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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I skipped several parts of this. It was annoying and rough to read. I rolled my eyes too much. I just can’t handle the whole “there no way I can tell him/her this part of my story”, just share it move on. Also I feel like it was obvious he loved her and she just couldn’t believe it.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The D/s elements were a little unexpected and didn’t feel entirely developed.
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This review will be full of spoilers for the entire book, so if you don't want to know anything about the story, turn back now!
TW: miscarriage, depression
When I first read the description of Fractured Freedom, I didn't plan on reading it, as I am generally not a fan of second chance romances. After its release and my initial plan to skip it, I feel like I saw it recommended everywhere, so I decided to give it a try...I should have stuck to my guns, and this ended up not working well for me.
The book opens with Lilah having her brother's best friend Dante take her virginity before she went off to college and he went back to deployment in the military. Shortly after this it's revealed that she ended up pregnant, but miscarried at 2 months, which sent her into a depression because her family always expected perfection from her, so she felt like her body failed at making a baby and then failed again when she miscarried and she needed a D&C instead of miscarrying “naturally”. She didn't tell Dante any of this, and instead ghosts him and stops responding to his emails/calls, and then tells him to move on and avoids him entirely when she seems him in person after that.
In the present day, a lot of the first 35% or so of the book was really sad because we get both POVs and can see that they are both clearly still in love with the other but not wanting to admit it since they are both hurt over the past. Instead of being honest with each other, they choose to try and prove how much they are over the other person by talking about the other people they’ve slept with, and in Lilah's case, the dates she was planning to go on. There was a lot of internal dialogue in Lilah's chapters about her miscarriage and subsequent depression, and about how she felt like she wasn't good enough for Dante, and about how her they couldn't make a baby together (essentially assuming that one miscarriage meant she'd never be able to have a healthy pregnancy with him), and honestly it all felt very over the top to me. I don't want to downplay the impact that a miscarriage can have on someone, but to be 18 years old and miscarry an unplanned pregnancy and then let it be still impacting your relationships with everyone around you more than 5 years later even though she's been in therapy all that time seemed unrealistic to me.
Later in the book they finally sleep together again, but AGAIN instead of communicating their feelings, they both assumed that the other just wanted to be friends and that the sex meant nothing, even though that wasn't true for either of them, so that was also super frustrating. On top of all of this, there were so many random plot wrenches thrown in...Dante was former military, but is also a member of the mob, but also is being contracted by the government who is working in conjunction with the mob on an undercover operation that Lilah's twin sister Izzy, a former drug addict, is also a part of? Dante also went on a date with Izzy after they broke up, but says she kissed him and he wasn't into it. It was so random, and just sort of served as a way to provide more drama. We find out way later in the book that Izzy is ALSO in love with Dante, which makes Lilah want to pursue a relationship with him even less, not wanting to break her sister's heart.
To add more drama, Lilah is mistaken for Izzy by the bad guys and is "kidnapped" (she didn't correct them and went with them willingly to "save" her sister), and naturally Dante had to come rescue her. She was hurt during all of this, and ended up in a hospital back in the US where she was in and out of a coma. Upon briefly waking up from her coma, she hears Dante and her sister talking in her hospital room, opens her eyes, and sees them kissing, comments on it, and falls back into her coma. This is all happening around 90% of the way through the book, so almost at the end and our couple STILL isn't together. She eventually wakes up and refuses to see Dante. In Dante's POV we learn that she kissed him and he wasn't prepared for it, so before he could push her away, Lilah happened to wake up and see it (which is later confirmed by Izzy). ANYWAY, so now we are 95% into the story and Dante takes Lilah out of the hospital and back to his mother's farm that he bought for the two of them to live in together. She's still telling him that she can't be with him, that the fear of losing him is too much for her, and during this he proposes and she caves and says yes. So around...I don't know, 97-98%, they FINALLY get together?? Then we get one epilogue chapter where she has another miscarriage and falls back into a depression before giving birth to a healthy baby 10 months later. We also got a brief set up of what will clearly be Izzy and Cade (Dante's cousin, who was a minor side character in the book).
I feel like we got a LOT of angst and not a lot of them finally being happy together, which I was not a fan of. If you are someone who enjoys second chance romances with high angst, AND doesn't mind hearing about both leads sleeping with other people, you may enjoy this book. I know it has some high reviews, so I think this may be a case of "right book, wrong reader", but I'll leave that for you to decide.
I'm rating this one two stars, because while I didn't love the story or the characters (especially Lilah), the writing did have me invested - I read the book in two sittings and from the beginning of the book until around 35%, I probably cried for 20-25% of it, so it clearly did a good job of pulling on my emotional heartstrings! All of this to say, I would definitely read other books by this writer, so long as they weren't second chance romances!
TW: miscarriage, depression
When I first read the description of Fractured Freedom, I didn't plan on reading it, as I am generally not a fan of second chance romances. After its release and my initial plan to skip it, I feel like I saw it recommended everywhere, so I decided to give it a try...I should have stuck to my guns, and this ended up not working well for me.
The book opens with Lilah having her brother's best friend Dante take her virginity before she went off to college and he went back to deployment in the military. Shortly after this it's revealed that she ended up pregnant, but miscarried at 2 months, which sent her into a depression because her family always expected perfection from her, so she felt like her body failed at making a baby and then failed again when she miscarried and she needed a D&C instead of miscarrying “naturally”. She didn't tell Dante any of this, and instead ghosts him and stops responding to his emails/calls, and then tells him to move on and avoids him entirely when she seems him in person after that.
In the present day, a lot of the first 35% or so of the book was really sad because we get both POVs and can see that they are both clearly still in love with the other but not wanting to admit it since they are both hurt over the past. Instead of being honest with each other, they choose to try and prove how much they are over the other person by talking about the other people they’ve slept with, and in Lilah's case, the dates she was planning to go on. There was a lot of internal dialogue in Lilah's chapters about her miscarriage and subsequent depression, and about how she felt like she wasn't good enough for Dante, and about how her they couldn't make a baby together (essentially assuming that one miscarriage meant she'd never be able to have a healthy pregnancy with him), and honestly it all felt very over the top to me. I don't want to downplay the impact that a miscarriage can have on someone, but to be 18 years old and miscarry an unplanned pregnancy and then let it be still impacting your relationships with everyone around you more than 5 years later even though she's been in therapy all that time seemed unrealistic to me.
Later in the book they finally sleep together again, but AGAIN instead of communicating their feelings, they both assumed that the other just wanted to be friends and that the sex meant nothing, even though that wasn't true for either of them, so that was also super frustrating. On top of all of this, there were so many random plot wrenches thrown in...Dante was former military, but is also a member of the mob, but also is being contracted by the government who is working in conjunction with the mob on an undercover operation that Lilah's twin sister Izzy, a former drug addict, is also a part of? Dante also went on a date with Izzy after they broke up, but says she kissed him and he wasn't into it. It was so random, and just sort of served as a way to provide more drama. We find out way later in the book that Izzy is ALSO in love with Dante, which makes Lilah want to pursue a relationship with him even less, not wanting to break her sister's heart.
To add more drama, Lilah is mistaken for Izzy by the bad guys and is "kidnapped" (she didn't correct them and went with them willingly to "save" her sister), and naturally Dante had to come rescue her. She was hurt during all of this, and ended up in a hospital back in the US where she was in and out of a coma. Upon briefly waking up from her coma, she hears Dante and her sister talking in her hospital room, opens her eyes, and sees them kissing, comments on it, and falls back into her coma. This is all happening around 90% of the way through the book, so almost at the end and our couple STILL isn't together. She eventually wakes up and refuses to see Dante. In Dante's POV we learn that she kissed him and he wasn't prepared for it, so before he could push her away, Lilah happened to wake up and see it (which is later confirmed by Izzy). ANYWAY, so now we are 95% into the story and Dante takes Lilah out of the hospital and back to his mother's farm that he bought for the two of them to live in together. She's still telling him that she can't be with him, that the fear of losing him is too much for her, and during this he proposes and she caves and says yes. So around...I don't know, 97-98%, they FINALLY get together?? Then we get one epilogue chapter where she has another miscarriage and falls back into a depression before giving birth to a healthy baby 10 months later. We also got a brief set up of what will clearly be Izzy and Cade (Dante's cousin, who was a minor side character in the book).
I feel like we got a LOT of angst and not a lot of them finally being happy together, which I was not a fan of. If you are someone who enjoys second chance romances with high angst, AND doesn't mind hearing about both leads sleeping with other people, you may enjoy this book. I know it has some high reviews, so I think this may be a case of "right book, wrong reader", but I'll leave that for you to decide.
I'm rating this one two stars, because while I didn't love the story or the characters (especially Lilah), the writing did have me invested - I read the book in two sittings and from the beginning of the book until around 35%, I probably cried for 20-25% of it, so it clearly did a good job of pulling on my emotional heartstrings! All of this to say, I would definitely read other books by this writer, so long as they weren't second chance romances!
First time booktok let me down. Too much spice not enough plot.
This book was something… first of all Dante is a dick.. he’s not attractive in anyway and the end just confirmed it. So weird and just not…
Did not need to be that long. AND IT WAS LIKE 300 pages. If I hear the word “lamb” once more…
Tropes:
Childhood friends to lovers
Brother's best friend
Mafia romance
Forced proximity
Second chance romance
This book was HOT. Our MMC Dante is a major alpha in all of the best ways. He is possessive, protective, and obsessive and I totally devoured this book because of how in love with him I became.
Dante is our FMC Delilah's first crush and first love. After they finally hookup one night, Dante is completely in with her and knows he will never let go of their connection. However, Delilah goes through some things (I don't want to spoil anything so I will just leave it at that) and ends up telling him that they should just forget it happened and stay 'just friends.'
There is clearly a strong connection between the two of them and Dante knows this isn't something he can just forget. Time goes by and the two of them end up having to face what happened between them and why things didn't continue.
Dante wants a second chance with her but Delilah doesn't want to tell him what happened all those years ago that made her push him away.
There is water, temperature, and candle wax play. ;) This book did not let me down when it came to the spice!
Overall, this book was such a great read. I enjoyed so many of the tropes in this book and definitely recommend it!
4/5 ⭐️
4/5
Childhood friends to lovers
Brother's best friend
Mafia romance
Forced proximity
Second chance romance
This book was HOT. Our MMC Dante is a major alpha in all of the best ways. He is possessive, protective, and obsessive and I totally devoured this book because of how in love with him I became.
Dante is our FMC Delilah's first crush and first love. After they finally hookup one night, Dante is completely in with her and knows he will never let go of their connection. However, Delilah goes through some things (I don't want to spoil anything so I will just leave it at that) and ends up telling him that they should just forget it happened and stay 'just friends.'
There is clearly a strong connection between the two of them and Dante knows this isn't something he can just forget. Time goes by and the two of them end up having to face what happened between them and why things didn't continue.
Dante wants a second chance with her but Delilah doesn't want to tell him what happened all those years ago that made her push him away.
There is water, temperature, and candle wax play. ;) This book did not let me down when it came to the spice!
Overall, this book was such a great read. I enjoyed so many of the tropes in this book and definitely recommend it!
4/5 ⭐️
4/5
Way too much “lamb” and over the top male. Delilah and Dante- weird little love triangle with twin sisters Izzy and Delilah with their older brothers best friend Dante. But Dante was only into Delilah. Brothers best friend since kids to lovers as adults And throw in Mob family ties, drug bust, undercover work, and a lot of intense sex scenes.