BROKEN EMBRACE by Dana Mason

BROKEN EMBRACE

by Dana Mason

ARC Review

Release: May, 2014

My rating: 5 of 5 ⭐️






Seventeen years ago Brian Hammel married his best friend and broke the heart of the love of his life. Since then his job as police detective has started to wear on him, his wife gave up on their family and left him with their two kids and too many questions to manage. On top of that, the woman who has never been far from his mind, Melissa, is back in town and apparently knows more about what goes on with his wife and his daughter than he does.

After years of nursing her hurt and anger after getting her heart broken, Melissa Parker had returned to be at her twin sister's side when her little boy had been missing six months ago, and was finally ready to leave the past where it belonged. With her sister finally blessed with the life she deserved, Melissa was ready for her own slice of happiness and she hoped long time boyfriend Chase could provide at least part of the dream. But seeing Brian again only confirmed that her heart had already been given a long time ago.

When tragedy leaves Brian's family in turmoil, his daughter Erin seems to be especially troubled and Melissa is the one person she clings to most. Doing her best to be a good friend and not let the feelings of the long ago rejection still affect her, Melissa tries to help Brian keep his family together and his daughter safe. But she is not prepared to find out some truths about their history together, nor is she ready to lose herself to him all over again...... or is she?

*****

Another FABULOUS novel by Dana Mason. Her stories so gut-wrenching and emotional, with beautiful but often complex love stories fraught with painful human weakness, mistakes and harsh realities, and always with an element of intrigue and suspense centering around the group of recurring characters who work in law enforcement and security. 

In BROKEN EMBRACE we meet Brian whose life is upended from one day to the next. Very little of his perception of reality was how others in his life saw or experienced it. Brian is a very duty bound man, trying to do right by his family, his job, but somewhere along the line losing the real connection. And then suddenly it is too late. He sees everything slowly slipping away, job, children - until Melissa appears, like a hard reality  check, waking him up.

Melissa who is not a negative person, struggles with understandable negative feelings of bitterness, jealousy and envy and it clouded her life for a long time. She though she had it all and then lost it, never knowing why or how. With everyone around her finding their place and match, she is ready to find hers, but in her haste to get it, she is too willing to overlook some crucial missing ingredients. Only her renewed proximity to Brian reminds her that missing component is vital.

There are some disturbing elements in this book that really hit home in this age of social media and the power it holds. The potential damage in can cause and lives it can ruin. Scary.....and unfortunately very real. One of the reasons this story struck a chord on an entirely different level as well. It illustrates how vulnerable we all are, how difficult it is to truly know, trust, anyone these days. Chilling..... and so very real.

I had to sit on this review for a few days, and let it simmer. Ms. Mason writes in a way that is deceptively easy to read, but demands closer scrutiny because the contents and context of her stories are not as simple as they may appear at first sight. Sure, they are romantic, exciting, hot and extremely sexy, and definitely scary and thrilling but you sell them short if you don't appreciate the challenge of the many moral issues touched on as well. Not that simple at all. But damn! So worth the read!!

✨A sharp, chilling and provocative read!✨

**Copy provided in return for an honest review.**