Title: Tragically Broken
Author: NJ Danner
Publisher/Year: NJ Danner 4/21/14
Length: 335
Overview
Tragedy destroyed Dr. Alex Kohen’s life and this is her one chance to escape her nightmares and possibly find love…
Dr. Alex Kohen has made her career her life ever since everything else in her life was tragically taken from her, until the death of a patient brings Kellen Rhion, the sexy elusive bachelor, into her life. Can she leave her past behind, forgive herself and move forward with Kellen or will she be stuck in her nightmares forever?
Alex Kohen created her new life in Chicago after a tragic accident robbed her everything that was important leaving her broken. She dedicated her lonely life to her career as a physician, that is until she met Kellen Rhion the rich, demanding playboy and CEO of Rhion Construction. Kellen is plagued by his own personal tragedy with the death of his grandfather but at the same time is enamored by his grandfather’s beautiful, compassionate doctor. Alex tries to avoid and deny the attraction but Kellen pursues her, never giving up. They must fight the challenges of their busy careers and Kellen celebrity lifestyle that almost rips them apart. Alex feels like she is a shell of person with nothing to give and too much emotional baggage to develop a relationship, afraid of the secrets that continue to haunt her and afraid to have a future. Kellen sees her for who she really is and is finally able to break down Alex’s walls. However, after Kellen’s supposed betrayal and brush with death can Alex really trust him with her heart and can Kellen accept that she will always, in a way, be broken?
My Thoughts
So, I was offered an ARR (while not really Advance) via Goodreads, and before i read it, I made the mistake of reading some of the reviews from other readers. While i definitely value other’s opinions, i find that mine don’t always follow suit, and therefore i’m stuck with expectations (good or bad) on a book. Suffice it to say, while the first review i read was less than stellar, I’d say that this book delivered better than that.
What we have here is a really sweet story about 2 broken people, clearly one more so than the other, each with their walls, focusing more on life than on themselves. Alex, she’s thrown herself into her job since the death of her husband 5 years prior, and as a result, she’s become the top in her field in the country. The world is hers to take. It’s when her world collides with that of Kellan, when his grandfather is her patient that her world then combusts.
On first impression, she hates him – thinks that he’s pompous and has an ego the size of Texas, yet there’s a spark, a chemistry that draws her to him, aside from his good looks. From what we all know in stories like this, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ they’ll get together, it’s really more so when Kellan will be able to break down Alex’s walls. What’s nice about how this story is written is that it’s over time, we get the clear picture that Alex is uncertain, and that Kellan’s persistent, but it’s not a matter of just a handful of days – weeks go by with little progress.
Once that curve is rounded, we get into the heat and passion between these 2. It’s really intense in the sense that they want each other – all the time. The minor fault that i’ll have in the writing here though is that while it was intense, i feel like it was lacking something that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s more of a romantic love than a dominant one, which is what i’ve been reading a lot of – i don’t know. It’s not to say that it wasn’t enjoyable – don’t take it that way, i just feel like personally, it was ‘sweet’ instead of ‘HOT’.
Regardless, we spend most of the story trying to get the bits of the background on what makes Alex into what she is and why she can’t open up to Kellan, yet you have to assume that there’s something not so perfect about Kellan, and it’s not until the latter chapters that we get a glimpse of that. Aside from a stalker, some near death experiences, and a lot of fear of being loved again, there’s a sweet romance story underneath it all.
Sooo…where i’m netting out i guess is that it was a nice story – maybe could have been a bit deeper, but then again, that’s not really the purpose of the genre. Enjoy!