Scan barcode
A review by cozyreaderdevan77
Broken Bonds by J. Bree
4.0
Broken Bonds (The Bonds that Tie Book 1) by J. Bree
Rating: 4/5
Spice: .5/5
Tropes: Reverse Harem, Enemies to lovers, slow burn romance, forced proximity, fated to be together.
Trigger Warnings: Bullying, trauma, death of a loved on, violence, SA
An exciting start to a series! This story follows a central bond, Oli, who is not only running from her past but also her bonded. She’s found and returned back to them, much to her dismay. She is she forced back with the bonded who she’s spent years trying to keep safe by staying away, and finds out they all have it out for her for leaving them (well except Atlas). She’s hiding a gift so powerful that the resistance, can’t help but seek her out. This is a group capturing the strongest gifted to torture, use their power, brain-wash, or worse. Can she and her bonded learn to work together to save their kind?
Oli is a strong female and I really like how well she handled her treatment from the guys. Some were definitely worse than others. She has a great handle on her gift and bond, which I think she deserves some praise for. I for sure would be angry crying at every encounter with those guys. The guys all have their issues, but of course we are unaware of them so far since this is a one-sided POV of the female lead. We can only sympathize with her at this point. I will say a few have earned my trust for right now. My ranking of the men go as follows: Atlas (the freaking sexy teddy bear), Gryphon (the surprising sweetheart), Gabe (the possessive one, who can’t seem to forgive Oli no matter how much he probably wants to), North (the one I can’t seem to read but feel deep down he actually care), and Nox (the really crappy one, who sucks eggs).
I wish there was a more world-building in this book, but It wasn’t awful. We learned about the bonded. There is a central and then the others who are bonded to them. Each has their own gift and once they bond that gift gets more heightened. Some use that to their advantage while others just appreciate the bond they share. They are all overseen by a council. They are in charge of enforcing rules and maintaining safety in the bonded community. We also start to learn about the resistance, especially towards the end of the story. Hope the next story gives us even more information on this world.
The one issue I have with this story is the pacing. There was a part in the middle of the book that focused way too much on her day to day life without giving any development between her and her bonds. Maybe there was slight development but only with 1 or 2. I do understand that it was probably on purpose considering there are more books and would need to spread out the development between all 6. It’s definitely not an issue that would cause me to dislike this book though!
I really enjoyed this read and honestly can’t wait to dive into the next! I hadn’t even finished the first when I bought the next two in the series. I usually don’t go for bully romances but it was one I could tolerate. It wasn’t too bad at least in my opinion. As for a reverse harem, I really loved it! I have read many of them and this is definitely in my top 5! Super excited to continue this thrilling adventure with Oleander and her bonded!
Rating: 4/5
Spice: .5/5
Tropes: Reverse Harem, Enemies to lovers, slow burn romance, forced proximity, fated to be together.
Trigger Warnings: Bullying, trauma, death of a loved on, violence, SA
An exciting start to a series! This story follows a central bond, Oli, who is not only running from her past but also her bonded. She’s found and returned back to them, much to her dismay. She is she forced back with the bonded who she’s spent years trying to keep safe by staying away, and finds out they all have it out for her for leaving them (well except Atlas). She’s hiding a gift so powerful that the resistance, can’t help but seek her out. This is a group capturing the strongest gifted to torture, use their power, brain-wash, or worse. Can she and her bonded learn to work together to save their kind?
Oli is a strong female and I really like how well she handled her treatment from the guys. Some were definitely worse than others. She has a great handle on her gift and bond, which I think she deserves some praise for. I for sure would be angry crying at every encounter with those guys. The guys all have their issues, but of course we are unaware of them so far since this is a one-sided POV of the female lead. We can only sympathize with her at this point. I will say a few have earned my trust for right now. My ranking of the men go as follows: Atlas (the freaking sexy teddy bear), Gryphon (the surprising sweetheart), Gabe (the possessive one, who can’t seem to forgive Oli no matter how much he probably wants to), North (the one I can’t seem to read but feel deep down he actually care), and Nox (the really crappy one, who sucks eggs).
I wish there was a more world-building in this book, but It wasn’t awful. We learned about the bonded. There is a central and then the others who are bonded to them. Each has their own gift and once they bond that gift gets more heightened. Some use that to their advantage while others just appreciate the bond they share. They are all overseen by a council. They are in charge of enforcing rules and maintaining safety in the bonded community. We also start to learn about the resistance, especially towards the end of the story. Hope the next story gives us even more information on this world.
The one issue I have with this story is the pacing. There was a part in the middle of the book that focused way too much on her day to day life without giving any development between her and her bonds. Maybe there was slight development but only with 1 or 2. I do understand that it was probably on purpose considering there are more books and would need to spread out the development between all 6. It’s definitely not an issue that would cause me to dislike this book though!
I really enjoyed this read and honestly can’t wait to dive into the next! I hadn’t even finished the first when I bought the next two in the series. I usually don’t go for bully romances but it was one I could tolerate. It wasn’t too bad at least in my opinion. As for a reverse harem, I really loved it! I have read many of them and this is definitely in my top 5! Super excited to continue this thrilling adventure with Oleander and her bonded!