Review: Broken by Annie Jocoby

Broken 
by Annie Jocoby
Series: Broken #1 (Spinoff of Illusions)
Pub. Date:  Jan. 6, 2014
Publisher:  Tobann Publications
Pages:  258
Format: eBook
Source: Amazon



My Rating:  

Nick O'Hara is, for lack of a better word, a man-wh***. Look in the Urban Dictionary under that word, and his name will no doubt be mentioned. The only qualifications that he looks for in a bed-mate is that the person is hot and breathing. Mainly hot. He has no desire for an emotional connection with another person, and that's the way he lives his life. He has his fabulous wealth and his reputation as a premiere architect, and that's enough for him. 

Until Scotty James. 

Scotty is a graduate student at Columbia University in New York City. She's broken from traumatic experiences from her years in foster care and homelessness. She has a vulnerability that is intoxicating to Nick, because, deep down, he knows that he is as broken as she. 

When Nick pursues Scotty, it seems that she is the only woman who doesn't want to be with him. At first she's a challenge, but Nick soon finds himself falling in love for the first time in his life. With a woman who wants nothing to do with him. 

Can Scotty overcome her trust issues and fear to let Nick in? Or will she prove to be too broken to trust?

Well I tried with this one, but I am at odds with the writing style. This is my second endeavor by this author, the first being Exposure. I ended up feeling similar regarding both attempts. I couldn't connect with the characters, and they seemed very immature to me for what their stations in life were supposed to be.

I will start with Scotty, this tortured heroine who has a drunk for a mother and was sexually abused by a foster father. This is a horrible situation... but I never really felt for Scotty. There was not much to trigger any emotion in me. I felt like she was a perma-victim and whiny and needed a backbone. Normally with a tortured heroine, I get some kind of emotional connection. But I got not an iota of empathy here.

Moving on to Nick... he utterly confused me. He was all about Ryan and Iris - referring to these people and their life and how he loved them like I was supposed to know who they are. Turns out - this is a spinoff of the Illusions series (which was Ryan and Iris' story). I have not read that series and would have liked to have known that I needed to read it first. This Broken series does not seem to be a standalone to me because of the constant referencing to the other people. Nick also started talking about Rielle and his girls somewhere after 25% and I was like - Who? Turns out he has an ex-wife and two daughters. That must have also been part of the original series because we got no backstory there. Nick is a shallow d-bag. He is very immature for someone who is supposed to be a renowned rich architect. I didn't like his manwhore behavior... and it didn't make sense that he had this instalove for the perma-victim in Scotty.

I also never want to hear that the male lead tongued someone.  I don't like that word. I don't know why - but it doesn't sound sexy.  There are lots of other options. Licked, laved, lapped, tasted, sampled... the list goes on and on. 

This author is super nice so I hate that I can't get down with the writing style. It may be just me... my friend Deanna likes this author and her stories. But I have not been able to make myself finish one. DNF at 38%.

View all my reviews