Review: Broken (Frost Series #1) by D.L. LeBlanc

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars

 

The Blurb:

After a man had left her broken, she successfully shut herself off from all men. She loved her organised, boring life; until she meets him. Could he break through her barriers and make her want to live & love again?

He wasn't looking for anything serious. He was there on business, and his motto was get in, get out, and move on; until he meets her. Could she break through and become more valuable to him than his business empire?

First thoughts reading this was that it seemed like a fiction inspired by Fifty Shades/Twilight. There are some striking similarities, including the sexy millionaire, the hot brother interested in her best friend, a loud mouthed sister, and the annoying creepy friend-zone guy who has trouble understanding the word “No.”

Even the circumstances of Katie and Jaxon's initial meetings were reminiscent of Fifty Shades, like this line:

“Katie,” he breathes. “You’re making it hard for me to behave.”

“Then don't.”



Yeah, creepy guy who somehow already knows where she lives. Don’t.



The only major difference is that in this case, Ana/Bella/Katie has had some past trauma that has shaped how she approaches sex and relationships, and the big secret is hers to tell rather than Jaxon/Edward/Christian’s. This was a missed opportunity to say eff it to Fifty Shades and go down a completely new rabbit hole, in my opinion. The opening of the book is so gritty and intense, I just wished the subsequent story had taken another direction.

The storytelling isn’t bad, it’s just…clearly based on someone else’s work. There were not enough discrepancies to lead me to believe it is just coincidence. The dialogue sometimes gets cumbersome, i.e. “I’ll go to the place…” “Okay…” “So…bye…” “Yeah…bye…” (dramatization). This takes place via text as well.

What I would have liked to see more focus on was the actual building of intimacy and more inner dialogue from Katie about getting into another sexual relationship post psycho-ex. I didn’t want to hear about it via dialogue or text, I wanted to hear about it in the moment, perhaps even just as an unexpressed thought. After such an intense opening, I felt like the entire book should have conveyed the tension of those first few paragraphs considering it impacted Katie's ability to have sex for years to follow.

Anywho, for readers who liked Fifty Shades, this is a safe pick.