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.
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.
First let me preface my review by saying that my lower rating had nothing to do with the book not being wonderful; it was a sweet and sexy romance. It has everything to do with my own personal preference. So please don’t let my rating deter. Three stars, after all, means that I did enjoy it overall, just a few things kept it from being a 4 or 5 star.
Allow me to preface my review by saying had I read this book immediately after 
I have been a huge fan of Christy Reece since first discovering her LCR series years ago. I binged on those books and never wanted to end. This is my first book by her in the new LCR spin-off series, LCR Elite, and I can’t say that I ever felt lost or confused not having read the previous book in this series. I did, however, read every single one of her LCR ones. I got a little nostalgic seeing some of my favorite characters making an appearance here, like Gabe Maddox and Skylar from 
This was a solid four star read for me up until that last twist at the end. It was just so OTT that I found myself losing interest in the story. It served as the catalyst for Brennan finally getting his head out of his ass, but it was still mostly eye-roll inducing.
Playing with fire,” he said into her ear.
INTENSE
I won’t be your Master, but I will be your mentor. If you show me you can behave. Those are my terms. No revisions, no loopholes, no games. If you can’t handle that, collect your stuff, take your fuck-me-now slut attitude, and get out of this office.
