Elaine White's Life in Books
The Author
Elaine White is the author of multi-genre MM romance, celebrating 'love is love' and offering diversity in both genre and character within her stories.
Growing up in a small town and fighting cancer in her early teens taught her that life is short and dreams should be pursued. She lives vicariously through her independent, and often hellion characters, exploring all possibilities within the romantic universe.
The Winner of two Watty Awards – Collector's Dream (An Unpredictable Life) and Hidden Gem (Faithfully) – and an Honourable Mention in 2016's Rainbow Awards (A Royal Craving) Elaine is a self-professed geek, reading addict, and a romantic at heart.
The Reviewer
I’m an author and reader, who just can’t get away from books. I discovered the MM genre a few years ago and became addicted.
Top #50 UK reviewer on Goodreads
#1 reviewer on Divine Magazine
The Scholar's Heart
Book – The Scholar's Heart (Chronicles of Tournai #3)Author – Antonia Aquilante
Star rating - ★★★★★
No. of Pages – 294
Cover – Stunning!
POV – 3rd person, past tense, multiple POV (Predominantly Etan and Tristan, which small instances of Philip and Amory)
Would I read it again – Yes.
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
This has to be the best in the series so far. Though I absolutely loved the light, sweetness of Amory and Philip, and the tension between Cathal and Flavian, the story of Etan and Tristan had me nearly in tears the whole way through. Not only was it heartbreaking, with a few light moments, but I've waited so long to read it and how it ends up is just so unfair, after all they've been through.
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Well, as I expected, I absolutely LOVED this story. I've been waiting so long to read about Etan and Tristan and I wasn't disappointed. But, due to not wanting to give away spoilers and being emotionally drained after finishing it, I don't really want to say too much.
I was crying by 3%, because Tristan was still perfect, I still loved Etan and now Bria was included. It was just too much for my heart to take. Then there was that conversation between Amory and Tristan. Amory, as usual, rushing to Tristan's side in his time of need, doing everything possible to make his best friend happy and take care of him.
I hated Tristan's mother right from the start and, as the story progressed, that didn't change. I didn't much like Selene either.
Seeing both sides was so much more effective in this story, because the relationship is so much more uncertain and unsettled than the previous stories. For the first time, all I wanted to do was grab them, shake them and scream at both of them about how obvious they were, misinterpreting what they thought they knew.
The brotherly talks – Etan and Cathal, Amory and Tristan, now Maxen and Tristan too – seriously killed me. They were the absolutely heart-breaking moments for me.
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Overall, the story was so much sadder than the others. I must have spent about 80% of it near to tears, with the rest evenly split between smiling and crying. I've always loved Tristan and Etan, since they were first introduced in this series, and that hasn't changes. But sometimes they can be such idiots!
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Favourite Quote
“Tristan blinked bright blue eyes once, then again, at his harshly spoken question. Etan had loved those eyes, loved how bright everything about Tristan seemed to be. Now, looking at them just hurt.”
““I don't want you hurt, Etan.”
“I know. So this morning needs to be the end of it with Tristan.”
“The end of everything?””
““You can, you know,” he said quietly, trying to convey all his feelings, all that he would do for Tristan in just his voice as he spoke the words. “You can break if you need to, here, with me. I'll be here, and I'll hold on to you, and I'll help you put the pieces back together.””
