Reviews - Beautifully Broken Control

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423 reviews for:

Beautifully Broken Control

Catherine Cowles

4.05 AVERAGE

shannasbookself's review against another edition

4.0

“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you? That I have zero control when it comes to you? That you make me lose all common sense?”

kweenzpnay925's review against another edition

5.0

Beautifully Broken Control is the fourth book in the Sutter Lake Series. We are introduced to Kennedy (the female protagonist) in the previous book, Beautifully Broken Spirit. Cain (the male protagonist) in Beautifully Broken Life when he helps Liam find Tessa. We learn Kennedy is rebuilding her life after escaping her family’s breakdown. She comes to Sutter Lake in hopes of a simple life and giving more than she takes. Cain also escapes to Sutter Lake from the demons that caught him living in the city. He runs a highly successful tech company and finds out someone in his company is betraying him. Cain has a haunted past that he can’t seem to shake. When Cain first meets Kennedy he senses right away something is off. Kennedy is guarded about her past just as much as Cain. Everyone around them can sense the sparks flying between the two of them as the story continues. There is a bit of danger lurking that I didn’t realize (but totally should have!) and a plot twist that shocked me! My favorite about these series is reading about the characters from the previous books and reading how they are progressing.

July 2022 Audiobook Review: Maxine Mitchell and Aaron Shedlock perform beautifully in this fourth book. I just enjoyed it so much!

sharpsunya's review against another edition

4.0

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

lizzie1096's review against another edition

3.0

emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Kennedy had way more patience than I ever could. I understand why Cain struggled to open up about his past, and he's completely valid in his feelings. I understand that everyone has their own timeline and way of dealing with grief and add on how much guilt he was also feeling and his behavior makes sense. However, seeing as Kennedy also had her own trauma that she opened up about, I don't blame her for getting a little impatient.

Falling in love is scary for the both of them, but for Kennedy, she was willing and ready to take the risk, and I was impatient for Cain to get there with her. I'm sad that we didn't really get to see more of these two being happy together. This is definitely one of Cowles' slowest burns, and then, being that they do go through a brief split, I was just left wanting more of their romance.

In the end, the villain wasn't necessarily a shock... I honestly didn't really know where we were heading, so it was hard to make a guess as to who the overall villain of the story would wind up being. I'm just glad every character I hated got what was coming to them and that all my favs are safe and sound.

I will say, the epilogue really did read like a series finale, so I'm intrigued to see how Anna's story plays out and how involved everyone from the previous books are.

Content Warnings

jessicasbooktalk's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Kennedy and Cain’s story hit me hard. I cried multiple times throughout this book. Both of the trauma in their lives were so sad. Neither of their faults but when you loose people you love you sometimes can’t help but blame yourself.

I had an inkling of who the villain would be but man spun me for a loop again! This author is so clever with her plotting that I don’t ever see it coming, which I so appreciate.

Sutter Lake has been through the wringer the last 5 years throughout these 4 books. I wonder whose story I’ll read next.

Tropes:
Small town romance
Billionaire romance
Computer hacker/hidden identity

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️