Customer Reviews

Shattered (Wheeler Hardcover)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I loved Joan Johnston's Hawk's Way series. I even loved the Women of the Lone Star series (prequels to the Bitter Creek series). I happened across a free copy of "The Cowboy" which is first in this series. There were some inconsistencies and details that didn't add up, but I really liked it yet was sorry to see that it was part of a new series which I felt compelled to finish. That's just the kind of person I am. The first three or four books that focused on the Creeds and Blackthornes were really good (despite further details that didn't gibe) but eventually, they became less realistic and enjoyable. By the time "A Stranger's Game" came out, I didn't buy it but rather checked it out from the library. I'm glad I did too; it wasn't very good. But despite the flaws, the overall storylines were basically good and the heat between the lovers was almost palpable. Kate and Jack were no exception. In fact, I bought this book to read what I thought was their story.

For those who begin the series with this book, they're missing what it was like between these two. The way they were written, you could tell the author meant for them to be together but somewhere along the line, she decided to change directions. The attraction was immediate between Jack and Kate but he avoided her because she was too young and he was too jaded. In the last book, Jack admitted that he first realized he loved her when she married J.D., that he had loved her for a long time, that he always would, that she was a part of him and always would be and that one of the reasons he married his wife was to resist the temptation of Kate. For her part, Kate fell hard and fast and the two loved each other during marriages to other people. At the end of the last book, two months after Kate's coma, Jack begged Kate to awaken and said once again that he loved her and that they were meant to be together, to spend their lives together. If we're expected to believe the timeline of the current book, this had taken place after Jack slept with his soon-to-be ex. And btw, "A Stranger's Game" made his divorce seem quite imminent (as in any day now) and he even said he wasn't sorry the marriage was over. I can understand why fans who've asked for Jack and Kate's story for years are upset. It's a lousy thing to do to loyal readers.

Despite this, there are so many ridiculous and unrealistic things happening in "Shattered" that I was left shaking my head. Where to begin:

1. After hearing Jack slept with his wife and got her pregnant, Kate still wants to move in together.
2. After meeting the twins' true father again, Kate moves in with him that day and sleeps with him that night knowing he's the son of a mobster and perhaps a murderer as well (a subject that is never fully addressed). Earlier that day, she was hot and heavy with Jack.
3. After discovering Kate slept with Wyatt, Jack is upset but still wants to work things out. They both profess their love.
4. Kate sleeps in a stranger's room for three months with her eight-year-old sons in the house. They don't know this guy from Adam but think she and Jack are together. Yeah, right.
5. Kate learns who Wyatt is while watching the news years earlier, but he supposedly searches for her for nine years. Apparently, this rich and powerful man never watches TV or reads the newspaper. Kate is the daughter-in-law of the Texas governor who is currently running for president. Surely, she would have appeared in the media while attending various political functions, during the time of her husband's alleged death and funeral coverage and around the time she was shot just a few months earlier at yet another high profile political event.
6. Jack and Holly discuss attending Kate's husband's funeral in Arlington 18 months ago yet the last book had Jack and Kate meeting again (about six months ago) after nine years and meeting the governor for the first time. This book has Holly and Kate meeting for the first time.
7. Jack and Holly's six-year-old son has the most severe form of leukemia and spends several months in the hospital, dying slowly, yet his parents don't seem to spend the night with him. Rather, they're at home making love and eating pizza. Jack is still searching for the bad guy and the book even says Holly doesn't see him for two weeks. She makes visits to her son while working at the hospital. When they find a bone marrow donor, they fly across the country to meet her. I couldn't believe one of them didn't stay behind because the boy is at death's door by this time. But the thing that had me howling with laughter is when they wait during the donor's bone marrow harvest and anticipate their son's subsequent transplant the next day. To occupy their minds, they make out on a couch in the parents' lounge where Holly tells Jack she wants him and can't wait to be alone together that night. WTH??? Totally unrealistic and kind of creepy.
8. Wyatt is surround by bodyguards all the time. His house is surrounded, his kids are covered, Kate is protected. Yet when they go up against the bad guys, they don't bring anyone with them.

I know this rant is long but I've pretty much had it with the author. There are further flubbed details (Kate tells Wyatt her father is the first-born and mentions his twin brother and younger sister. She completely forgets her father's older brother, Trace [book #1]). Maybe it's time for the author to compile a chart of who's who. Also, I just didn't feel the connection between Kate and Wyatt or Jack and Holly, and I couldn't figure out why Wyatt is so fascinated/obsessed with Kate after all these years although I could feel the father/sons love (referring to Wyatt and the twins here -- Jack and his son aren't together enough to feel anything). Actually, I think I liked Wyatt's character in "Shattered" better than Jack's! I was most disappointed because I found Kate and Jack to be less likable and somewhat shallow in this book (especially Jack). Yeah, I know it's just fiction, but it was still a disappointment.

I will warn that this contains only one spoiler but it's a doozy. How could Joan Johnston do this to her readers??? Kate and Jack were MEANT to be together!!! Ms. Johnston has been building up this couple since The Next Mrs. Blackthorn, which I believed was released in 2005, and she has blogged many times that her readers were constantly asking her about Kate and Jack's story. Then, she teased us with it in A Stranger's Game, ending that book with them almost together. So I rushed yesterday to pick up my copy of Shattered, and let me tell you, that's how I felt after reading it! How could she pair Jack, with the woman he was divorcing, and Kate with her ONE-NIGHT STAND, and think that would be okay with her readers?? I may be the only one to feel this way, but I don't think I have ever been as let down by an author as I am of Joan Johnston. Shattered will be the last book of Ms. Johnston's I ever purchase.

This book will go down in history as one of the worst books I've ever read. I cannot agree more with all of the other 1-star reviews of this book -- especially the review that details all the inconsistencies and ridiculous plot holes in this novel. Spot on.

This book was just horrendously written, end of story. Some authors are able to draw out a story line over several books, keeping the readers interested in the characters, but never recounting those characters' histories in pages of paragraph-long info dumps that have no emotional value whatsoever. Ms. Johnston proved with this book that she is NOT one of those authors.

Most of this book felt like a verbal timeline of events, dissolving into chapters of "and then this happened, and then this happened, and then -- get this -- this happened..." without ever showing HOW the characters went through any of those events. It was a classic case of telling instead of showing and I found myself skipping entire chapters just to get to a live-action section. I can't see how anyone who picked up this book without reading the previous ones in this series could have cared anything for the two supposed lead characters, either individually or collectively.

I was a diehard Kate and Jack fan before I read this book, and I was so excited to hear that this book had finally come out, but despite all that enthusiasm for those characters, within a few chapters of reading this book, I didn't care about Kate or Jack. At all. It seemed like they had turned into horrible people who only cared about themselves, to the detriment of everyone else around them.

Plus, they were just plain stupid -- as were the majority of the other characters in the book. In one particular scene, a character had just dropped a decade-old bombshell on another and they were yelling about it, which was believable, given the circumstances, but then in the next minute, they were laughing at lighthearted jokes and making googly eyes at each other. There were several scenes like that , where characters who should've been at each other's throats were playfully joking with one another, like nothing significant had happened and everything was just water under the bridge -- without any of them ever doing anything to *make* the situation water under the bridge. It made me want to throw the book across the room.

**SPOILERS** The unforgivable crime in this book was the complete (figurative) assassination of Jack's character. He went from being the strong, honorable character in the previous books to a wishy-washy, back-stabbing pansy in this book -- and the fact that he did what he did while Kate was in a COMA, for crying out loud (and if you've read the book, you know what I'm talking about) was reprehensible. I know the author purposefully did this to further the plot, but it left me with such a fowl taste in my mouth that I had trouble finishing the book. At least Jack ended up with his perfect match in the end (and I do not mean that in a flattering way). **END SPOILERS**

Bottom line: if you're a fan of this series, this book might be a bitter pill to swallow. It was for me. I won't buy any more of this author's books.

This book is by far the biggest disappointment of any book that I was looking forward to reading. Faithful fans have been waiting and waiting for Kate and Jacks story for a very long time. But this seemed like a big slap in the face to her loyal readers.
Kate and Jack were nothing like they had been in the previous books in the series. After having waited years to be together, it seemed like they couldn't care less about each other. With Jack getting his supposedly soon-to-be-ex wife pregnant while Kate was in a coma (and he at Kate's bedside saying that the two of them are destined to be together), and Kate moving in and sleeping with Wyatt less than 24 hours after telling Jack that she loves him. There are many odd and totally uncharacteristic behaviors going on. Wyatt, who is a very rich man, was unable to find Kate for years, even though she is the daughter-in-law of the governor of Texas, who is running for president. I mean, come on, how dumb does Joan think we are? This very wealthy man has never watched the news? read a newspaper? The book was starting to turn my stomach.
Joan has stated that she changed her writing style and if this is how its going to be from now on, then I will never waste my money on her books again. If there was any way to rate it 0 stars I would have. One star is too good for this book.

I, too, am appalled at what the author did to Kate and Jack. I've been waiting for years for their story to unfold into a happy ending (something this author is unable to do). Once I got an inkling of where the story was going while reading it (and it didn't take long) I skipped to the back to see what happened and I was sickened to see how she ended it. I knew I would be throwing the book across the room if I continued reading to the end so I quit.

I'm also joining the ranks of never reading this author again. To me, she's joined the awful writing styles of Lisa Kleypas and her "Sugar Daddy" and "Blue-eyed Devil" books.

Why authors think we need to have a more soap-opera ending to these books I simply don't understand. Yes, we like depth to our characters (sometimes), and drama or danger, but we ALWAYS want that happy ending. This book is far from giving us that happy ending.

So Ms. Johnston you've just lost another loyal reader!

I was very excited when Jack and Kate's story was released but after reading the book, I wished I hadn't. Spoiler: At least before I thought Jack and Kate would end up together but reading Shattered killed that. I don't understand what made the author tear apart a couple that she previously built. Bottom line: Dont waste your money if you are a kate and jack fan.

I agree with the other reviewers that stated they felt were let down by this author. I'm trying not to be redundant but what were you thinking Joan and what was your editor thinking?? So much of this book was so unbelievable, i.e., Kate had had feelings for Jack for so long yet she leaves town and moves in with Wyatt and THEN goes to bed with him that same night, come on!! And Jack's character wasn't any better. For so long we have had this promise of Kate and Jack's story and to treat her readers this way, I just don't get it. I will be marking this author off my list of must read authors.

How could Mrs. Johnston do this to her readers? I have been following her writing and website for years- ever since reading "The Next Mrs. Blackthorne" hoping for a conclusive ending to Kate's and Jack's "supposed" love story, and what has this author delivered? A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! The author herself had stated several times how much readers anticipated reading about Kate's and Jack's story, and yet she decided to disappoint her readers like this- What is Mrs. Johnston thinking?

Don't waste your money on this book. The book was unrealistic, unbelievable, and made to sell to a new publisher as a psycho thriller. Parts of this story were identical to other Bitter Creek books. Johnston said in the book she changed her writing style. She changed the story matter to what she wanted and forgot about her faithful readers. This long awaited love story of Jack and Kate was turned into a ridiculous, depressing, story that mostly dealt with little children,(one who was terminally ill suffering thru spinal taps, chemo, and a bone marrow transplant)then being kidnapped, hit and being knocked down and around. These little children were emotionally and physically terrorized, traumatized, and cruelly treated. Kate was turned into a mother with no morals. She was lowered from the good woman she was for the last 10 years to an airhead who subjected her sons to a life no decent mother would live. Jack was reduced to a no brain self indulgent male. Johnston split Jack and Kate up and hoped her readers would believe the non-sensical story line of this book. I can see by most of the other negative posts here and Noble and Barnes and other sites, that this book has cost Johnston many of her faithful readers. Any mother reading this book will come away depressed and disgusted. This book was depressing and dark enough, then throw in the all the constantly changing plots that made no sense running wild. If Johnston is smart, she will one day re-write this book in the style that all the Bittercreek series books were written in-as a romance book that is realistic not ridiculous. This book has no romance but one sex scene. This is a psychological, disturbing, book that is going to cost Johnston a big loss in the end. When I read The Outcast, the first of the new Benedict series by Johnston, I decided not to buy any of the new Benedict series by Johnston. I was so turned off and sick to my stomach when I read about the little 4 year old boy in that story. He fell out of a tree and was impaled through his chest on a pointed steel fence, hanging there dying as his 9 year old brother watched. I never expected to have the "supposed" last book of the Bitter Creek series to be a book like it is. If this is the new style of the future for Johnston, count me out. As they say, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

i received this book as a belated x-mas gift and i've got to say: disappointing! i've been following this series for years, waiting for kate & jack's story. what a waste! this will be the last story of Joan Johnston's that i read. i fear that she'll pull a reader in with 'promises' and then knock us down when we finally read it.