ANYTHING BUT BROKEN
Series: Hurricane Creek #1
Genre: New Adult Romance
Author: Joelle Knox
Release Date: August 25, 2015
After five years, tragedy brings Hannah Casey back to Hurricane Creek to bury what’s left of her family. She’s flunking out of college, haunted by scandal, and the only person who cares is Sean Whitlow, an irresistible bad boy with a soft spot for her. The problem? He’s her dead sister’s ex.
Sean doesn’t bleed red, he bleeds motor oil. During the week, he struggles to turn his auto repair shop into a profitable business. But when Saturday night rolls around, he’s the reigning stock-car king of the local race track. He doesn’t know how to lose–or how to walk away and leave Hannah alone with her grief.
Between her grades and her wealthy family’s dark secrets, Hannah’s barely holding her life together. And the last thing Sean needs is to get tangled up with another Casey girl. As the attraction between them spins out of control, they’ll either find a love with no limits–or go up in flames.
I’m the girl who always stands in someone else’s shadow. The eternal third wheel. It takes two drinks to loosen my tongue, and no amount of alcohol can thaw me below the neck.
Truth be told, I’ve been waffling over my rating for this book for over a week now. While I enjoyed the concept of the book, the secondary characters and I’m certainly hooked on the series itself, I honestly can’t say that I loved this book. I was bored and found myself skimming the majority of the story.
When I first saw the synopsis for Anything But Broken, I knew I had to read it. It sounded oh so deliciously angsty. Add into it the fact that I’ve heard amazing things about the authors’ other series under a different pen name (Kit Rocha) and I was so excited to get my hands on this. Unfortunately when I started reading it, the only thing that was running through my head was
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything that grabbed me either…ever. It started out slow and for me the first half felt very dragging. I kept reading in hopes that it’ll pick up soon and perhaps the first 60% is just the build up, but that never happened. I find that NA usually has different types of angst, and being the angst whore that I am, I enjoy it each and every single time. However, as I’ve come to find here, there can also be a boring type of angst.
The synopsis made it sound like there will be some deep dark secrets and I was waiting for them to be revealed. But when they were? I didn’t find them shocking or sinister, but anticlimactic at best. The plot had so much going for it; it just never went anywhere. It was stagnant and dragging. There was nothing to drive the plot. At least not for me. I never connected to either of the MCs. I did like Sean for the most part, but found the heroine fell completely flat for me. The romance between them was lukewarm. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because of Sean’s connection to Hannah’s sister? For whatever reason, I just didn’t feel that strong of a connection between them. It also felt, dare I say it, settling.
The one thing that I did love was the set up for the series and the secondary characters; particularly Evie and Gibb. I can’t wait to get my hands on their story because that definitely sounds like it would be exactly up my alley. I’m writing this book off as a fluke in the series or maybe just the mood I’m in? I suppose it’s one of those books that you’ll either like or be mostly indifferent about. I by no means hated it. Like I said, it just never grabbed me.
The rest of the book goes something the lines of this:
I felt no connection to the characters or the plot. I felt like all of it was muted in the constant sex fog. I got to the point where I was skimming most of the sex scenes because honest to god, my vagina hurt for Mariam.
Yeah. No.
Can you get a highly satisfying and enjoyable steamy romance in just a short 120 pages? In the case of this book; also-fucking-lutely. There’s a reason I’ve read practically every book in Lorelei’s backlist and this book is the perfect example why. It’s wonderfully smutty but with a great story and fantastic characters. I love this author’s dirty talking cowboys, and Wynton Grant was utter perfection.
Before I get to my review, let me get a few things out of the way with first.
The first half of the book is very much a slow burn, but it never drags. The angst and emotions truly have you riveted to the pages, it certainly did for me. My heart broke for Ransom and yet in the same breath I wanted to curse him to hell and back for his behavior. It was frustrating, it was maddening, it was disturbingly enrapturing.
I don’t want to give much away about the book because it’s just one of those things you need to experience for yourself. What I can say is I loved the route that Eden took with book and I was shocked as shit about it that I was. See, here’s the thing, I HATE a drawn out story that I think could have ended in one book. Cliffhangers drive me to drink and induce near homicidal thoughts when I finish reading it. Thick Love is part 1 of 2 books, and you know what? It’s best that way. This book was not about the epic love between Aly and Ransom. It was more about Ransom coming to terms with his guilt, healing his heart, and learning to move on. Both these characters have a lot of growing to do still and there’s no way this book would have been the same had it been all crammed into one book.
As much as the bumps on the road to Aly and Ransom’s relationship drove me out of my ever loving mind, it also made me feel. This entire book, everything about it will do one thing, guaranteed; evoke emotion. Whether that be rage, tears, it will make you feel.
I adore all things Lauren Layne, so it was an absolute no brainer decision when I saw she was coming out with a book for one of my favorite tropes; friends to lovers, to dive right in. Lauren is my go-to author whenever I need a light and easy read filled with swoony romance and endearing characters. Blurred Lines certainly fit that and then some. It was the perfect afternoon read. I simply adored Parker and Ben together. I always seem to have a weakness for the manwhores, and Ben definitely hit the spot for that. Their friendship had a solid foundation, which I really appreciated. I loved their banter the most
While the chemistry was definitely present between these two, they spent so much of the book denying and not seeing what was happening between them, that it became difficult even for me to see it. I struggled to see beyond their friendship to the romantic entanglements. Sure they burn up the sheets together, but I just didn’t get that butterflies in the stomach kind of connection. Usually in a friends-to-lovers book, I always sense the undercurrent of romance and sexual chemistry between the couple even when they don’t, but that wasn’t the case here. I can understand given the many years of solid friendship they had how they may fail to see it, but it just lasted too long for my tastes. Perhaps if both of them began to noticed it at least in the middle of the book than towards the end of it? For whatever reason, I just didn’t get that sense of crackling chemistry I usually get with a Lauren Layne novel.
What is it about an MM romance by Barbara Elsborg that just does it for me? Every. Single. Time. I’m pretty sure it’s the perfect combination of incredibly erotic sex scenes with a dry wit, snark, and humor along with some suspense that all adds up to be exactly what I need it to be. If you’ve read 
If you enjoy your MM with two very distinctly ALPHA males, this is not a book that you’ll want to miss. That was quite possibly one of my favorite parts about this. The fact that both the MCs are very much alpha and have a power struggle on who will bottom. Damn but it was delicious. But beyond that, Barbara Elsborg has once again managed to deliver and emotional and erotic story about two very broken people that find strength in each other and heal.
While recovering from an injury that almost paralyzed him and may not have been quite the accident that everyone else believed it to be. he’s sequesters himself to a house on the lake to go through the physical therapy he needs to finally gain his strength back. The last thing he expects to do is save a random drowning surfer.
Barbara Elsborg has become an auto-buy author for me and this book is a perfect example of why. I only hope that there may be more books in this series, but if I’m being honest, it doesn’t even matter because whatever this woman writes, I’ll read. Without a doubt.
No one, and I mean no one gives male POV quite like Emma Chase. The woman is the queen of male POVs and nothing beats her. While Drew from 
Don’t get me wrong, both Chelsea and Jake are far from perfect and I wanted to shake them for their stupidity more than a few times. But at the same time it just worked. I adored these two together. It wasn’t instant and I loved the burn of their sexual chemistry until they finally ignited together.
Wow. Suffice it to say that I’m drained. This book absolutely gutted me. It was devastating and beautiful all at once and I loved every painful second of it. Worth It is unlike any other book this author’s ever written. It has much darker undertones than the other books in this series, and it’s no light read. It’s gritty, it’s emotional, it’s devastating, made you ugly cry while hugging your kindle sort of read. It’s a beautifully unforgettable second chance romance about two people that didn’t belong, but yet belonged to each other that fate ripped apart in the cruelest of ways, only to bring them back together a little more broken to put their shattered pieces back together six years later. If you don’t recall these characters from previous books, that’s because they weren’t introduced there. Linda Kage managed to flawlessly interweave them, so if you’re wondering why they got a book before Asher, trust me when I tell you that you’ll understand once you read. Both of them have such a profound connection to a few of the previous characters that I never saw coming and definitely loved reading about. This also makes this book an easy standalone, so if you haven’t read the rest of the series, you’d still be able to enjoy this one fully.
There’s enough hints and bits and pieces given about what he’s been through to slowly let the reader connect the buttons, and my hear absolutely broke for Knox. His life was so tragic and when the whole truth of it gets revealed, I flat out sobbed. It was one thing trying to connect the pieces, but when you’re hit with the full picture of what he’d been through, it’s absolutely devastating.
This book was definitely a step away from the rest of the series, but it was amazing in it’s own right. It was emotional and completely unforgettable. It’s a story that will definitely be staying with me for a long long while. It’s just one of those books that truly touches you on a visceral level with the amount of emotions it brings out in you.
There’s also a hell of a teaser in the epilogue for Asher’s book that’s sure to whet your appetite if you’ve been waiting for it like I have. If you’re on the fence about reading this book, I can only tell you that you need to. It may not be a light read, but it’s so worth it. I love a good second chance romance, and this one was just so beautifully tragic and yet wonderful all at once. I simply can’t give you more than that because you need to experience it for yourself. But believe me when I tell you, that that’s what you need to do; experience it.
If I’m being perfectly honest, I was actually hesitant to read this. Last time I read a companion novel, the only thing it managed to do was make me hate the heroine with the fire of the worst kind of venereal disease. Not that I’d know what that felt like, but you catch my drift. What I mean to say, is more often then not you’re getting the same regurgitated novel you already read but in a different POV. Well this wasn’t that at all. Not even a little bit. Not even close. While this is essentially in Jared’s POV it’s a completely different book. So much so, that you can read it as a standalone, which I wouldn’t recommend since you need to see it from Tate’s POV first in 
I fell in love with Penelope Douglas’s storytelling in Bully, and the only thing this book managed to do was completely reaffirm that. Everything and I mean everything that I wanted more clarification and answers on in Bully was addressed here. While I adored that book, I found the reasons that Jared gave Tate for his behavior in it a little…weak. I felt like it had to be something more, something bigger for him to flip that switch and be the way he was with her. Until You delivered those answers in spades. Penelope truly allows the reader inside Jared’s head and you understand him and all his behavior so much more. Plus I loved getting more of him and Madoc and their banter together.
