A review by kate_ever
Broken Dove by Kristen Ashley

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I first bought these books over ten years ago and recently I discovered them again on my Kindle and decided on a re-read because I needed some easy reading and I remembered enjoying them when I first read them. Getting back into this series has been very interesting, mostly in seeing what a difference that ten years of life experience has had on my perceptions of these stories. What I once thought was a brilliant series just hit a little differently this time around, some were not as bad as others but I was a little stuck on the message that these stories feed to women, especially if you were to come across them at an impressionable stage in your life. 

 

This book felt long, really very long. I feel like most of this could have been cut out and we would have still gotten everything we needed to. In this instalment of the series, Apollo asks the witch Valentine to bring his dead wife's twin from our world to his. I don't really remember thinking about how impractical this would be the last time I read this book, but it makes for an awkward love story. 

 

Ilsa very quickly has to change her name to Maddie and pretend to be the dead wife's cousin to explain how they look identical. Also with the baggage that the two of them have it doesn't make you feel like they are going to have an easy time of a relationship which of course ends up being what happens. Apollo doesn't seem to like Maddie until someone else declares their love for her, everyone is constantly comparing her to Ilsa and implying that she comes up short, it doesn't scream romance. 

 

Again we have an abusive and controlling male MC and for a glimmer of a moment I thought Maddie was going to stand up for herself but in the true style of this author she instantly forgives him because he loves her. I am just really struggling with these female characters that are being told that they are strong whilst they roll over like doormats for these men, and can't seem to stick to their convictions. 

 

The climax of the subplot that became more apparent in book three plays out at the end of this story and I think the most shocking thing about it was that I realised that I couldn't tell any of the women apart. None of them has their own voice, it's the same ridiculous nature repurposed into a fractionally different character but when they were all together it was a bit ludicrous.