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Cronin’s Key: Cronin’s Key II – N.R. Walker
History isn’t always what it seems.
With the battle of Egypt behind them, Alec and Cronin are enjoying the thrill of new love. Though fate doesn’t wait long before throwing them back into the world of weird.
They know Alec’s blood is special, though its true purpose still eludes them. And given Alec’s inability to be changed into a vampire, Cronin is free to drink from him at will. But the ramifications of drinking such powerful blood starts a ripple effect.
With the help of Jorge, a disturbing vampire-child with the gift of foresight, Alec and Cronin face a new kind of war. This time their investigations lead them to the borders of China and Mongolia—but it’s not what lies in the pits beneath that worries Alec.
It’s the creator behind it all.
In the underground depths of China, amidst a war with the Terracotta Army, they will find out just what the Key is, and what Alec means to the vampire world.
Well, it went downhill, didn’t it. Book 1 charmed me with major USTs, Gaelic endearments, multitude of accents and Egyptology. Book 2, unfortunately, turned into a boring fuckfest between Cronin and Alec. It didn’t help that the other vampires were listening in all the time and Eiji kept laughing at them. If book 1 was well-paced if info-dumpy, here I could feel the drag. So much so that I no longer care about the big mystery of Alec’s blood. All the Gaelic endearments in the world couldn’t save this one for me. DNF.
Rating
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn bookSoundtrack: Every Weekday
Artist: Camera Obscura
Album: Desire Lines(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25429279-cronin-s-key-ii)
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Fence #4 – C.S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad
Nicholas begins to overthink everything as he struggles to prove he deserves his place at Kings Row.
Poor Nicolas!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: To Darkness
Artist: Mumford & Songs, Laura Marling & Dharohar Project
Album:(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38090191-fence-4)
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Innocent: The Innocent Auction – Victoria Sue
London 1810.
Their love was a death sentence.
Deacon, Viscount Carlisle, was aware of the slums and gin-lanes of London. Just as he was aware of the underground traffic that furnished the brothels and bath houses with human innocents. He was also aware that the so-called justice system would hang the accused without much of an attempt at a defense, unless the unfortunate had deep pockets to pay for it.
He just hadn’t expected to be directly involved in any of it.
It started with a plea for help and ended with forbidden love, the love between a Viscount and a stable-boy. An impossible love and a guarantee of the hangman’s noose.
Will Deacon fight for Tom? Will he risk the death sentence and take that fight from the stately halls of his English mansion to the horrors of Newgate Prison and the slums of London?
Or will he realize that if he doesn’t, death will be a welcome end to the loneliness of the sentence he is already living?
As somebody with boring brown eyes surrounded by more brown eyes, descriptions of eye and hair color always fascinate me. My only first hand encounter with natural blue eyes is the right eye of my cat with heterochromia. Tom’s eyes was called stunning several times and if my cat’s eye is anything to go by, it might be quite stunning indeed. Face claims below:
This be tom
This be Deacon
Deacon has dark hair and grey eyes. Nice!
Theirs is a fluffy romance between an viscount, Deacon, who saved a young boy, Tom, from the innocent auctions, a highly illegal event that puts up the young and innocent for sale. Little did he know the boy would grow up to be the love of his life. Tom who was then sent directly to the countryside, was good with horses and worked for Deacon in his estate. They haven’t seen each other for five years since the rescue. When Deacon’s father, the earl, died, Deacon who inherited the title, visited the estate and there met Tom again. Both felt the strong attraction between them. There ensues the internal and external struggles of the two main characters with societal pressures and class conflict warring with personal desires. To add more complication to the mix, Deacon’s cousin and best friend, Beau, was caught in flagrante with the young son of the Duke of Cambridgeshire, a very influential and powerful figure. Beau was thrown into Newgate Prison and thereafter sentenced into pillory. Tom and Deacon tried to help him all the while trying to avoid scandal.
Major points for the atmosphere and historical details. Overflowing commodes, naked prisoners sleeping in dirty straw, the greasing of palms and exchange of coin for a slight change of accommodations…Regency era Newgate Prison was a very, very dismal affair. Poor Beau! His was the horror story every Regency era gay guy keeps in mind as they stumble into their clandestine affairs. Hence, Their love was a death sentence.
The story was the standard historical romance fare with the M/M angle thrown in but what I really like about it is that instead of the usual, arrogant sharped tongued rake, we get a newly minted earl who’s genuinely nice, kind, watches out for his own servants and rescues people. And while the writing lacked the humor and sharpness I always expect from British writers and the resolution was wrapped up a little too neatly in a tidy bow, it still has enough moments of fluff and drama to keep me interested and go for the second book.
I think this is a nice introduction to Victoria Sue’s work. Not quite as outstanding as I expected but definitely a lot of potential.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Stepson
Artist: Foals
Album: Holy Fire(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35274455-the-innocent-auction)
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Tyack & Frayne: Tinsel Fish – Harper Fox
Christmas in a Cornish seaside town, bright lights and a hot new romance to ward off the winter storms… What could be finer? But Gideon and Lee’s first festive season together is shockingly interrupted when Lee tries to rid a client’s home of a malevolent presence. The ritual goes wrong, and in its aftermath Lee is strangely altered. As well as dealing with the changes in his lover, Gideon has a sinister thread to follow, linking the haunted house with disappearances among the homeless people of Falmouth.
Can love withstand what looks like a case of possession? As the darkest night of the year comes down, Gideon finds himself locked in a battle to restore his lover’s soul.
Someday, I’ll go to London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Cornwall and all these places I have read about and make a pilgrimage to sites mentioned in books like Camlet Moat, Gretna Green or a desolate moor.
The second book of the Tyack and Frayne series had Lee attempt to do a sort of cleansing and ended up not being himself. The result was a riotous scene where he picked a fight at a restaurant and ended up being hauled away like a sack of potatoes by Gideon. That was the best and one of the very few highlights of the book for me. The rest of the book was flat and uninteresting but those into steam would be glad that Lee and Gid had a lot of smexy time together.
Another thing of note is the appearance of Gideon’s brother Ezekiel and Lee ‘s meeting with Gideon’s parents. There was also a nice follow up on the Kemp kid’s situation and Isolde had more page time but all of these were not enough to save the book. I think I couldn’t be arsed to read the rest of the series anymore but a visit to Cornwall is still in order.
Rating:
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn book
Soundtrack: Faded from the Winter
Artist: Iron & Wine
Album: The Creek Drank the Cradle(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18949069-tinsel-fish)
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The Community: Insight – Santino Hassell
Growing up the outcast in an infamous family of psychics, Nate Black never learned how to control his empath abilities. Then after five years without contact, his estranged twin turns up dead in New York City. The claim of suicide doesn’t ring true, especially when a mysterious vision tells Nate it was murder. Now his long-hated gift is his only tool to investigate.
Hitching from his tiny Texas town, Nate is picked up by Trent, a gorgeous engineer who thrives on sarcasm and skepticism. The heat that sparks between them is instant and intense, and Nate ends up trusting Trent with his secrets—something he’s never done before. But once they arrive in the city, the secrets multiply when Nate discovers an underground supernatural community, more missing psychics, and frightening information about his own talent.
Nate is left questioning his connection with Trent. Are their feelings real, or are they being propelled by abilities Nate didn’t realize he had? His fear of his power grows, but Nate must overcome it to find his brother’s killer and trust himself with Trent’s heart.
My first Santino Hassell book sadly didn’t blow me away. For the most part, it felt like nothing was happening. What saved the book was the awesome voice acting and the dialogue. Hassell wrote some of the most natural sounding dialogues I have ever come across with and Greg Bordeaux did an outstanding job acting them out. It felt like I was listening to actual conversations between real people when Nate and Trent were talking. Chase’s emotional outburst was delivered in the most gut-wrenching clenched teeth delivery ever and with these, I would have gladly given the book 5 stars.
However, there is much left to be desired. Insight is the first book of The Community series and it introduces Nate Black from the notorious Black family, all psychics and all slightly unhinged. Nate works in a liquor store where he first met Trent. The attraction was instantaneous which would have worked had this part been explained a little more. All throughout the book, Trent was just this highly intelligent supportive friend/boyfriend figure and not much else. The chemistry between him and Nate worked for me somehow but it would have been great if Trent had been more fleshed out.
The story was part mystery, part romance and mostly paranormal thriller. Nate received visions of his brother’s death in New York and he set out to hitchhike with Trent all the way to the city. There he met the members of Theo’s band and Evolution’s staff, a club for queer psychics where he discovered The Community, an organization that supposedly takes in and assists disenfranchised psychics like his brother. Soon he noticed the suspicious and unsavory side of The Com and tried to uncover how all of these are related to Theo’s death. These parts involved a lot of talks and explanations about The Com and psychics in general and not much action so it was a bit of a drag. There were a lot of cool powers mentioned and I was over-expecting some awesome shounen anime type battles but only a few of these powers were seen in action so meh.
It was also easy to guess who’s who and what’s what so the big reveal was not as shocking as it’s suppose to be. However, Jasper wins as the creepiest supervillain of the series even though we haven’t met him in person yet and I can’t wait for the showdown between him and Chase (book 3 maybe?).
I will tag this one as a case of first book syndrome and hope that Holden’s and Chase’s books fare much better.
Rating:
2.5 Stars – far from hate but not quite a likeSoundtrack: Instant Crush
Artist: Daft Punk feat. Julian Casablancas
Album: Random Access Memory(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30364791-insight)
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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda – Becky Albertalli
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
My knee jerk reaction to the book:
Maybe I’m too old for this shit but I am really, really tired of contemporary YA books being about sexual identity and other identity woes all the time. Can we have an LGBTQA+ teens that don’t give a rat’s ass about these things? Can we have LGBTQA+ teens who are just happy being themselves and don’t let their sexuality define them? Can we have a contemporary LGBTQA+ teen do something else other than worry about dating, sex, relationships and identity? This is why I prefer middle grade books over the kind of YA books that emerged after Twilight and Hunger Games (I know these are not contemporaries nor LGBTQA+-centric but they were a bad influence). So I’m sorry, I guess this is not the book for me.
But then, there’s the mystery of Blue. Who the hell is Blue?! I have got to find out.
Blue and Simon’s relationship consist of exchange of emails. They started tentatively then things turned sweet and flirtatious. It’s similar to Anyta Sunday’s note exchange story Noticed Me Yet? and while the latter’s handwritten note exchange was a drag, Blue and Simon’s was more plausible and interesting. Soon, both found that they were falling for each other and Simon tried to uncover Blue’s identity. There were a lot of red herrings and Simon never did guess, although there was a big clue but I’m happy to say I got it right.
I still don’t understand all the hype surrounding this book. It has this typical YA vibe, a lot of pop references, sarcasm and the like. Yes, it was fluffy but so are a million other young adult books. I like the low angst quality though and I might revisit old Elliott Smith songs because of it but overall, the story was nothing spectacular.
Rating:
2.5 Stars – far from hate but not quite a likeSoundtrack: Independence Day
Artist: Elliott Smith
Album: XO(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19547856-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda)
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Going Up – Amy Lane
Every dreary day, Zach Driscoll takes the elevator from the penthouse apartment of his father’s building to his coldly charmed life where being a union lawyer instead of a corporate lawyer is an act of rebellion. Every day, that is, until the day the elevator breaks and Sean Mallory practically runs into his arms.
Substitute teacher Sean Mallory is everything Zach is not—poor, happy, and goofily charming. With a disarming smile and a penchant for drama, Sean laughs his way into Zach’s heart one elevator ride at a time. Zach would love to get to know Sean better, but first he needs the courage to leave his ivory tower and face a relationship that doesn’t end at the “Ding!”
Once upon a time, there was a prince who lived in an ivory tower. The prince worked to defend the people but he was lonely, very lonely. One day, while riding the elevator, he met a peasant. The peasant was bright and charming and the prince wanted to see him again. Everyday he took the elevator and almost always, he met the peasant. They talked and soon they discovered their feelings were mutual. However, the king and the queen did not like the prince liking the peasant and they banished the prince’s people to a poorer place. The prince told his people about the king’s action. The people liked the prince, they understood and supported him. The prince decided he wanted to get out of his tower and tried to take the next step. The peasant who was also a knight, helped the prince. He taught the prince how to kiss, how to have a conversation, how to open himself. Soon the peasant moved in with the prince. The prince who was very lonely was now happy, very happy and he and the peasant lived happily ever after.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Hotel Yorba
Artist: The White Stripes
Album: White Blood Cells(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19274364-going-up)
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Return on Investment – Aleksandr Voinov
Martin David, an eager but inexperienced financial analyst, is the newest member of the investment team at Skeiron Capital Partners in London. His boss is an avowed financial genius, but he’s also overbearing and intense. Despite his erratic behaviour, Martin can’t help being drawn to him both professionally and personally.
Too bad his boss doesn’t seem to feel the same. In a firm where pedigree and connections mean far more than Martin’s newly-minted business degree, Martin feels desperately inadequate—at least until he meets the enigmatic investment manager Alec Berger, who promises to help Martin establish himself in the financial community. Martin is so charmed by Alec’s sophistication and wit that he gives him data that should have stayed confidential.
Then the financial crisis hits. Banks burn, companies teeter on the brink, and Skeiron’s survival is at stake. Martin is pushed into the middle of the fight for Skeiron—against both the tanking economy and a ruthless enemy who’s stepped out of the shadows to collect the spoils.
Return on Investment is the new gay financial thriller from EPIC Award winner and Lambda Award finalist Aleksandr Voinov.
This book comes with a warning. According to author, Aleksandr Voinov:
Just a PSA – this is not a traditional romance, m/m or other. I’d describe it as part coming-of-age, part financial thriller (yes, quite a few scenes involving the office, deals, finance talk, etc), and love story. The love story is not the main thing going on, and the main character spends quite a bit of time/quite a few nights with other people.
Duly noted. And with that, I had to tread carefully and keep an open mind lest my biases get the better of me.
One of my guilty pleasures is reading about rich people. Not the Hollywood celebrity or rock star kind of rich but the upper 1% old rich kind of rich. And nothing says old rich as that scene where Alec was enlightening Martin to the merits of bespoke shaving equipment. Apparently, fancy Gillette triple blades has nothing on Sheffield steel single blade razors with handles in production since 1930s.
Return on Investment has three main players, Alec Berger, the consummate charmer whose job title I forgot (broker?, investment manager?), Martin David, the young and slightly naive number cruncher and Francis de Bracy, Martin’s workaholic boss with whom he had a crush on. Voinov did a very convincing job with Alec’s character, he actually got me thinking that hey, Alec seems alright, nice even. I was as gullible as Martin. I liked Martin, he seems genuinely nice, he gets along with everyone and he had it bad for his boss. I wasn’t comfortable with Martin sleeping with other people since he likes Francis but I guess that is more realistic than expecting a healthy, active gay guy to live a celibate life. Francis is an enigmatic, overbearing financial genius who is also, very, very unexpectedly, a religious/spiritual man. Even if the book is from Martin’s POV, he dominated the books and right up to the end, we know very little of Francis de Bracy apart from his work. I heard book 2 would remedy that.
Is there a love triangle? Well, Martin did sleep with a lot of people, each helping him little by little to become the man he is. Martin’s time with Alec was physical, hedonistic. In contrast, the connection between Martin and Francis was on a purer, more spiritual level. I felt it was a very understated romance, understated in a way the truly elite is understated.
“Can I want you?” Martin asked—a thought spoken aloud.
The reader, like Martin, is then left craving for an ounce of affection, a tiny nod of acknowledgement from the mighty Francis de Bracy until that big moment when Martin could no longer take it. Of course, Francis true to form, the reply was strictly business
Francis stood close without touching, simply holding his gaze, but Martin maintained eye contact, even if it made him breathless. “I need to know whether you’ll be with or against me.”
“About what? The restructuring?”
“That, too.” Francis didn’t explain further, merely stood there, magnetic, towering. “I need a commitment from you.”
“I am committed. I’ve been fucking committed all this time. I was there sorting out your companies; I started a fight in a hotel for you. I’ve been here. Waiting.” Martin struggled to breathe or to swallow. “Waiting for Francis de Bracy to be there and touch me like you did and maybe even stay around after fucking me. All this time I wanted to be worth it, wanted to be more than the stupid kid you’re teaching how to work hard, and then harder still, until I have no life left and can’t think of anything else but whether I’m good enough for you. It bloody hurts, Francis. It bloody fucking hurts wanting you so much, but loving you is even worse, because I have no idea how to deal with that. All the fucking time I want you to be there and I want to hold you and I’m fucking scared to touch you because you could give me that famous de Bracy stare that makes me into nothing. I cease to exist. I just do. I’m not even there, but I can’t help it. All I can do is to wait and hope and deal with that pain. That’s it. That’s my commitment. Is that worth anything?”
“It’s worth a Partnership in my firm.” Francis said it with a little smile that would have been infuriating if it had not been so tender.I don’t know what to make of the book. It’s was certainly not romance focused, most of it were talks about equity, hedges and other financial jargon I couldn’t understand (nor could I explain what it is about, something to do with banks dying and hostile takeovers which is as nasty as it sounds) but I kept on listening anyway. I was riveted to the story and if that’s not a testament to how good a story teller Aleksandr Voinov is, I don’t know what is.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Changes
Artist: David Bowie
Album: Hunky Dory(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22720162-return-on-investment)
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Cronin’s Key – N.R. Walker
NYPD Detective Alec MacAidan has always been good with weird. After all, his life has been a string of the unexplainable. But when an injured man gives him cryptic clues, then turns to dust in front of him, Alec’s view on weird is changed forever.
Cronin, a vampire Elder, has spent the last thousand years waiting for Alec. He’d been told his fated one would be a man wielding a shield, but he didn’t expect him to be human, and he certainly didn’t expect that shield to be a police badge.
Both men, strong-willed and stubborn, are still learning how to cope with the push and pull of being fated, when fate throws them another curveball.
Rumors have spread quickly of turmoil in Egypt. Covens are fleeing with news of a vampire who has a talent like no other, hell-bent on unleashing the wrath of Death.
Alec and Cronin are thrown into a world of weird Alec cannot imagine. What he learned in school of ancient pharaohs and Egyptian gods was far from the truth. Instead, he finds out firsthand that history isn’t always what it seems.
This is what Twilight should have been like had it not been so focused on that love triangle and tackled serious vampire business instead.
N.R. Walker rewrites what we know of the entire human civilization, interweaving vampire lore into human history. The majority of the book sets about world building which, although info dumpy, was highly appreciated because the questions Alec asked were what I would have asked myself. Even with the info dump, the pacing was just right, with events taking place mostly in Cronin’s posh apartment, plus sojourns to Scotland and Egypt in a span of few days. The vampire Elders, Cronin and fated pair Eiji and Jodis (he’s Japanese and can read DNA, she’s Nordic and can freeze liquids), Alec and other coven members were researching and preparing for a confrontation with Queen Keket who wants Alec. Keket was a new vampire who can resurrect the dead and in the grand tradition of villains everywhere, was hellbent on taking over the world. The battle was exciting, however, I do find the Egypt part slightly anti-climactic because the vampire queen, was defeated a little too easily. There were heart-stopping moments when a couple of the major characters had close calls but overall, this part felt rushed.
Cronin’s Key talks about the fated one, the ionndrainn cridhe in Gaelic, which explains the insta-attraction part. The experience was new to both Alec and Cronin and what I liked about it was that the two did the sensible thing, taking it slow and taking time to get to know each other instead of jumping into the nearest convenient bed despite the magnetic attraction between them. It was pretty cute how coven Elder and ancient vampire Cronin (ginger, Scottish, purrs like a cat) gets all shy and tender then possessive and growly around Alec. Alec (brilliant NYPD detective, sarcastic as hell) tried to resist but couldn’t deny what’s going on between them. Some might not be into slow burn this slow but I enjoyed the dance of want and self-denial between the fated pair. When it comes to OTPs, I’m all for delayed gratification.
History buffs, especially those into Egyptology, would enjoy Walker’s take on Egyptian mythology. MM readers would love the combination of insta-love and slow build romance. I enjoyed all of the above in addition to the humor, sarcasm, bad ass secondary characters and of course, outstanding voice acting by Joel Leslie, also narrator of Broken. Cronin’s Key was a veritable united nations of vampires but he pulled off each character really well.
And oh, Gaelic for extra kicks! To my untrained ear, it sounds like a language with a lot of rrr’s, like a lion’s rumble. Here’s my favorite part, when Alec was attacked by the Russian vampires:
Alec was pressed up against the living room wall, his heart beating so damn hard it felt as though it would stop. He was safe, he knew he was, because it was Cronin who pressed against him. His scent was like a balm, soothing and warm. Cronin’s hands pressed to Alec’s face. “Rug mi ort, rug mi ort,” he whispered over and over. It was Gaelic, though Alec had no clue what it meant. Cronin pressed his cheek to Alec’s. His eyes were closed. “Sàbhailtcachd, m’cridhe.”
Which translates to: ‘It’s okay, I have you, I have you.’ ‘You are safe, my heart.’Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Rilkean Heart
Artist: Cocteau Twins
Album: Milk & Kisses(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24830211-cronin-s-key)
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Broken – Nicola Haken
Author’s note:
“For anyone who’s ever felt a little broken. Keep going – one breath at a time. You are important”When Theodore Davenport decides to switch his mundane job for a career, he walks into Holden House Publishing with enthusiasm and determination to succeed. As he settles into his new role, makes new friends, and dreams of making it to the top, everything is going to plan.
Until he meets James Holden, CEO of Holden House.
James Holden hasn’t been able to stop thinking about his encounter with the timid man he met in a club bathroom last week, and when he discovers the one haunting his dreams is an employee, he can’t seem to stop himself from pursuing him.
Just a little fun – that’s what James tells himself. He can’t afford to care for someone who can never reciprocate, not once they find out who he really is. James believes nobody deserves the burden of being attached to him. He’s a complicated man. Damaged. Difficult. Demanding.
Broken.
Is Theodore strong enough to confront James’ demons? More importantly, is James?
Please note:This book contains scenes of self harm, mental illness and suicidal ideation which may be uncomfortable for some readers.
Audiobooks are what I am into nowadays because my eyesight is getting worse (devastating news for a book blogger). It’s quite a game changer, enhancing my literary experience through voices, accents and acting and motivating me to finish what I would have otherwise DNF’ed after a couple of chapters. Basically if the narrator sounds good and there are some fancy schmancy accents, there is a higher probability I’ll see things through to the end no matter how shitty the story.
Broken is one such book. If I just read the blurb, I wouldn’t have bothered since contemporaries are mostly a miss with me but when I heard the opening chapter, I was greeted with Mancunian. So I decided to give it a go.
And what a beautiful, emotionally satisfying book it turned out to be, resonating strongly due to some personal experiences. It took a while for me to get into it, mainly because James came across as an annoying, arrogant bastard at first and I was ready to drop the book but the witty banter between Theo and Tess won me over. James gradually turned out to be not such an asshole Theo made him out to be and there were some sweet and fun times that slowly ease its way into darker times as James finally gave in to his inner demons.
James has type 2 bipolar disorder which is a very difficult illness to deal and live with. Nicola Haken wrote very accurate scenarios of how it is for both the patient and the people who love them. I marvelled at Theo’s strength and unconditional love. He never gave up on James and that is something a bipolar patient needs, someone who never gives up on you even if you already have.
“When your boat is drifting from the shore, it’s okay to use an anchor for support. We all need an anchor. Without people to love us, we’d just drift further and further away.”
Broken tackles complex themes but it’s not a heavy book. Haken managed to balance the darker notes with lighter moments of humor and romance. It shares a hopeful message that yes, we might not get cured but we will be okay.
Rating:
4.5 – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Maybe Tomorrow
Artist: Stereophonics
Album:You Gotta Go There to Come Back
(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20646135-broken)
