Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Review: Broken Ever After by Natalie Graham

Olivia Stevens is a young, troubled girl from London, England, just about to leave sixth form, into a world full of love, lust, heartbreak and betrayal.

Olivia has had a crush on her teacher, twenty-six year old, Mr Matthews for the last few years but what happens when those feelings are reciprocated? And what happens when someone with a grudge against her gets in between her and her dream man?

Forced to face fears from her childhood, Olivia’s life isn’t what she thought it was destined to be, the people in her life aren’t who she thought they were.


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Contains language and scenarios which some readers may find offensive and/or disturbing. Contains scenes of a sexual nature. Recommended to 18+ readers.



4 Star Review by Jen Hagen

One of my favorite storylines is a taboo romance in the form of teacher/student.  This one held my interest throughout plus threw a good twist in as I neared the end. 

Olivia is 18 and has been in love with her math teacher since he arrived at her school six years ago.  Jamie Matthews  is 26 and has recently discovered that he is captivated with his student.  Olivia and Mr. Matthews have always had an easy-going rapport with each other.  They joke about their rival sports teams, banter back and forth while passing in the halls, and occasionally Mr. Matthews will throw a smirk and a wink at Olivia.  Olivia has three weeks left of school and should be busy studying for her finals, but instead she is lamenting about the fact that after these three weeks she will never see Mr. Matthews again.  This keeps her from sleeping at night, from paying attention in school, and has also kept her from being able to become romantically involved with a boyfriend.

 

Olivia’s parents are kept busy with their work at the hospital and Olivia has spent a lot of time with her Uncle Austin.  He has always been there for her, has seen Olivia at her worst, and Olivia feels comfortable with him.  Olivia’s other Uncle Robbie, is no longer living, and Olivia is the inheritor of his estate.  Olivia does not want anything to do with it, but she will receive the entirety of it at the age of 21.  There are bad feelings associated with being the benefactor of his estate and it also leaves a sense of guilt with Olivia.

 

Jamie also is a benefactor of a family member’s estate, and he doesn’t want anything to do with the prestigious family business.   Jamie has wealth, but he keeps that a secret in his life.  All it takes is one unplanned moment in school to set in motion the ability to release their hidden passion for each other. 

 

“I really like you Olivia and I can’t wait for the next few weeks to be out of the way because I want to be with you.”

 

Olivia has several obstacles to overcome in order to escape her recurring nightmares.  She bears the burden of her uncle’s death, has a childhood secret, has been the object of an ex-boyfriend’s obsession with claiming her, and has recently been the recipient of anonymous threats.  Because of these threats, Olivia is forced to move in with her Uncle Austin since her parents never seem to have the time to be with Olivia.  Olivia has her own personal bodyguard in the form of Connor Riley…and a what a body he has! 

 

As with any new relationship there are old girlfriends, jealousy and trust issues to contend with.  Of course it doesn’t help matters any when some of that is thrown right at you and you’re forced to see it with your own eyes.  Olivia knows what she saw, but maybe she didn’t see it all…

 

He walked towards me and stopped right in front of me.  His beautiful green eyes sparkled with unshed tears.    (swoon…A beautiful guy who can cry always breaks me)

 

The last 30% of the book throws a few twists and turns into the storyline making it unique and not just another romance novel.  This is where I began to slap my forehead chanting  “no, don’t do it…that is wrong…you can’t do that…please, please don’t do that.”  Maybe the biggest threat to Olivia is staring right at her…

 

I felt like I was staring at a soulless being, a beautiful soulless being.  He was so cold and empty looking; not the hot sexy man who chased me, or made love to me.  He was scary.  He lied to me, I shouldn’t have trusted him so easily…

 

A couple things that distracted me in the early development of this book were that it was set in London and the school system over there differs from ours.  I never was able to understand their “terms” in school.  But alas…he’s still her teacher and she’s his student so it’s forbidden no matter how the school years are divided.  Another thing was the constant use of “erm” in sentences used to signify a hesitancy in the user’s speaking.  I did get over this overusage, but it annoyed me.

 

It is my understanding that Olivia and Jamie’s story will be part of a trilogy.  The second installment does not have a set date, but will likely be available early 2014. 



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