Guest Review: Broken Heart By Laura Browning - 5 Wine Glasses

Title: Broken Heart
Author: Laura Browning
Format: ebook
Published: September 15th 2013 by Lyrical Press, Inc
ISBN: 1616504889
Links: Goodreads
Reviewer: Shannon
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

Perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be. Stacey Barlow-Barrett has the perfect life-or, at least, the illusion of one. She's married to the man her parents approved, and she's making it work. But keeping up appearances is wearing her down. Her husband, Jace, wants to start a family. Her former lover, Mason, is a business associate she can't cut off, and he twists the knife at every opportunity. Trying to make everyone happy-everyone except herself-has her on the verge of a breakdown. When Jace's best friend moves in, everything that seemed tenuously tolerable is now completely unbearable, and Stacey realizes something is very wrong in her marriage. Jace is keeping up appearances too, and it's at Stacey's expense. Mason is the only one she can turn to for help...if he can forgive her for marrying Jace while the sheets were still warm from their last encounter. And even if he does forgive her, and she does dig her way out of the mess her marriage has become, Stacey may not be ready for what he needs in return: love. 

CONTENT WARNING: This book contains some mild m/m encounters, language and violent situations that may make some readers uncomfortable. A Lyrical Press Contemporary Romance

Thoughts:
This book was a fast read.  It held my attention through the whole entire story.  It had some very dark plot lines along with romance.  Have those two combinations and it becomes deadly.

In this story, we have Stacey who seems somewhat very young and immature for turning thirty years old.  I am no means a person that has a lot of money and have to work for what I have, but the way she would listen to her parents and what they wanted was ridiculous.

Stacey seemed to be leading the perfect life, married to the perfect man, Jason "Jace" Winchester, but appearances can be deceiving. Although not in love with Jace, Stacey tries to make their relationship work, which is admirable. Stacey's life becomes more complicated when Jace's best friend, Justin Worthington moves into their house. With Justin's presence, Stacey begins to see that something is terribly wrong in her marriage, even if she can't quite put her finger on what it is. Jace harbors many secrets from Stacey. As I began to suspect what Jace was hiding and doing, I hoped I was wrong. Unfortunately, his actions were so much worse than what I thought. Jace is a downright despicable and thoroughly unlikable character whose behavior gets worse and more violent. Now, I knew before reading this story that there were disclaimers about violence and language. However, the scenes weren't as explicit or graphic as I was expecting. Nevertheless, Jason's actions are so shocking and disgusting that for a few moments I contemplated not finishing the story. I forged ahead to see if the author would be able to redeem Jace's character.

After Jace violently attacks Stacey. Mason, her former lover and knight in shining armor, comes to her rescue. While taking care of Stacey, Mason shows her what a compassionate and caring man he is, which made me fall in love with his character. Even though Mason wants to kill Jace, Mason lets Stacey make all the decisions about how to deal with her husband. During her recovery, Stacey finds the strength to stand up to Jace and her family and takes full control of her life with her own happiness as the primary goal, which made me cheer. Stacey and Mason are an engaging couple. One thing I liked was the way the author used flashbacks to when Stacey and Mason met. These flashback scenes effectively demonstrate how much the two love each other and how much they have changed.

Overall, I really liked this book.  I could really relate to Stacey and how being attacked by a male figure and what it can do to someone's self-respect. I always like reading books I can relate too.