Customer Reviews

Broken (Berkley Sensation)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the story opens Ms. Walker gives readers a look at what Quinn Rafferty's, life was like as a frightened child who lived with a physically and verbally abusive alcoholic and drug addicted mother. Trapped in the depth of poverty and despair he seeks refuge from time to time at the local youth shelter for an occasional meal and a place to sleep. When his mother dies of an overdose, Quinn's father is finally contacted and he goes to live with him and his twin brother Luke on a ranch. Patrick Rafferty is a good man and does his best with his very angry, at times belligerent, and emotionally damaged son.

Fast forward 20 years and Quinn is an Army Ranger on a mission in Columbia dealing with the tragic loss under horrific circumstances of a woman he loved. Quinn blames himself for the circumstances surrounding her death. When he finishes his tour with the military he settles in St. Louis for a time and takes work as a bail bondsman with a private detective agency. Quinn has tremendous emotional baggage, he doesn't trust people easily, has difficulty communicating and after losing the woman he loved in Columbia has not become involved in a relationship. He has however been befriended by Theresa Kingston, a lovely older woman who owns a house in a decent part of town with a basement apartment that Quinn rents.

Sara Davis's life is in chaos, on the run for 2 years from James Morgan a wealthy, despicable, violent man who takes pleasure in controlling, beating and threatening the women in his life. Sara has nothing but the clothes on her back and the cash she earns from a job waiting tables. She is constantly on the move, living from day to day waiting for the call from a mystery caller who gives a report and signals it's time to move on again. Theresa befriends Sara too and after some impassioned discussion persuades her to rent the upper flat in her house. This is where Sara meets Quinn and there is an instantaneous sexual attraction that flares and combusts between them.

Neither of these people give their trust easily nor are they looking for a relationship. Quinn is a member of humanity's walking wounded, and Sara is constantly wary, ready to take flight from her tormentor at a moment's notice. Quinn finds communication about himself or his feelings a painful exercise, but something about Sara makes talking easier for him.

Quinn and Sara cannot resist their mutual attraction and after some awkward first 'chats' and encounters they become intimate. I found both of these characters to be very lonely and in need of the company and warmth of another human being as much as a physical relationship. The sensuality that Ms. Walker pens into the love scenes between Quinn and Sara is intense and lovely. Neither of these people share their secrets but they connect through touch, a look, quiet conversation and making love. Their relationship intensifies and just as Quinn feels ready to admit his strong feelings for Sara her phone rings signaling that she must flee once more, forcing her to leave him behind.

Sara doesn't know what Quinn does for a living and right at the time of her call, he learns something unexpected and devastating about Sara, a woman he has come to love. This leads to a heartbreaking scene where both suffer loss of trust in the other. I was left wondering how Ms. Walker was going to resolve what seemed like insurmountable issues and bring the hero and heroine of this story together.

Ms. Walker pens a surprising plot twist and climax to Quinn and Sara's story that was thrilling as well as suspenseful. At the end of the day, I wasn't disappointed.

I found Broken to be an emotional, sensual, suspenseful contemporary romance about two lost and quite tortured souls who find each other and happiness. If you enjoy Shiloh Walker's work or a novel with this type of theme you may like to give "Broken" a try. I know I will read this book again and can't wait to read "Fragile".

I have heard about the greatness of Shiloh Walker all over twitterverse for a while now.... but my time has been limited and being that urban fantasy is really my favorite genre, I had put her books low on my list. When the opportunity to join the ARC tour sponsored by the Book Vixen, I jumped at the chance! Thus my Shiloh Walker virginity is gone and I was oh so wrong to wait so long!
Sara is on the run, tho we don't find out why til the very end. I found myself assuming she was on the run because her husband was abusive, the snippet flashbacks point to that. Yet, everything we see of her personality led me to think there was something else going on. She is a fighter, she didn't seem like the running type. These contradictions had me invested in her character from the start. I love a good strong female lead who can be strong yet maintain her compassion and femininity and Shiloh Walker gives us that in Sara.

Quinn. I could say so much about this man, but the easiest thing to say? Wow. Somehow Walker crawled inside my head and created a man I couldn't help but drool over. He is broken, tormented, wounded. He is protective and strong, but still respectful of Sara as a person. He is so emotional within his own head, but expressing it was next to impossible. Somehow Walker makes this fault both endearing and lovable.

I loved the plot of Broken, great twists that I didn't see coming! I did wish for a bit more action throughout the story, but I am not sure it would have fit in and that doesn't keep me from loving this book. The development of the relationship between Quinn and Sara was certainly strong enough to carry the story. It was passionate and desperate in all the ways we book sluts love. One of my favorite dialogue scenes from the start of their relationship:

>>Sara cocked a brow at him. "Didn't you tell me a few days ago I'd be better off keeping my distance from you?"
>>"Yeah, I told you that."
>>"Hard to do if you come looking for me."
>>Quinn shrugged. "I don't see you walking away."
>>"I was here first," she said pointedly.

But what really gets me about this book is the smokin hot sex appeal of Quinn and his mouth. He talks at all the right times, and I love it. For a man who claims to not know how to flirt, he sure picks it up quickly.

>>Raking his teeth over the soft skin of her wrist, he said gruffly, "You really shouldn't look at me like that in a public place, Sara."
>>"Look at you how?" she asked, her voice almost as hoarse as his own. She blinked at him, looking a little dazed.

This book is not in a series, per say, but it is related to the previous book Fragile which features Quinn's brother Luke. I will be picking Fragile up without question. Broken is an excellent read for any romance reader and Shiloh Walker is definitely going on my "must buy" list of authors!

Whenever I read a Shiloh Walker story, I'm blown away how angsty and scarred yet overwhelmingly sexy her heroes are. She writes these men, who have alpha like tendencies, but underneath their bravado, have fears and self esteem issues, where they feel they'll never be good enough to be loved. Shiloh always makes sure her men get their happily ever after with their heroines, who also need love in their lives. In Broken, Quinn Rafferty is a lost soul. He grew up with a drug addicted mother who treated him like garbage. Because he was thought of as trash, that's what he feels like. When his mother dies of a drug overdose, his father and a twin brother he never knew of welcome him into their family. But still, Quinn doesn't feel he belongs.

Twenty years later he still feels unworthy, alone, and doesn't have much to live for. He's depressed, closed off and refuses to trust anyone. Quinn's job as a bounty hunter for a detective agency gives him freedom and some fulfillment, where he takes down those who hurt and abuse those they should love and cherish. But at the same time he feels it's a lost cause.

Sara Davis is on the run and in hiding. She moves around to keep a stalker off her trail and tried to stay under the radar. Her new home for the next few months is in St. Louis where she has met a very kind soul in that of Theresa Kingston, who reminds her of Mrs. Claus. Theresa helps those in need, especially women that have been abused. She assumes Sara is one of these unfortunate souls and gives her a safe haven. Theresa also has another tenant who keeps to himself. And when Quinn meets Sara, more than sparks fly between the two. It's like the second half of his soul that has always been missing has now been located.

Sara is wary of Quinn because he gives off this cold, don't mess with me vibe. But something about him speaks to her. Now you'd think Sara would keep her distance from a man like Quinn because of the current situation she's in. But because he's a "wounded warrior" who wears a mask, much like the one she wears, she finds a connection with her brooding neighbor and against her better judgment welcomes him into her life. And the moment Sara opens her arms to Quinn, there's no going back for these two. The horrors and shadows that haunt them disappear and Sara is able to break though Quinn's tough shell. Quinn shares his past with Sara and expects her to do the same. He knows she's hiding something and wants to help her. But her time is running out and she can't get too comfortable. She must leave Quinn, even though she knows it may destroy him.

Soon Sara is on the run again, but this time Quinn is on her heels because his next bounty is finding a missing woman, who happens to be Sara. He must bring her back to the one man who has driven her into hiding and may end up killing her.

Broken is the perfect title for this latest release by Shiloh Walker. Quinn and Sara are broken in their own ways. I can't help but compare these two like a puzzle. When they come together and click, like two pieces of a puzzle, they make an amazing couple. I loved how Quinn went from this lonely, standoffish man to a very giving and caring individual who finds peace and with a woman like Sara who can see how special he is. These two really connect on a deep emotional level that brings forth a lot of sparks and passion. And Shiloh can sure write some steamy sex scenes! These two crackle together. And when Quinn thinks of how starved he is for Sara, you really feel it. These two are very intense and oh so very good in terms of physical attraction.

I really appreciated the nice twist in regards to Sara and who she's running from and why. Unfortunately, I gave Broken a lower grade because I found the villain too tame and not scary or psycho enough. I wanted more drama and tension, especially when Sara confront this monster. Because there wasn't that final dramatic push, the ending fell a bit short for me. I also wanted more fireworks, mainly in regards to Quinn and Sara's reunion.

Even with the lacking ending, I found Broken to be a pretty sold read. How can you not enjoy reading a damaged hero who finds inner peace with a strong, tough cookie heroine who won't cower from those who feel they have the right to abuse the weak? Fans of Shiloh's will want to give Broken a read.

Katiebabs
Fragile

BROKEN, Shiloh Walker's hot and steamy follow up to FRAGILE, reintroduces readers to Quinn Rafferty. This sexy bounty hunter keeps his distance from most women he meets - Sara Davis is the exception and he has no idea why.

Quinn Rafferty thinks of himself as BROKEN. From his early childhood until his adolescence he had no one to depend on for his survival until suddenly with the death of his mother, Quinn finds out he is a twin and meets the newfound brother and father he had no idea he had. Because of his early years, Quinn is used to depending on no one, and it is very hard for Quinn to give up control. Even his first choice of a career had him more alone than with a team. Now, as a bounty hunter, Quinn can make his own hours, find who he wants to find, and do whatever he wants to do. When he wants a woman, he makes sure they know the score first. He likes it that way. And then he meets Sara Davis.

Sara Davis is on the run from a man wanting to kill her. Never able to stay in one place more than a few days at a time, she is so tired of moving constantly and always looking over her shoulder. When she gets the opportunity to rent a small room in a boarding house that is safe, Sara jumps at the chance even knowing that she might wake up one day and have to run. She trusts no one with her secrets and while the other boarder might be sin personified, Sara doesn't let her guard down even for a minute. This is a good thing because suddenly the first man she has been attracted to in a long time might be the man to bring danger to her door.

BROKEN by Shiloh Walker is stormy, passionate, and exciting. With an intriguing hint of suspense, BROKEN takes me on a journey between two people who are used to depending on themselves and no one else. What you see is definitely not what you get when you look at Quinn and Sara. In BROKEN, hidden lies, half truths, secrets, and a deadly game of cat and mouse up the ante in this outstanding novel. Add in extreme hotness where Quinn is concerned and an elevated pulse might occur! Sara is protective, loyal, and just what Quinn needs to complete the puzzle that is his life. They are definitely two halves of a whole and the love I envisioned them sharing was minute to the feelings they each had for the other.

BROKEN is anything but. It is a thrilling read with connected characters and compelling love scenes. Hang on to your hat because Shiloh Walker's writing ability shines on every page!

Natalie S.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
My biggest problem was the plot. Sara is on the run from an abusive man for two reasons. One of the reasons was logical, the other made no sense. The author should have stuck with the first reason. Quinn works for a private detective agency and hates abusers. Quinn and Sara meet and fall in love. Later Quinn is given a missing persons case which shows Sara as the missing person. He shows this to Sara and asks why. He tells her he wants to help. She won't let him. She won't tell him anything for most of the rest of the book. That bothered me. Later she is angry and saying to herself "why couldn't he have just trusted me enough to ask? Instead of assuming the very worst, right off the bat, why couldn't he have asked what was going on?" (page 243). He did, but she wouldn't answer him. I wanted to shake her and say what's wrong with you. Tell him. He knows much of it already. Anyway, I felt like she was making up a reason to be mad at him. My second problem: many of their conflicts are based on not following feelings and inaccurate assumptions about each other (two of my pet peeves). For example, when Quinn tells Sara he loves her, her response is "you can't love me." Then she avoids him for a much too long period of time which doesn't fit her feelings (which are being in love with him). That did not interest me.

My third problem was too much pondering and inner monologuing by both Quinn and Sara throughout the book. It felt like filler. I wanted more action. I was tired of hearing Sara saying over and over again to herself how she didn't want to get attached.

I wanted more details about Don, Alison, and another female during and at the end of the story. I wanted more information about the person sending text messages to Sara. How was the texter getting information and why so vague with the text message "trouble?" Sara should have called and clarified what that meant, so that she could make a better decision of what to do and where to go.

An annoying minor problem (the publisher's fault): the cover guy has what appears to be a crew-cut. Quinn has shoulder length blondish hair.

On the positive side, I liked the two characters a lot. Quinn was the wounded warrior type. As a child, he was abused by his mother. Now he works as a bounty hunter and gets satisfaction by putting abusers and scum into jail. I liked Sara's strength in her plans and responses to an abuser. The plot twist at the end was interesting. The sex scenes had some good emotion and heat.

STORY BRIEF:
Sara is on the run, living in cheap apartments, and working as a waitress for cash wages. She moves often. She has frequent dreams about a man saying he's going to kill her. Quinn is a bounty hunter working for a private detective agency. He rents the basement apartment from Theresa, a kindly elderly lady. Theresa overhears Sara asking about apartments for rent and offers Sara a room in her home. Sara takes it. Living in the same house, Sara and Quinn meet and fall in love. She doesn't ask him what he does because she doesn't want him to reciprocate by asking questions of her. He senses this and doesn't ask.

DATA:
Story length: 327 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 7. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 23. Setting: current day mostly St. Louis and Chicago. Copyright: 2010. Genre: romantic suspense.

Broken" by Shiloh Walker is in awesome, sexy and sweet book about learning to trust again.

Bounty hunter Quinn Rafferty and waitress Sara Davis have one thing in common, both have broken hearts because of horrible events in their past. When they become neighbours there's no use denying the chemistry between them. But the past made them shy away from love and serious relationships.
But you can't control love so soon there's more between them than just being neighbours. However just when their relationship starts to become serious, things change. Sara is forced to leave and Quinn's trust in her is shattered when he learns that she may not be the person he thought her to be. All of a sudden he is the bounty hunter assigned to find her and bring her back to her old life. But nothing is as it seems and Quinn and Sara have to fight against the past to give their love a chance.

When I started "Broken" I feared that it could be a bit too dark for my taste. But Shiloh Walker managed to combine Quinn's and Sara's heartbreaking past with hope for a happy future, so it was a joy to read this book.
I was captivated by the story from the first page and finished the book in one day because I just needed to now how it ends (happy ending of course!).
Quinn and Sara are both great characters and I especially enjoyed the scenes with both of them. Because of their past they decided some time ago to not get into a serious relationship but there's no stopping the chemistry and the budding feelings between them.
Quinn and and Sara are both strong persons who would do everything to protect the people close to them. Quinn is a formidable man, hard on the outside but with a soft heart. When you take into account his past it's so sweet to read how he falls in love with Sara.
It was also nice to meet Luke and Devon from "Fragile" (another great book!) again and to see how they both care so much for Quinn and only want the best for him.

So all in all I really enjoyed this book and will definitely read more by Shiloh Walker in the future.

In St. Louis Sara Davis is attracted to her new neighbor, Quinn Rafferty. Alas she knows nothing can come of it as she is on the lam from someone who wants her dead. However, Quinn reciprocates and refuses to stay distantly friendly as he has a nasty past too.

As Sara and Quinn become closer, she still conceals her dark secrets from him as he does with her. However, as they fall in love, fate twists them to the wind when his next skip as a bounty hunter is Sara.

This is a terrific romantic suspense thriller that grips the audience from the onset as Sara knows she could easily fall in love with Quinn, but must instead avoid him. The story line is fast-paced yet filled with angst as he has issues having initially been raised by an abusive addict until his father and twin brother (see Fragile for Luke's tale) rescued him two decades ago. If Sara was to pick the perfect man to love her, he is it because as an adult he never forgot the abuse so he personally prefers beating up abusers. Readers will enjoy this terrific thriller as fans will wonder if Quinn has finally found happiness only will he give away the Elusive Butterfly Of Love (Bob Lind).

Harriet Klausner

This is the first book I've read by Shiloh Walker, and I did enjoy. I think she has a really talent for writing. The plot has a twist I didn't see coming and it was a pleasant surprise to see this wasn't another typical abused wife story. However....I'm no prude, but the bad language seemed a little too much for the story. The author spent so much time explaining the situation or the characters past and current issues, I found myself fast-forwarding my reading to get to the conversations between the characters. All in all....it was worth reading.

I was really disappointed with this book. I had high hopes from the description. Quinn's background was really intriguing to me, and especially his relationship with his twin brother, Luke. There's definitely something intriguing there.

But the story just didn't work. Maybe it's that I'm not into stories that are about battered women. Maybe it's that the sex didn't feel a part of the story and just seemed thrown in there. Maybe it's that I just couldn't find the premise of their hooking up believable.

But I really think it comes down to two major problems. The first is that the story jumped around too much. It jumped through time, it jumped through perspectives. That can be done, and when done well it makes a great suspense book. This is not one of those books. There isn't enough there for you to be transported into the story. It doesn't draw you in. It just jostles you about and makes you wonder what the author is up to.

The second is that the author doesn't do enough with the characterization and feelings. It doesn't draw you into what Quinn is feeling. The backstory is there, but she doesn't describe the thoughts and actions of Quinn in a way that draws you into his feelings. It's hard to describe this, but it just feels flat.

The 'suspense' plot was LAME. The girl I couldn't really get into. Quinn I do like. I'd like to read more about him and Luke, but I think this is an author I'm going to pass on in the future. Her writing style just didn't do it for me.

This is one book that I have been waiting like forever to get my hands on. Forever as in when the author announced that this book would be released on March 2010 sometime last year. And looking at the yummy cover which makes my heart flutter just a tad each time, who wouldn't want to read this book?

I read Fragile the first book in the series, the story of Luke Rafferty, Quinn's twin brother sometime back and enjoyed every minute of that book as well. Though I was thinking of taking a shot at re-reading Fragile because there was a glitch at Amazon in the Kindle version of Broken that was sold, I had to wait for an agonizing period of time until I could figure out how to strip the DRM from mobipocket books so that I could read the book on my Kindle. I have given up on the idea of re-reading Fragile for now cos a summary of Fragile is related at the beginning of this novel. Maybe sometime later I will give it a shot once again!

As I always say, Shiloh Walker is one author that you can never go wrong with. At first, this story seems like your average abused wife running away from the abusive husband story. But I was in for a pleasant surprise when there was a twist at the end unlike anything I could ever have imagined.

Quinn and Luke although twins were separated at birth. Quinn got to live with his alcoholic abusive mother who never made him forget the fact that Quinn wasn't wanted in this world. Quinn never even realized that he had a twin until at last during one of her drunken sessions, Quinn's mother overdosed and left him alone with no one to turn to. Though Quinn wanted nothing further from being placed in a state home, he was in for a surprise when Quinn's birth father came to collect him and though Quinn refused to give an inch and trust another human being to be kind towards him, finally coming to realize that his father wouldn't abuse him physically and emotionally like his mother had done gave him at least a semblance of normalcy when growing up.

Now Quinn is a bounty hunter, chasing after those who skip bail and bringing them to justice. And then comes Sara with her wide brown eyes and sexy curves that has Quinn drooling all over right from the start. Sara is woman whose on the run, moving from one place to the other always with an eye out for trouble and never taking the time to get acquainted with people whom she meets.

However from the moment she meets Quinn, nothing on earth could have stopped these two from propelling towards one another. Hot intense need has these two scorching up the sheets in no time. Though neither knows anything about the either, love, the emotion each of them had been afraid of creeps into their hearts and catches them unawares.

Nonetheless, duty comes calling when Sara finds that its time for her to move again. With a hastily scribbled note to Quinn, she takes off, only for Quinn to find her. This Quinn is a mass of seething anger and resentment at being lied to and made a fool of and two people who are as wary of trusting people as these two suddenly find themselves at a loss as to how to handle the situation.

Emotionally gripping and sexually charged, this novel bears all the classic signatures of what makes Shiloh Walker's stories mouth watering. Although Guilty Needs would always remain my favorite novel and Colby my most favorite hero by Shiloh Walker, Quinn himself makes for a deliciously heart warming hero and Sara a heroine who complements and completes Quinn in every way. Great ending to a great story which has me grinning from ear to ear after ending the story.

Keep em' coming Ms. Walker.

Reviewed by: Maldivian Book Reviewer