Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Review: Broken by J L Drake




My name is Savannah Miller.

My father is the mayor of New York. One day after my twenty-seventh birthday I was grabbed from behind. A cloth sack was quickly pulled over my head, and I was taken from everything I’d ever known.

I was beaten, starved, treated like an animal, and forced to live in a room with no windows. With no sense of time and no dignity left I finally gave up hope and made a promise to myself to end it all. 

Unfortunately, it was going to be a slow process.

Then one night an elite group of US Army soldiers came to my rescue. I was brought to a safe house and given two options:

One- Stay under their protection and follow their rules or…

Two- Leave and be guaranteed to be returned to the savages within a week.

I chose option one.

As I work with a therapist and begin processing my hellish ordeal things slowly begin to surface. With the help of new friends and a potential new love I fight to get my life back and make choices that will forever alter my future.

This is my story...

*Warning cliffhanger ending*



4 Holy Moly Guacamole Stars!

Review by Jen Hagen 

Just as the title suggest, I am broken.  After that ending I just want to ask the author “how could you do this to me??”  Forget the heroine and what she’s feeling…I’m talking about me.   I want the sequel  to begin with it all being a bad dream.  I want Bobby Ewing to wake up in his shower and everything will be as it should be with everybody happy and in love.  I need to accept this ending and move on, but I can’t!!

Savannah is 26 years old and has been in the custody of her kidnappers for 7 months.  She has been starved, beaten, and everything else unimaginable but she has never been raped (thank goodness!).  Who are her kidnappers and why was she kidnapped?  Savannah’s father is a prominent elected official so he should have the means and ways to get her released if they had made any ransom requests.  What is the hold up?

Before that answer is revealed, Savannah is rescued by the “Shadows” and taken to a safe house where she now resides in a home full of trained special ops.  Some are friendly to her and others see her as a distraction from their goal – to capture “The American” who was one of the kidnappers.  Savannah is given a choice – to stay in the safe house protected or to return back to her home in New York City where she will be a walking target for recapture.  

“Know that you can leave at any time but there’s no coming back – we will not protect you a second time.  Do you think you can handle all this, being under this much protection?  This many rules?  You will be totally isolated from your past life.” 

Cole is a multi-generational Shadow who is the boss of the house and the head of the special op team.  He is a brutal killer, which initially intimidates Savannah and she was hesitant to trust him.  Once she lets go of who he becomes outside the house, she is pleasantly surprised with the ease of spending time together.  Cole has never had a relationship and once this love bug bit him, he was bit hard.  Cole simply adores Savannah and will do anything in his power to keep her safe and to keep her his. 

Cole and Savannah have an unorthodox start to their relationship.  It isn’t long after their relationship is announced that orders come in for Cole to leave the safe house in pursuit of “The American.”  Savannah fears that he will not return.  This is new for Cole…he isn’t used to having to promise to return home and he’s scared he can’t live up to his promise.  .  

“Everything is going to work out.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because fate would not have brought you to me just to take you away.”  He smiles, kissing me on my lips once.  “And now that I have someone to come back to, I’ll have to be extra careful.”  He kisses me again.  

Will Cole capture the bad guys and bring peace to Savannah’s questions of her capture or will he unwrap a package made up of lies, deceit, and the most unlikely betrayal?   But the most important question is will he be able to return to Savannah?


Although this story isn’t layered with depth, I found it be a fulfilling read.  Most of the time my angst comes from bad romantic decisions, but this time the source was suspense.  A long, long time ago my favorite stories were those that held a question of “who done it?”  It’s always fun to go back and revisit your roots.   This is the first book in a trilogy and I have a feeling we will be in for a wild ride.  I was completely floored…astonished…stunned…speechless…and any other word you can think of when it came to that ending.  But the best words are the last words spoken at the end of this first installment that summarize it best"Holy f#*king shit!" My thoughts exactly…


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