Review: Good...but
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2014
I received my copy from the publisher through Love Romances and More and rated it 3.5 stars.I do like a book that starts right in the middle of the action, and ‘Fractured’ certainly does that. The very first thing the reader encounters is poor Roque – Ro - Celdran being beating into a pulp not knowing what has provoked the attack and unable to adequately defend himself.The beating leaves Ro with severe damage to his mouth and teeth which brings him to Lance Roberts’ surgery and the free dental care he so desperately needs. From the moment the two man meet there is an attraction between them. While both of them try to deny it to themselves for a while, it isn’t long before they are spending more time together and not much longer before they act on the irresistible pull.Both Lance and Ro have issues they’d prefer not to share. Lance tries to hide his ODC from the man he’s attracted to, afraid his compulsive need for order will scare the other man off. Conscious that Ro is as much of an alpha as he is, Lance also decides against sharing his need to dominate with Ro. Ro has things he’s ashamed of as well and fails to mention that he has been supplementing his income by working as a submissive in a BDSM club. He doesn’t believe in BDSM or that it could ever be a viable life-style or relationship choice and has no interest in ever exploring it further. Ro also fails to mention his troubled twin brother Tony and the huge chip his has on his shoulder about being Latino.The slow emergence of their secrets initially only brings the two man closer together. But when everything Tony has done comes back to haunt Ro, the time for secrets is over. And even full disclosure might not be enough to safe the relationship between these two man who thought they’d at last found what they’d been looking for all along. Even without the secrets they are still two dominant males wanting to control their counterpart. A delicate and surprising balance will have to be found.There were quite a few things in this book I really liked. It was refreshing to read a book in which the two main characters were equally flawed and needed each other to the same extend. The issues between these two men and the secrets they wanted or needed to keep made perfect sense and added interest to the story. I also really approved of the fact that the conflict in this book was not drawn out. I do prefer a story in which a problem is dealt with rather than allowed to linger on for chapters on end. And most of all, I loved how these two dominant man managed to find a way to make their relationship work. I adored the give and take between them, with both Lance and Ro willing to give themselves to their partner in ways they’d never considered before.I did have one issue with this book though. 52% into the story there’s a huge ‘for-telling’ of what’s to come. I had no objection to knowing that trouble lay ahead – I had known that since the start of the book. Nor did it bother me that I those few lines revealed who would be the cause of the problems – that had been clear from the start as well. I didn’t like that the exact from the problem would take was spelled out in detail nor the way in which it was described in those few line. In fact this frustrated me so much that I had to put the book down and walk away from it and found myself reluctant to pick it up again. And that was a shame because up until that point I had loved the story and was really invested in the characters and their journey.This was an interesting story that would have been better if it the author had been a little bit more stingy with the information she shared with the reader, or had timed that sharing differently. Overall though, I loved spending time with Ro and Lance and enjoyed their torturous road to happiness.