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The Crystal Fragments Trilogy #3

Refracted Crystal: Diamonds and Desire

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The third and final part of the Crystal Fragments trilogy.

Purity comes in the darkest colours.

At last, Kris Avelar realises that if she is to be all she wants to be in life, then there can be no one else for her other than Daniel Stone. With the demons between them laid to rest, she is at last ready to submit to everything that he wants, and to become the woman that he needs most in the world.

Yet behind their perfect bliss she is troubled by suspicions that Daniel has not been completely honest about some of the dealings that he has engaged in, and that while she has found sexual fulfilment with him there remain dark predators on the edges of their lives who are waiting to circle in and destroy everything that they have.

When Daniel is taken away from her, caught up by his own dangerous past, she sets out to save him and to show that while everyone else will turn against him, she is determined never to let him down—or let him go. It is at that time that she discovers that her own submission, what she has thought of as a weakness inside her, is actually the source of her greatest strength.

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2012

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115 people want to read

About the author

M.J. Lawless

13 books87 followers
M. J. Lawless has worked as a journalist for over a decade, and in the past five years has pursued freelance work for a number of publications. More recently, she has turned her hand to writing contemporary romance fiction, with her trilogy, Crystal Fragments, having been published in 2012. She also writes non-erotic fiction as Miriam Lawless.

She lives in the south west of England with her husband and two children.

You can also find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MJLawlessAuthor

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for SueBee★bring me an alpha!★.
2,417 reviews15.4k followers
August 15, 2017
★★★★★! The Crystal Fragments, Book 1-3 (complete series). Impressive, captivating & intriguing w/ a super sexy alpha male.

Wow! What a debut by M.J. Lawless. I came across this trilogy while looking at Susan Johnson’s (aka C.C. Gibbs’) latest contemporary romance recently released in the UK. This series looked promising based on the description and the fact that the complete series was available was a huge plus in this “Everything trilogy” era. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy trilogies/series as it allows the author to explore the characters in depth and spin a rollercoaster story. I just don’t like to read book 1 only to have to wait months and months and months to read book 3.

The Crystal Fragments Trilogy - you can either purchase the three books separately or the most recently released Omnibus. Either way: buckle up for some 20 hours of mesmerizing, all consuming reading (230,000+ words). I won’t go into details of the story – to get started you just need the brief description above and expect to be sucked in right away. M.J. Lawless is an amazing story teller! This book has it all – hotter than hot alpha male Hero, love, intrigue, suspense and of course scorching sex scenes (some BDSM).

The hero, Daniel (widower/38 yrs/dark hair/hazel eyes) is an alpha male: rich, successful, private, handsome, sexy, unattainable, controlling and dominant. He is not as possessive and jealous as some of recently popular heroes (yes, I do love Gideon Cross, William Honor, Gabriel Emerson, Ethan Blackstone and Christian Grey). Daniel is more mature and secure which partly can be attributed to his age, but it did not in any way detract from his appeal. His demons mainly stem from being an orphan and from tragically losing his wife. In this love story he found a purpose again; he was able to sort out his demons, but he also had to face huge challenges with his business empire.

The heroine, Kris (28 yrs/black-brown hair/blue eyes) had to work through issues from losing her mother at an early age, father issues and a history of bad relationships. She also has a lot of growing up to do as well as finding her strength and identity next to Daniel (“A man so dominant as Daniel Stone— in height, in physical and sexual prowess, in financial and worldly muscle— could easily drown her. Sexually, yes: she wanted to submit to him, again and again and again. But that didn’t mean that she wanted to be his shadow in every way…”).

Both Daniel and Kris are very complex characters. Their love is intense, sex scenes at times violent and as the story unfolds and their love is challenged you’ll find everything from jealous, vindictive and ruthless ex-lovers, business associates, to even friends.

*** One observation: the story is told in 3rd person from Kris’ POV, but at times - in the middle of a paragraph (particularly in the beginning) the writing appeared to shift into 3rd person from Daniel’s POV. It just threw me off, but I wrote it off as an editing glitch. I promise it did not deduct an iota of a point away from the story itself.

What a story!!! My oh my! So intense, it will leave you breathless and definitely take a lot out of you while reading – the suspense will keep you at the edge of your seat, you’ll literally be glued to the pages, staying up all night. 5+++ stars! I truly love this series and I am so happy I stumbled across it. I love Daniel -so alpha, but with a mature twist. He was so loyal, sweet and composed, but still all dominant and sexy. Kris annoyed me at times, (like the heroines oftentimes do when paired with alpha males), but she matured, found her footing and in the end she was faced with the challenge of… hmm you are just going to have to find out for yourself.

This is an incredible read! I can’t believe that readers haven’t caught on sooner. This is a definite keeper and a book that can be re-read. I recommend that you get your copy today, turn off the phone, light some candles, cozy up on the couch and get prepared for a love story of epic proportions.

***
Hero rating: 5 stars
Heroine rating: 4.5 stars
Story line rating: 5+ stars
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Overall rating: 5+ stars

Would I recommend this book: Yes!
Would I re-read this book: Yes!
2,106 reviews24 followers
December 14, 2012
For Chris her fairy tale just got better. She had to pinch herself to believe it was real. Her first private art exhibition was happening but it paled in comparison the real treasure in her life - Daniel - and soon she was going to be his wife - but before that step Kris needed to understand Daniel's past. Instead of letting "sleeping dogs lie" she cajoled, craved and used her feminine wiles to encourage Daniel to open up to her about his past.

His past lay within Victors "gentleman's club" in the form of Francis Roth. "So this is your property Daniel" "We have something special next door you can join us once those f.....g Arabs are finished with her! "She's not property" Daniel replies quietly. This is Kris Avelar soon to be Kris Stone.

However, the problem with living a fairy tale is that you are never quite sure when the evil goblins are going to come and steal it all away and steal it away they did..........

I am sure like me this story will make you review your moral compass and think about how far you would you go to protect the man you love? How far would you go for justice?

M J Lawless delivered a clear message in this book which she wrapped around the core of a solid well written climax to the Fractured Crystal Trilogy.

Another fabulous read in an outstanding series and I look forward (with great anticipation) to the next novel written by M J Lawless. It is a shame that we have to wait until spring 2013 for its release LoL!

5 stars does not do this justice.
Profile Image for VEL.
906 reviews
January 2, 2017
What a fabulous closure to this Trilogy. I absolutely adored it, The suspense of the Stone enterprise, the chance to see Kris Avelar's character develop with a bit more back bone! At the point where Kris is confronted by Francis and Matthew at the hotel, I wanted to jump into the book and protect her, because I really could not have dealt with the aftermath breakdown between herself and Daniel!! (although, the rejoining would have been ever so sweet)!
Just purely based on my opinion, I would have loved to see Daniel's POV, in some parts of the book and just that little bit of dominance in the bedroom in book 3, just to give it abit more edge;)
This was a great written, that contained some Hot scenes, Suspence, tender moments and the dashing pillar who is Mr Daniel Logan/Stone!!!
Look forward to reading more from you, M.J Lawless;)
Profile Image for Kat Meyer.
42 reviews
April 6, 2013
This has truly been as great series. When someone asks me for a unique, off the beaten path kind of read I will recommend these books. I am literally sitting here speechless at the last book. It's romance, steamy, erotic, suspenseful and a mind trip. I will read MJ Lawless again for sure! Absolutely loved Daniel and Kris and I hate to say good bye to them!
Profile Image for _.
329 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2017
So I ended up seeing this whole trilogy to the end..... Pretty much just skimmed this last one just for the sake of wanting to know where all the characters end up. I figured I'm already unfortunately invested and I might as well... This last book had much more annoying characters introduced. Very disappointed I wasted time on this series.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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