REVIEW: Black Tangled Heart by Samantha Young

In Black Tangled Heart (Play On #3) by Samantha Young, When thirteen-year-old Jane Doe met her new neighbors, the McKennas, she was living with her latest foster family and, quite honestly, rather tired of feeling alone. She gained a best friend in Lorna McKenna that first day, not knowing the direction her attachment to the family would take her life in the future. Then there was Lorna’s older brother, fifteen-year-old Jamie. Someone who fascinated Jane from the start. Handsome, wicked smart, born to be a broody writer, he matched her artist’s soul in a way no one else ever had.

‘I hated that there would always be a part of me that wanted him…
He was an unforgivable weakness.’

Jamie and Jane fell in love, against all odds–and against his sister Lorna’s wishes. And they each thought they’d found their soulmate, with a powerful love that would stand the test of time. But when tragedy struck the McKenna family, it eventually tore Jane and Jamie apart, leaving them both lost and filled with pain and grief. The following years were tough. Jamie got stuck in his head, forming a plan for revenge against those he thought were at fault. Jane tried to carry on but had her own plans to make things right tucked in the back of her mind, constantly niggling at her. When they run across each other again years later, neither was expecting the explosive events that would test their strength yet again. Or that it might give Jamie and Jane the second chance they secretly had longed for.

‘My soul was connected to hers.
I doubted I could ever find true peace without Jane by my side.’

Black Tangled Heart, a new standalone in Samantha Young’s Play On series, was every bit as angsty and emotional as the title suggests. A broken romance whose effects spanned more than a decade, this was one complex novel that didn’t let up until its stunning conclusion.

“I want to ruin all of you. A lifetime of misery ought to do the trick.”
Holding back the tears, I gave him a tight nod. “Well, they say misery loves company.”
“Look at you. I think you’re finally beginning to understand.”

Wow. I actually had to take a day to process everything that happened in Black Tangled Heart before I could contemplate writing about it. (Which seldom happens) Samantha Young is certainly known for her deeply emotional storylines, but this was rather epic, even for her. Not only did we have a hero and heroine, Jamie and Jane, who had been through some very rough times in their childhood, but we watched their fledgling romance implode after a serious miscommunication–and after others around them treated Jane and Jamie extremely poorly. Beginning when Jane was thirteen and Jamie was fifteen, this story followed them through every important event in their lives over the next fifteen-plus years.

I’m not going to lie. This was a rather sad and at times frustrating story. Not because of Young’s writing, which was stellar. But because of the situation Jane and Jamie found themselves in. Black Tangled Heart was told from both their POVs, so we knew where everything started to go wrong and could see how lack of communication played a huge part in the demise of their young love. But Jamie and Jane couldn’t see all the pieces. So my frustration came into play while watching them get caught up in the revenge and bad blood between them (and others), waiting–just *waiting*!–for the moment when those pieces would fall in place for Jane and Jamie. I was impatient to get to the HEA, as you can tell, especially with a couple so made for each other as they were. But I will admit it was so very worth the long, arduous journey to see how it all turned out.

It was easy to get swept away with Black Tangled Heart’s intricate plot and convincingly flawed characters. The hunt for vengeance, a heartbreaking amount of lost time between our couple, power games and deceit, the elements Samantha Young layered into this novel were on point and led to an exciting reading experience.

Book Info:

Publication: Published May 14th 2020 | Samantha Young | Play On #3

To my siblings, Jane was a friend. A pseudo-sister, the girl we grew up with.
To me? She was everything.
Our passion consumed us.

When our world fell apart, I thought our love would be the thing that held us together.
She was the love of my life. But she abandoned me when I needed her most.
And I’ll never forgive her.

For years I’ve been planning my revenge against the people who took everything from me.
Jane won’t be an exception. I’m coming for her.
She knows it.

She says she wants to help me serve my version of justice on the people who hurt me.
I’ll let her.
She probably thinks it will save her from me.

It won’t.

*This is a complete standalone. The Play On series are books connected by the theme of the arts industry, not by characters.