE SEA - ED SHEERAN
KISS ME - ED SHEERAN
LATCH - DANIELA ANDRADE
CHASING CARS - SLEEPING AT LAST
PONY - PATRICK LENTZ
LEFT RIGHT LEFT - CHARLIE PUTH
BLACK & BLUE - CARTER HULSEY
A DROP IN THE OCEAN - RON POPE
WISHING WEED - JASON REEVES, COLBIE CAILLAT
ENTWINED - JASON REEVES
ONE CALL AWAY - CHARLIE PUTH
SONG FOR A WAITRESS - JASON REEVES
BODIES - LUCY ROLEFF
LIKE THE SUN - JASON REEVES
RUNNING AROUND IN MY DREAMS - TYRONE WELLS
FAREWELL - ROSIE THOMAS
SEA BREEZE - TYRONE WELLS
LOVE LIVES ON - MALLARY HOPE
I FELL IN LOVE ONCE - CHASE COY
J.B. McGee was born and raised in Aiken, South Carolina. After graduating from South Aiken High School, she toured Europe as a member of the 1999 International Bands of America Tour, playing the clarinet. While attending Converse College, an all-girls school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, she visited Charleston often. It quickly became one of her favorite vacation spots. She met her husband, Chad, during Christmas break her freshman year, and they married in 2001. They moved back to her hometown. In 2005, the couple welcomed their first son, Noah. J.B. finished her Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of South Carolina-Aiken in 2006. During her time studying children's literature, a professor had encouraged her to become a writer.
In 2007, she welcomed their second child, Jonah, and she became a stay at home mom/entrepreneur. In 2009, they found out their two children and J.B. have Mitochondrial Disease. In 2011, a diagnosis also was given to Chad. Please take a moment and learn more about Mitochondrial Disease. Awareness is key to this disease that has no cure or treatments.
J.B. McGee and her family now reside in Buford, Georgia, to be closer to their children's medical team. After a passion for reading had been re-ignited, J.B. decided to finally give writing a shot. She is the best-selling author of the This Series. Skipping Stones is her first stand-alone novel.
Please follow J.B. on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on the latest teasers, giveaways, and new releases.
Broken (This #1)
Mending (This #2)
Conspiring (This #2.5)
Forgiven (This #3)
Forever (This Final - A Stand-Alone)
Skipping Stones (A Stand-Alone)
To Chad. Usually, book plots are somehow tied back to you, my happily ever after, my prince charming. When I got the idea for this book, it was supposed to be loosely based on our love story. Girl goes off to an all-girls school, falls her first day on the steps of her dorm, hurts her ankle, but really falls in love, and the rest is history. Liam was supposed to be loosely based off you, a good ole momma’s boy.
I wrote a couple of chapters, then Sebastian slid down that wall, and I realized this story wasn’t our story at all. But one day, when I was totally blocked, you gave me one of the biggest pieces of this puzzle. When I was struggling with how Sebastian should die, you knew I would have never chosen to have Sebastian drown because that is my biggest fear. And in suggesting that, you challenged me to push myself to a level of writing I would have never gone to before. I’ll never forget the look in your eyes when you said the word, the moment we shared. It was terrifying and exciting. Even more amazing, you didn’t even know how important water, the beach, or The Violet Hour was to Claire and Sebastian.
And even though Liam turned out to have a filthy mouth and isn’t that much like you, thank you for always inspiring me, for loving, supporting me, investing in me, challenging me, and always being on my side. I love you so much.
To Noah and Jonah. Don’t ever let anyone put you down, make you feel less than what you are. Always know your worth. Always know that people who do put you down are only doing so to try to build themselves up at your expense. And I hope you’re really old before you ever read this book to get the moral of this story. Thank you for your encouraging words while I was writing this book, for cheering me on with my daily word counts and teasing me about Wilbert (aka Swifty). I’m invested in you and your dreams. Never give up on them. I love you both.
To Amber Goleb. Thank you for everything you have done silently without being asked on the back end to ensure that people know about this book. You have been such a tremendous help to me. I’m thankful for your friendship and partnership. You’ve been an answered prayer. I couldn’t ask for a better PA.
To Trish Kuper for introducing me to Cristine Hardy.
To Cristine Hardy for introducing me to Sally Gentry.
To Sally Gentry. What a blessing you turned out to be for me, teaching me the ins and out about real life organ donation, transplant coordination, and how to realistically set up this plot between Liam and Claire to do justice to all the people out there who have gone through this process as a real life transplant coordinator yourself. There is no way this book would exist without you because from the moment we talked, you helped me work through a mountain of plot holes and backed me out of numerous corners that they led me to. With each conversation, my face literally hurt from smiling so much. I love talking to you, and like this book is about fate, it sure feels like for some reason we were meant to be buddies. I hope you like it. Simply put, it wouldn’t be what it is without you and our mega brainstorming sessions.
To Sierra Stipetich. Thank you for making sure my ballet terminology was right, my lifts were accurate, and answering my random questions about how I could make things happen between Claire and Sebastian. Oh, and for helping me dress shop for Claire. Simply put, your feedback was invaluable (and often quite comical).
To Deb Hart and April Holms. The other day, after I finished this book, I prayed and thanked God for the following things:
-The ability to be able to write again (after two years of hellish writer’s block)
-The ability to not only be able to write again, but to be able to write huge word counts in short periods of time and crush deadlines.
-Killer plot twists that make people feel the need to read the epilogue twice to figure out what just happened to them (things we dream up together via Facebook and phone chats)
-And two of the best friends and betas a girl could ask for – for sending you into my life.
That pretty much sums it up. Simply put, I couldn’t have written this book without either of you and the support you lend to me.
Deb, you’ve been with me along this journey since I wrote Broken. I remember your first message asking if it had a HEA. I had no idea that we’d become such good friends, and that you’d become a cherished beta reader to me. This book, I think, was more challenging than the rest. Thank you for your patience with me, for talking me off the ledge more so than usual.
April, together we pretty much rock at talking ourselves out of plot corners, and boy were there plenty. More than anything, thank you for encouraging me to listen to Liam’s true character. Once I did that, the block for the second part vanished.
To Katie Ashley. A long time ago, you told me, “I’m not what I write.” I was struggling with the fact that some of my family and friends found it unacceptable that I’d write bad language and sex given my religious beliefs. For a long time, I let those beliefs hold me back, and I wasn’t true to my characters because of it, but I always heard your quote in the back of my mind, and with each book, I tried to free myself from what others thought about me, and to be true to the characters.
But it wasn’t until this book that I think I finally broke free of the chains. Ironically enough, as you know, I intended the book to be a clean read, but Liam had other plans. Maybe the fact that I intended it to be a clean read was a challenge for me to see if I’d really listen to Liam. For the first time, I’ve finished a book that has left me truly proud because I know that I did what was right by the characters, not by society, which kind of ended up being the moral of this story. So, this long winded message is to say thank you. I’m hardheaded, and it may have taken me three years to come around and listen to you, but I am so thankful you have been my mentor and one of my best friends these last three years. I hope this book makes you proud. Without your words of wisdom, I know it wouldn’t be what it is because simply put, I wouldn’t be the writer I am today without the guidance you’ve given me along the way. You’ve taken a really rough, dare I say gemstone, and polished it into something I’m actually beginning to feel is actually worthy of being set and sold.
To Jen Oreto. Thank you for reading and sharing your honest feedback with me. You helped me make this book better, and I am thankful for you and your friendship.
To Jen Gerschick. Thank you for always supporting me and believing in me no matter what, for encouraging me and never letting me give up on myself.
To Nichole Chase. Thank you for talking me off ledges with this book. Thank you for your support and your chats…for helping me grow as an author. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you better over the last three years.
To Karen Russell. Thank you for always being my last read before the world sees this. For being my eagle eyes. For your honesty and always supporting me no matter what.
To Emily A. Lawrence. Thank you for such quick turnaround times and being flexible with my finish date, for talking me off ledges, for your messages, notes, and words of encouragement, and giving me tips on how to become a better writer.
To Sonia Midnightdraven Torres. Thank you for showing me the painting of the dancer. It inspired me to have Andrea Perno paint Claire and Sebastian, which inspired a huge scene in the book and unblocked me. Now, I have cool artwork and a memorable scene!
To Andrea Perno. Thank you for taking a couple of chapters of a book and bringing my characters to life.
Thank you to the bloggers and readers who have helped support me over the last three years. You’ve enriched my life in ways I didn’t know were possible. Writing books is way more fun because I get to share them with you. Thank you for all you’ve done to help spread the word about Heartfall, for reading and reviewing it. I can’t imagine where I’d be without you.
J.B. McGee, Heartfall
