Book Review June 3
Until I Break
by: M. Leighton
★★★ 3 Stars
Blurb ~ Laura Drake is an
author. She writes bestselling paranormal romances that continue to top
the charts. She is sharp. She is confident. She is in control.
And she doesn’t exist.
Samantha Jansen is the woman behind the wig, the woman most of the world doesn’t know exists. She is shy. She is insecure. She is nothing like her main character or her alter ego. She is scarred—deeply scarred—by a past she can’t let go of and a present she can’t make peace with.
Samantha’s dreams are consumed by one man, the broken hero from her books. Mason Strait is both her wildest fantasy and her most terrifying nightmare.
When Samantha meets Alec Brand, a corporate consultant, it is as though Mason has come to life. Alec is handsome to a fault, as elegant as he is arrogant, and more intense than any man has a right to be.
Samantha is soon sucked into a world that mirrors the fiction she writes. Just like her main character, Daire Kirby, Samantha finds herself unable to resist the forbidden lure of Alec. And just like Daire, she also finds that she is faced with taking a chance on a man who could either set her free or destroy her.
The scale tilts toward destruction when Samantha finds out that Alec is as much a work of fiction as Mason. And he has scars of his own, scars that could ruin them both.
And she doesn’t exist.
Samantha Jansen is the woman behind the wig, the woman most of the world doesn’t know exists. She is shy. She is insecure. She is nothing like her main character or her alter ego. She is scarred—deeply scarred—by a past she can’t let go of and a present she can’t make peace with.
Samantha’s dreams are consumed by one man, the broken hero from her books. Mason Strait is both her wildest fantasy and her most terrifying nightmare.
When Samantha meets Alec Brand, a corporate consultant, it is as though Mason has come to life. Alec is handsome to a fault, as elegant as he is arrogant, and more intense than any man has a right to be.
Samantha is soon sucked into a world that mirrors the fiction she writes. Just like her main character, Daire Kirby, Samantha finds herself unable to resist the forbidden lure of Alec. And just like Daire, she also finds that she is faced with taking a chance on a man who could either set her free or destroy her.
The scale tilts toward destruction when Samantha finds out that Alec is as much a work of fiction as Mason. And he has scars of his own, scars that could ruin them both.
Review
Let me just say after reading this, I can understand the
complaints some people had about the ‘touchy subject matter’ but come on, I
don’t think it was enough to make M. Leighton pull the book from circulation.
In fact the book was just so-so for me and that had nothing to even do with the
touchy moment. We’ve all read naughty
books, sometimes ones that contain cringe worthy moments or moments that make
us want to close the book and move on. It’s the prerogative of the reader and
I’ll be the first to admit I’ve read way worse ‘moments’ in books. But aside
from that here is my review…
Again, I didn’t really like the story. I was sucked in from
the beginning with Laura AKA Samantha being an author but then somewhere along
the way I just felt further and further away. With a title like Until I Break,
I was expecting a more BDSM, Adult Romance type vibe, and though there is
certainly sex and romance, I did not get any safe words or erotica type sex.
Nothing wrong with that of course, but considering Laura’s profession and
passion writing the naughty stuff mixed with the title and I guess I was let
down that things were lacking in the steam department.
Samantha is at a conference, hiding in her author persona,
when she sees the hero of her book in the flesh. When the two meet again and
Laura is just herself, she can’t seem to see Alec as anyone but her hero Mason.
Together the two start a whirlwind affair that scorches bed sheets. Alec is
kind of a douche bag, admittedly, who uses a girl till she ‘break’s and falls
for everything he gives then he moves on finding happiness in their pain. I
couldn’t’ really get over this issue even with what he went through. Every time
he would bring it up, it was all so callous and heartless that I couldn’t see
him becoming a better person when he enjoyed hurting others so much, even if it
was just to mask his own pain.
To say I was shocked by his admission is no lie. Certainly
we know there is a big secret and some hidden pain that made Alec the way he is
but wow, shocker time. Samantha is way stronger than she thinks she is, even
hiding behind her author persona. She takes so much in stride and puts her
stronger self in her writing. I enjoyed
the scenes when she would hide in the airport or pretend to travel just to keep
up the façade.
The end was great. It didn’t save the story for me nor did
it really explain how long after end it occurs but her topping him made it all
ok. He may appear to have all the dominant power throughout the book but come
the end we see that he’s more like a cowering puppy hiding in the wake of a
harmful sexual past that continues to haunt him until his master returns.
Definitely made Samantha more interesting in my eyes.
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