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chroniclesofabookreader 's review for:
Broken Juliet
by Leisa Rayven
In my review of Bad Romeo, I had said that Ethan was cracked and had all of these fissures that were just waiting to be broken open. Well, in Broken Juliet, the roles switch completely. Gone is the naive, happy-go-lucky Cassie because guess what? She’s covered in cracks now. These fissures are caused by Ethan, who has now had all of his fissures repaired. Yes, that once torn-apart young man is now steadily on his two feet.
“We just stand there for a while. Breathing each other in. Being. Still not fixed, but far less broken.”
Cassie has suffered true heartbreak. She has loved and lost Ethan not once, but twice. Two times she’s been dropped, causing those new little cracks to elongate. And after that second drop, she’s labeled ‘fragile.’ She can’t take anymore; she doesn’t even know if she can handle anymore without falling to pieces. When Ethan returns back in her life, and begs for one last chance, she’s torn. She knows that what they had was something that doesn’t come along more than once, but is it worth it to risk herself all over again? With how thin her grasp is, she’s close to falling. Cassie is now angry, complacent, jaded–the complete opposite of who she was. She’s failed Ethan, in her mind, and lost herself somewhere in that struggle.
“‘My end game is to simply know that I’m yours and you’re mine, and that neither one of us is scared or ashamed of that. I want to take you out and put my arm around you and know that every other man in the room is jealous as hell that I’m the one who gets to take you home and paint your skin with my mouth.'”
Ethan…boy, did he break. He shattered. But in shattering, he learned where each piece of him belonged. He spent that time putting himself back together again. He worked damn hard to get himself to where he needs to be in order to be what Cassie always deserved. And he’s back with a vengeance. But he wasn’t expecting to find the shell of the woman he left. But he’s strong now, and he can make enough glue to keep himself together and to put Cassie back together, too. He’s ready to right past wrongs, and even if he doesn’t get the girl, he wants her whole again.
“‘People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there’s light from within.'”
The raw passion that strings these two characters together is mesmerizing. It’s feral, in nature, the way that they circle each other. Both past and present, you can feel that bond they share regardless of their strife. And the way that the past and present are woven so poignantly was brilliant. I felt like each scene brought something to the next one, where you were able to see a little growth in each character whether it be forward or backward each time we dove back and forth. And even though the characters have essentially switched roles, it works completely. I absolutely loved that Ethan had to be in Cassie’s shoes, to see what watching someone who was damaged felt like–even if he was the one who caused it. I think it was needed for them to come full circle in their love story. Extremely well-written, with characters that grow, change, and evolve, and with enough emotional and physical tension that’ll have you turning the pages despite the pain in your chest.
“He doesn’t even know how sexy he is. Not just his body but his stained-glass heart. All the pieces of his past and present welded into place. Cracked and imperfect, but beautiful nonetheless.”
**Received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
“We just stand there for a while. Breathing each other in. Being. Still not fixed, but far less broken.”
Cassie has suffered true heartbreak. She has loved and lost Ethan not once, but twice. Two times she’s been dropped, causing those new little cracks to elongate. And after that second drop, she’s labeled ‘fragile.’ She can’t take anymore; she doesn’t even know if she can handle anymore without falling to pieces. When Ethan returns back in her life, and begs for one last chance, she’s torn. She knows that what they had was something that doesn’t come along more than once, but is it worth it to risk herself all over again? With how thin her grasp is, she’s close to falling. Cassie is now angry, complacent, jaded–the complete opposite of who she was. She’s failed Ethan, in her mind, and lost herself somewhere in that struggle.
“‘My end game is to simply know that I’m yours and you’re mine, and that neither one of us is scared or ashamed of that. I want to take you out and put my arm around you and know that every other man in the room is jealous as hell that I’m the one who gets to take you home and paint your skin with my mouth.'”
Ethan…boy, did he break. He shattered. But in shattering, he learned where each piece of him belonged. He spent that time putting himself back together again. He worked damn hard to get himself to where he needs to be in order to be what Cassie always deserved. And he’s back with a vengeance. But he wasn’t expecting to find the shell of the woman he left. But he’s strong now, and he can make enough glue to keep himself together and to put Cassie back together, too. He’s ready to right past wrongs, and even if he doesn’t get the girl, he wants her whole again.
“‘People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there’s light from within.'”
The raw passion that strings these two characters together is mesmerizing. It’s feral, in nature, the way that they circle each other. Both past and present, you can feel that bond they share regardless of their strife. And the way that the past and present are woven so poignantly was brilliant. I felt like each scene brought something to the next one, where you were able to see a little growth in each character whether it be forward or backward each time we dove back and forth. And even though the characters have essentially switched roles, it works completely. I absolutely loved that Ethan had to be in Cassie’s shoes, to see what watching someone who was damaged felt like–even if he was the one who caused it. I think it was needed for them to come full circle in their love story. Extremely well-written, with characters that grow, change, and evolve, and with enough emotional and physical tension that’ll have you turning the pages despite the pain in your chest.
“He doesn’t even know how sexy he is. Not just his body but his stained-glass heart. All the pieces of his past and present welded into place. Cracked and imperfect, but beautiful nonetheless.”
**Received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**