Broken Bits

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

Title: Broken Bits
Author: Kel O’Connor
Publication date: 10/18/2016
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No

I’ll be honest. I’m not a huge romantic suspense fan. There, I’ve said it. Let the hate mail start pouring in. I just usually find it so needlessly overwrought. Then there’s the fact that while running for their lives or in the middle of any number of improbable situations, heroes and heroines in romantic suspense decide to have sex. Sure, that’s just what I’d do if a serial killer/covert government agency/mafia hitman was after me. But for all my scorn of the category as a whole, I found myself actually enjoying Broken Bits.

Kit was a fascinating heroine. She was smart and capable, and despite a series of lousy life events, she maintains a solid, upbeat attitude. Mick was also an interesting dude, kind of a smart-and-nerdy-but-hot secret agent type. They worked well together as a couple, and I didn’t find it terribly farfetched that these two would develop a relationship.

The writing mechanics were also fairly solid. Pacing was good, typos were at a minimum. (I think I only found 1 or 2 errors, and since no one is perfect, that kind of accuracy leads me to believe the book was professionally edited, which is a huge plus in my book.)

But that’s not to say it was a perfect read. A few things irked me:

1. Dialogue was often a little stilted for my liking. A more liberal use of contractions might have helped somewhat.
2. The first sexual encounter between the hero and heroine happened when neither character had bathed in quite a while, and they’d been hiking through the woods all day, so I’m sure that they both smelled fairly foul. In fact, just a few pages before said sexual encounter, the heroine fretted about taking her shoes off in front of the hero because of the foot odor she might potentially have. Maybe I’m in the minority on this, but dirty (literally), smelly, sweaty (before you’ve even done anything) sex is not my thing.  
3. I don’t think I’m giving too much away when I say that at one point, the heroine falls into the enemy's hands. Something happens to her that I don’t like reading about in ANY novels, least of all romances. And in this case, I don’t believe the event adds anything to the story or moves the plot along in the slightest.
4. Mick ruined things with Kit in a way that is my least favorite romance plot contrivance of all-time. He did it “for her own good.” How about you let her decide what’s best for her, huh, big boy?

All that being said, this is still a solid series starter that’s worth a read for fans of the genre. 

Full disclosure: the author generously offered a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review, but I didn’t take it. I downloaded via Kindle Unlimited. (Update: I later cancelled my KU subscription due to unfair author payment practices.) 

​Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It doesn’t CRUSH the stigma, but it’s well-written enough to strongly discourage it.  

Other reading suggestions
Check out the new Scarlett Cole release, Under Fire. It’s all kinds of awesome. Check out our full review here. ​

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