Review: Broken By Lies by Rebecca Shea

I had no idea how much I would love Alex the day he walked into my life. 
He changed everything. 
The way I breathed.
The way I thought.
The way I loved.
He brought me back to life. 
He gave me strength and a safe place to land.

And then he broke me. 

Finding Emilia was a chance to do something good for once in my life. 
I wanted to change. 
She believed I was her savior.
I ached to be.
She found her way into my heart and claimed it as her safe place.
I should be telling her the truth about me…instead I break her with lies.

4 Star Review by Jen Skewes

Emilia has just lost her mother, the one person that she had left in her life.  Even though for most of her life, Emilia took care of her mother, she loved her.  And she loved the little moments that she shared with her.  They didn’t have much but they had each other.  Since she has no one left she decides to take a trip to find her father.  Hoping that maybe that maybe he will want to see her and get to know each other.  But not everything works out the way Emilia had hoped and now she is left in a strange town, with very little money and no place to go.  Until she meets this sexy stranger who for some reasons she trusts. 

Alex has grown up in a world of crime, drugs, and danger.   With his father in jail he is left to run the family  “business”.  He hates this world so much but it is all he knows.  Growing up his father made sure he learned everything there was to know so that he would one day take over.  While he hated most of what they did he was still somewhat content in his life.  And then he met Emilia, the woman who he would give it all up for if he had to.

Alex and Emilia have a connection.  Alex is sexy, smart, rich but also dangerous to be around. He would never hurt Emilia but living the life he does also means that Emilia could be in danger.  There are no guarantees.  There is something about Emilia that makes Alex what to become a better man. He wants to be worthy of her love.  Emilia feels safe with Alex and loves the way he protects her and wants to keep her safe.  She never really had anyone in her life who cares the way Alex does.  But Alex is keeping secrets.  What he does for a living can cause him to lose the only woman he has loved.  As much as he wants out he knows that it won’t be easy, but he also knows that letting go of Emilia is impossible.  When she finds out the truth will she run?

I love Rebecca Shea’s writing and I honestly enjoyed this one.   But it was also missing something for me.  I think that the events in this book just happened all too quickly for me.  I loved Alex and Emilia together but I think that connection or trust that Emilia found with Alex was a little too insta-love for me.  And I understand Sam’s motives for wanting to get close to Emilia But I guess I did not understand the conflict that he was having regarding his feelings for her.  That too seemed to happen a bit too quickly and just felt out of place. 

This book had a little bit of sexy with a bit of drama and suspense and Ms. Shea left us with a whopper of a cliffhanger.   Throughout this book I was waiting for the secrets and the lies to come out and wondered what would happen next.  How would it all work out?  Can Alex really live a normal life with the woman that he loves?  At times you feel like maybe it is possible.  Alex wanted so much to be a better person and to give it all up for Emilia.  But then we are faced with an ending that will leave you staring at your e-reader with your mouth opened and wondering now what?   Holy crap I need the next book now.  I need to see where their story goes and how it all ends.