Fractured Freedom by Shain Rose
Is it so bad that I tricked my older brother’s best friend into taking my virginity?
Maybe.
In my defense, it was Dante Reid—my crush, my first love, and the one I ended up pushing away.
Our paths split in opposite directions.
I went to college on one coast while he returned to work with the US Army on the other.
The end.
Or so I thought.
After graduating and attempting a bucket list of self-discovery, guess who I find standing outside the jail, bailing me out from a crime I didn’t commit?
Dante freaking Reid—this time with more muscles, more tattoos, and more demands.
One of which is to move in across the hall from him so he can keep me safe. Like I need protection after a little felony mix-up.
I don’t.
Unless it’s from him.
Because Dante has been my downfall before …
And living next to the guy I gave my innocence to a long time ago may actually end in my complete devastation.
- File Name:fractured-freedom-by-shain-rose.epub
- Original Title:Fractured Freedom: A Brother's Best Friend Second Chance Romance
- Creator:Shain Rose
- Language:en
- Identifier:MOBI-ASIN:B09SFGJBDY
- Publisher:Greene Ink Publishing, LLC
- Date:2022-07-20T16:00:00+00:00
- File Size:367.129 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Copyright
- 3. Contents
- 4. Blurb
- 5. Dedication
- 6. Two Weeks Before Losing It
- 7. 1. Losing It
- 8. 2. Take Best Friend’s Sister’s V-Card
- 9. 3. Get Arrested
- 10. 4. Go to Puerto Rico
- 11. 5. Survive Jail
- 12. 6. Pick Up Your Ex
- 13. 7. Go Undercover
- 14. 8. Make Things Difficult
- 15. 9. Make a List
- 16. 10. Lie to Your Best Friend
- 17. 11. Beach Findings
- 18. 12. A Massage to Remember
- 19. 13. Temperature Play
- 20. 14. Sext your Almost Ex
- 21. 15. Share Your Secret
- 22. 16. Extract the Information
- 23. 17. Watch Him Watch You
- 24. 18. Explore Her
- 25. 19. Water Play
- 26. 20. Voyeurism
- 27. 21. New List
- 28. 22. Wax Play
- 29. 23. Feel Your Heart Break
- 30. 24. Steal an Identity
- 31. 25. Take a Cruise
- 32. 26. Black Out
- 33. 27. Fight for the One You Love
- 34. 28. Get a Riding Lesson
- 35. Epilogue - Two Years Later
- 36. Also By Shain Rose
- 37. About Shain Rose
Couldn’t get into it tried but it was so meh, storyline was off
Redundant. Just the FMC going around in circles with a sprinkle of the MMC doing the same thing
Really interesting in the beginning, the middle was meh, then the end started getting good again. Thankfully a quick read and I skimmed a lot.
*Trigger Warnings: Multiple miscarriages and dealing with the long-term after effects, including depression. There was also some BDSM, though not severe. Just enough that it might be a trigger, there are also all the subtle nuances of violence that go along with Mob issues. This is going to be like my usual reviews, so be forewarned, because I was prepared to not like this book. From all the negative comments and reviews I read, I was nearly persuaded to not even crack the spine. Fractured Freedom was about Delilah (Lilah) Hardy and Dante Reid Armanelli. These two main characters grew up in neighboring homes, with Dante being best friends with Lilah's four older brothers. Lilah also had a twin sister Izzy, who was the younger, wilder, and more popular of the two. Izzy also was the one who got in with the wrong crowd and into drugs, which led to their parents sending her to juvie and then into rehab at seventeen (this plays into the rest of the story, as well as into Izzy's own story, a sequel). Lilah always had a crush on Dante, but she was more reserved and studious than her twin, who followed their brothers and Dante everywhere. While Lizzy was away at juvie, Lilah finished out her high school career alone, getting top marks and graduating as valedictorian of her class. Now the author doesn't mention how old the brothers are, nor the age of Dante. The only "age-identifiers" are that the brothers were in college and Dante was in the army, so they were more than likely in their early 20s. Lilah was preparing to leave for college, having chosen one across the country (and about as far away as she could get from home without moving overseas). However, she was determined to lose her "v-card" to Dante before she left. After the prologue of letter exchanges between the two main characters, the book opened with that event in progress. They spent a week or two together, then he returned to the army and she went off to college...then cut him off after a few weeks. Although Dante tried to keep the relationship going, he had no clue what had gone wrong. Fast forward several years. Lilah, who rarely went home, and hardly ever spoke to Dante, had graduated nursing school and was working in Puerto Rico. Lilah's sister, Lizzie showed up, wanting to "spend time with" her sister and they were going back to visit the family Except things didn't go that way. Both girls ended up in jail because Lizzie had been trying to smuggle drugs back into the states and got caught. Lilah realized her sister had pretty much tricked her. However, she only spent two days in jail before Dante, now retired from the army and working for the government...and also a part of the Armanelli crime family, came to bail her out. Without giving away too much, the rest of the story (which takes place in the span of two weeks), flows around Dante and Lilah working through their relationship...and her realizing something new. Her sister was working undercover...with Dante as her boss. There were so many nuances of this book that it caused the head to spin at times. But, therein lay the rub. It was longer than it needed to be, had so many things happening at once you didn't know which way was up...and it just lost its continuity at times. The author seemed determined to remind the reader...frequently...that Dante had taken Lilah's v-card. That known-fact was driven into the ground so often, it soon grew irritating. Also the word "Lamb" was repeated to the point that, if I never hear it again, it could be too soon. The other main issue was that Lilah just did not think highly of herself. Oh she knew she was smart and successful. But she felt like she had to break away from family (and Dante) in order to prove she could exist on her own abilities. It was hammered into the reader's brain just how much she struggled with self-confidence...and all that surrounded her miscarriage...and the fact that her sister had boasted about dating Dante at one point while Lilah was in college, so she thought he had turned to her sister when she broke up with him (he never cheated with her sister, though he had been with other women. That wasn't cheating since they weren't together). After Izzy was finally released from jail, she confronted Lilah about her relationship with Dante by telling her that if she didn't make a move and claim him, then she, Izzy would. She then left to "take a walk". When things went horribly wrong with Dante's undercover job, Lilah got caught in the middle and ended up in the hospital in a coma. As she was coming out of it, she saw Dante with his arms around Izzy...and they were kissing...and she passed back out. To be fair to Dante, it was Izzy who did the kissing and he was actually trying to push her away when Lilah woke up. Except that's not how it looked to Lilah. (Have I said how much I didn't like her sister yet?!) I did like Dante and Lilah. They were pretty decent characters once you understood why their flaws worked for them. I have to say I was impressed with how Dante handled the news of Lilah's miscarriage and the fact she didn't tell him when it happened. Most authors would have the main male character get all in her face and ugly about it. Not Dante. Sure, he had a moment of anger and walked away...but only for a brief moment. The rest of it was...well, I'll let you read it if you choose. All in all, it wasn't too bad of a story. It just...dragged on and on for too long. There's a whole lot I left out...on purpose, but it will appeal to some readers, while it will be a turn off to others. I'll leave it to you to learn the rest. Happy reading. Or not. ;)
Spoke of miscarriage and her struggle to coup so just a warning
Thank you for this! I am way too fresh from my own miscarriage, definitely not ready to read about one. ❤️❤️