Review: I wavered on this one, repeatedly...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
First, the disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.There were parts of this that I loved, and parts that made me toss down my Kindle with annoyance and walk away for a while.I loved the fact that Emma was supposed to be a strong woman, intent on making her own way in a big city in spite of the myriad obstacles thrown in her way. "Supposed to be" is the operative phrase here. Every time she showed the tiniest bit of gumption, she almost instantly caved in to Breck's demands. He manhandled her, yanked her around, repeatedly forced her hands behind her back, pinned her against whatever wall was available; then he'd moan about what a bastard he was. The next thing you know, he's doing the same damned thing all over again.I think it took guts to address what seemed to be a severe case of PTSD in the main male character, but any good I might have taken from it was drowned out by the faults in the writing and character development. There were enough typos and punctuation mistakes to be a distraction, not to mention the overwhelming use of passive voice that grated on my nerves after a while. The sex scenes were overwrought and gratuitous. While I felt they were necessary in part to show the delicate situation between the two main characters, so much more could have been said in far less words. I am in no way a prude, but I found myself impatiently skipping over these parts.This could have been a powerful story, addressing child abuse and neglect, and the consequences of the choices the characters make. It fizzled, in my estimation, and fell just short of a really wonderful read.