Did They Break You

by K.V. Rose

Remi Ocean is broken.
With her oversized hoodies, orange hair, and that "go f*ck yourself" smile, it's obvious.

And I know why.

It's my fault.
It's our fault.

If I could stay away from her, I would.

I'd let that night go.
Let her go.
Let the charges and the dismissal and the justice she never got burn up into ash.

But I can't.
Someone needs me.
And me?
I need her.

But the good girl is starting to go bad.
I'm starting to lose my mind.
She's not mine anymore, and I can't let that happen.

Something bad happened to Remi.
And I'm the one who f*cking did it.

This is an extremely dark romance.

Genres: Dark Romance, Dark, Second Chance, College, Abuse, Enemies To Lovers, Romance

648 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 12, 2025

About the author

Canadian-American author of dark romance.

Reviews

[❥ KAT ❥ Kitty Kats Crazy About Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

📚'𝙼𝚈 𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙸𝙴𝚆 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁𝚂'📚 can also be found on my blog:
╰┈➤KITTY KATS CRAZY ABOUT BOOKS

'D𝐈D T𝐇E𝐘 𝐁R𝐄A𝐊 𝐘O𝐔' Is a full length second chance romance book by author K.V. Rose. Spoken in dual pov's

This author sure knows how to push the envelope, stepping where most authors don't, making us readers tether on the morally grey side of her words. This author slayed it with this book!!

So seeing this pop up a time or two on my feed and the ratings, it got me curious enough to purchase it, jumped in that night and the rest is history.

Ok you need to check the triggers before diving in because this will have your mind flipping the fuck out, I’m even questioning my high rating, these characters are toxic, their relationship is too, they have scars, the healing they have to go through is astronomical.

Through it all I could see myself gravitating towards Storm, one of the secondary characters and I’m hoping he gets his own book.

He should’ve protected her
She should’ve used her voice
What happened that night should never have happened.

Used
Abused
Shared

But when around a table taking shots a question was raised, and she said yes!!

This book won’t be a lot of people’s cup of tea, it’s shrouded in walking red flags, but once started, I couldn’t put it down. What should’ve been so wrong, turned out to be the best thing for these two. He healed her, she healed him. The beginning doesn’t matter, it’s the ending that does.

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[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well worth the wait. I finished it a couple of days ago and am still thinking about it, and God knows I will for a long time to come.

My honest recommendation is to go in blind. Yet if you need the trigger warnings, definitely read them. It’s not the darkest book I have read, but it is dark. My review will be vague as I do not want to give away any spoilers.

I truly admire the way the author wrote this book. It took me on a journey that continually prompted me to question the underlying reasons as to why. In my opinion, something isn’t always perfect; you can simply feel it.

I initially had mixed feelings about Cortland, but he ultimately won me over. Our heroine, Remi, is far more resilient than she realizes—a true survivor. Certain parts of the book resonated with me deeply, making the experience truly cathartic.

I highly recommend this book. It is a remarkable and deeply moving read that will resonate with you on multiple levels.

[Ainhoa · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMFG was this tedious 💀

Yeah, we get it, it is dark, we play in the grey moral areas and nothing is black or white but… seriously. Too freaking long and too freaking repetitive.

I probably wasn’t in the right mindset for this, and maybe it is a best seller worthy of an award but… it’s a no from me.

[Athena Que Será, Será · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok people, please check for TWs before you delve into this. It's NOT for everyone (it was not for me). The story kept me captivated (the author did a great job) but I loathed the H who allowed his friends to gangrape his heroine. . No matter what he did to try and redeem his sins... I just couldn't forgive his character. He also shares the h with his best friend; I like my Hs poss of their heroines.
Tags: betrayal, cheating-on-ow, college-romance, cruel-cruel-hero, damaged-broken_hero, damaged-broken_heroine, dark-romance, doormat_heroine, drug-use, enemies-to-lovers, forced-seduction-dubcon-noncon, hero-does-heroines-nemesis, hero-hurts-heroine, hero-rapist, heroine-is-ow, heroine-saves-heroes-life, jocks, kink, manwhore-philanderer, om_drama, over-the-years, ow-drama, psychos-in-love, rape-survivor, read, second-chance, sharing, stalker, thriller-stockholm-creepy, unlikable-hero, unlikable-heroine, weak-hero, weak-heroine

[Jessica ❥Chatterbooks Book Blog❥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to pick one dark romance author to read for the rest of my life I would easily choose KV Rose.

Will update my review later but just want to say how beautiful her writing is. Raw, real and gritty in the best kind of way. Excited to read Storm's books would be an understatement.
THE QUEEN IS BACK 🔥🔥

[✨ Katee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not dark, this is just trash

[Kamal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seriously I don't even know what to say. DNF or could not finish, stopped at 50%. So I don't even know if MMC actually realizes how wrong he was, but the way it was going I doubt it. Just once I'd wish a fmc in a dark romance was actually strong and had a backbone even if they still end up with the awful mmc and I was hoping this book would be the one but I was let down. FMC was frustrating and just so weak, it was so hard to feel sorry for her because of how much she had zero self respect. She literally like most fmc in the dark romances always seem to think with their lady parts. It would have been so much better if she held her own, pushed back, stood her ground for longer than a day but nope she was literally letting him do whatever to her. The premise pulled me in and I thought it would be somewhat different but it was more of them same.

[Medollga]

Baron's video made me add this! 😂

[dani · Rating 1 out of 5]

time for kvr to retire #edenelivoodoo

[Alina]

note : the mmc lets his friends gang rape the fmc, you read that right. GANG R A P E her.
and of course since women apparently deserve no happiness, they get a hea

[Abby J Capps · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know she hates it. What she feels for me. What I feel for her. I don't even know what it is, exactly, but whatever it is.. I hate it too, baby. It's like shooting up poison. Maybe it'll kill you. But maybe one more hit will be the antidote.


This book!!! It’s SO good and like nothing I’ve read before. KV's writing will always be one of my favorites out there. Her stories are unique and gritty, character driven and always make me feel something. Cortland and Remi's story is... well unconventional but it's so perfectly them. I couldn't put it down and this baby is HEFTY! They are also still on my mind and I have a feeling they will be for a while.

[Baron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fear this may be my new personality and I will NOT apologize for it! 🧡 This was raw emotion, the greyest of grey morality, and two people healing in the messiest, most toxic way possible. I cannot stop thinking about it 😩

[Kayla.bookish26 · Rating 4 out of 5]

ALC Review of Did They Break You by KV Rose

This is a Dark Romance so please check your trigger warnings if that’s something that you need to do. This book was emotional, gritty, raw and traumatic. I loved that it showed us a story where a couple could move on from their past mistakes and learn, evolve, and live.

Remi and Cortland’s story was just starting to take shape when Remi was assaulted. A year passes and they end up running into each other. The book is based on the feeling they have between them, while Remi tries to work through what happened a year prior and Cortland is asking himself what really happened the night of Remi’s assault. I can’t say much more about the book without giving to much of the plot away. I loved it, ends with a HEA.

This book was narrated by Lydia Edison and Matthew E. Berry. These voice actors did an exceptional job conveying the deep emotions that this book requires. You can feel the hurt. You can cut the tension with a knife. Every emotion conveyed felt like I was living their life myself.

I would like to thank KV Rose for the opportunity to listen to her audiobook. The production was great and narration was spot on.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Love feels like living, pretty baby."

[cinna · Rating 5 out of 5]

there are books you read for fun and there are books that feel like being completely cracked open, and did they break you is the second kind. i wanted to give myself space before writing this because that book hit incredibly close to home.. it felt personal, more introspective. reading it felt like holding a mirror up to parts of myself i don’t always want to look at, and it’s something i truly appreciate with her. somehow, k.v rose continues to write characters and experiences that make me feel heard and seen in ways i didn’t expect.

remi ocean might be one of my favorite characters she’s ever written and that says a lot considering how much i adore eden rain. i didn’t expect anyone to even come close but remi did, not because of the romance (cortland, i adore you in theory, but please stay far, far away from me) but because of who she is, what she’s been through and how she processes it. her doubts, her silence, the aftermath of what she experienced.. i felt all of it. the way she questions herself, the shame, the pressure of defining yourself as a victim or a survivor, the confusion when no one really gives you space to sit with that. it’s real, messy and painfully relatable. and then, there’s cortland. i wanted to shake him more than once, yell at him, probably slap him too, but i couldn’t hate him. he’s toxic, he’s obsessed but there’s something about the way he loves remi.. so much tenderness, so much care and patience despite what happened. he’s not the softest love interest i’ve ever read from k.v rose, not the worst either, but there’s something about him that made sense for this story.

their dynamic si complicated but i loved watching how they both healed, not just together, but separately too because they have.. a lot of issues. i appreciated that the story doesn’t romanticize their different traumas, how both of them started to seek therapy and deal with the long term consequences of their pain without rushing into some magical fix. remi’s pain and traumas aren’t just about that night, cortland isn’t just a heartless asshole who did something unacceptable, he has more depth. also, without going into the details of that night, i liked seeing how he gradually realized that what he thought he had done wasn’t what remi had experienced, and maybe i agree with another person in the reviews that him going to jail or something would have been the ultimate proof that he is aware of what truly happened but in itself the story as it is and the characters’s evolution pleases me.

now i have to say something.. i usually have a lot of mixed feelings about k.v rose’s sharing scenes. not because i don’t enjoy them, i love mmf, i can appreciate a good love triangle but because it often feels wrong, with some kind of imbalance in the dynamic or characters i absolutely despise, but the scene between remi, cortland and storm? the relationship between the three of them? somehow, it was the healthiest sharing scene i’ve ever read this year. the connection between the three of them was surprisingly soft and real, and i’m not going to lie, i was really hoping they’d end up as a throuple.

anyway, this book is heavy. it’s dark. it’s not an easy read. it’s not just about an horrifying moment, it’s about what happens after, about how we carry our pain and trauma, about shame, about trying to find love and safety in the aftermath of something that changed you forever. and. it’s exactly the kind of emotional chaos i love in k.v rose. did they break you is for anyone who’s ever lived with a truth too complex to explain out loud. it’s for the girls who kept quiet, for the survivors still trying to make sense of what happened, for the ones who’ve wondered if what they felt was valid. it’s also for those who love brutal and messy dark romance, and characters who don’t fit neatly into the hero/villain boxes.

[Elyse]

DNF at page 412 of 600

I’m mad at myself for even reading that far. This book is just…not good.

I hate saying that about a K.V. Rose book, but this just felt far off from her normal writing.

I don’t know what’s worse - Remi spending the whole book getting cozy with her rapist and being an absolute door mat. Or, this whole entire book being 600 pages of nothing. There’s nothing happening here. Day after day after day is Remi and Cortland having some type of sexual tension or sex, and then saying this isn’t right or it’s not right but I’m gonna do it. Like why 600 pages? For that?? For that?

I could have DNFed at any point before this but I kept telling myself there has to be more. I was like there’s no way this is it. It’s a K.V. book, there’s always something good around the corner. But 400 pages in and still nothing has happened.

And I know how this book ends. The fact that this ends with Remi being pregnant and starting her life with Cortland is insane. Like girl you didn’t grow at all. You say you’ve grown and matured, but you didn’t. You’re still a door mat.
Makes me so sad and angry at the same time. I hate this life for her.
I hate for me that I waited five years for this 😭

I hope Storm’s book(s) are better. Although he is also a rapist. At least he bothered to acknowledge it more and didn’t act like nothing happened.

[Lucifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Finishing this book felt like a chore. It was boring, repetitive, and don’t even get me started on the main character—she was a walking migraine. I couldn’t connect with her at all, and honestly, I didn’t feel a single ounce of empathy for what she went through. It was supposed to be dark, but the only thing dark here was my mood after forcing myself to finish it. The writing felt weak, like it came from a totally different (and less experienced) version of K.V. Rose. Definitely not the author I usually rave about.

[Greta · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was pure trash and an insult to all the victims of r*pe.
Too long and repetitive (can we please start editing books for real and delete chapters that are ALL FUCKING IDENTICAL?).
If I think that I'm still waiting for the real deal (Jeremiah) and I'll probably be disappointed at this point, it really pisses me off.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited for this! Sadly I didn’t love it like I thought I would. 😞 This could be great for others, I just never got into the story like I normally do with KVs books. It felt like I was reading something by another author.

[phoebe]

I want to preface that this will be a SPOILER review, but I believe that you should read this before starting the book, especially if you are sensitive to a lot of dark themes.

I had recently read another K.V Rose book and decided to make this one my next. The description is very bleak and doesn't give much away. I had just belived the the MMC (Cortland) had done something bad to be in high school revolving bullying, blackmail, ext. I did not think that the way he "broke her" was that he and his friends graped her. Now, for some reason, I kept reading because I was like this guy can't be the love interest. I was wondering how someone could write a romance book between a broken girl that self harms from the trauma she went through with an abuser who doesn't see what he did wrong until the end of the book, when he finally takes accountability and apologizes. I don't even want to rate this book. I am just so confused why someone would write this. And the fact that she forgives all of his friends also. Like this was a huge life-changing event for her, she harmed herself because of it. Also, the FMC had a lot of parental issues with her step-father, but we don't know exactly what the whole story was besides being verbally abusive, though she hinted at some other topics, but it was never followed all the way through. This book is twisted, toxic, and fucked up, so read at your own caution.

[Emma (emjbookshelf) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did They Break You

I read this in one sitting. This one hit hard. Did They Break You is a raw, emotional story about trauma, healing, and the messy path back to love.

The book follows Remi & Cortland, a couple torn apart by an assault that changed everything. The story picks up a year later when they unexpectedly cross paths again. What unfolds isn’t your typical second chance romance, it’s complex, uncomfortable and heartbreakingly real.

This is the kind of book that stays with you. Painful, yes. But also full of hope. It’s about learning to live with the past without letting it define your future.

Highly recommend if you’re looking for a romance that is deep, unflinching, and ultimately redemptive.

[BLuvsBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inhaled it and still processing. Must read. Review to come. Dark romance. Check triggers.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a 1.5 star for me.

I'm genuinely sad I didn't enjoy this more considering the event this book centers around is absolutely complex and heavy so for an author to have the guts to even go there in the first place and approach said subject in a dark romance book like this??? I truly commend K.V. Rose, I do.

But gahhhh.... :/

In my opinion, the story fell flat and could not do justice the issues at hand.

I finished the story feeling that only the shallow regarding the emotional was touched on, that it was convenient plot point after convenient meeting after convenient revelation to get to the ending, and the biggest obstacle that ruined the small positive moments for me? It was endlessly repetitive. Chapter after chapter of the same convenient meetings pushing the FMC and MMC together only to have the same back-and-forth, the same reactions, and the same messaging. Right to the very end. (Also... for supposedly being in college, these characters sure had a lot of free time... which is another thing—the story world and its characters were very insular.)

[heresignis · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This book was challenging, and at some points, definitely hard to read. Definitely check the TWs before picking up this book. But if you know and read KV, you know she likes raw, gritty and unforgiving stories. This was one of them. The morality is out of the window and we see two broken people, who hurt each other, heal in the most toxic and messy ways. Did i still love it, absolutely? Hell yeah. Because this book made me FEEL and i know i will be thinking about it for a long time.

[Gianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is dark, messy, toxic and puts you through every emotion (typical KV fashion)


“Ever since I watched my friends do one of the worst things we could to do to a person, I can’t help but see monsters everywhere. Including in my own f*cking mirror”


Chapter 43 OMG 🥵😮‍💨

If you love dark romance this is a MUST read 🤌🏼 & obviosly check TW 🖤

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trash

Quite possibly one of the worst books I’ve ever read. Pathetic and spineless FMC that I couldn’t even feel sorry for. Irredeemable MMC that refused to take responsibility for his disgusting actions. I love dark romance but this was just absolute trash. And that’s coming from someone who loves The Life of Anna series.

[Katie Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

SIX STAR READ. No exaggeration.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ SIX STAR READ. No exaggeration.

Did They Break You by K.V. Rose had me completely hooked as soon as I opened this book. I loved every single page. It’s dark, twisted, and absolutely unapologetic—you will question your morals while reading, and honestly? That’s part of the magic.

Cortland Adler… where do I even begin? Golden-retriever heart wrapped in a severe psychopath, stalker-level obsession, bad-boy complex—and somehow you can’t help but love him. He’s disturbing, intense, and addicting in the most dangerous way.

Our FMC, Remi, is a sweetheart who’s been through some truly deep, dark shit. The tension between her and Cortland is toxic, infuriating, and insanely addictive. It’s the kind of push-and-pull that has you glued to the pages, needing to know what happens next even when you know you probably shouldn’t.

If this book is on your TBR, move it the fuck up. Immediately.

I highlighted an obscene amount of quotes—this book is messed up, toxic as hell, and impossible to put down. If I could’ve read it in one sitting, I absolutely would have. The ending was perfectly done: nothing rushed, everything wrapped up exactly the way it should have been.

Chapter 43 will live rent-free in my head forever.
The emotional impact of this story runs deep—you’re going to feel everything, and once you start, you won’t want to stop.

I cannot wait to read more from this author. This book was pure, unhinged perfection.

[Tonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toxic

This, was a long story. I felt a lot of the drama was unnecessary and both mmc and fmc were terrible at communicating. One would say one thing but meant something else, it was constant whiplash.
The fmc was very immature imo, for most of the book. At one point in one of her 'fits' she hits the mmc. Across his face. That was a very close dnf moment for me. The plot was interesting enough at times to read but the scenes became a little repetitive.
There were a few wolf references in there I thought were cute, then some were annoying...
The mmc and his friend Storm won me over, even Brinklin so I guess there's that...
HOWEVER, not until, idk, 400 pgs later he admits he let what happened to her because he was so f*cked up.
I was hoping the mmc was threatened or SOMETHING, not just oh I drank too much.
I'M SORRY...WHAT?!
I felt like this book was one long drawn out argument with random spice scenes...

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!! I LOVE when I read a dark romance and it actually delivers on being dark. This book doesn't just push boundaries, it bulldozes over them. I was hooked from the beginning and I ATE THIS UP. I'm so excited that there are more books in this universe. I fear my sanity is on the line because of how much I loved this. Jealousy, possessive characters, TOXIC AF...this book has all the red flags. Neon red. AND THEY ARE WAVING. You see where I'm going LOL. I love me some messy characters and KV delivered. Give me real, relatable, and flawed characters over "perfect fictional characters" every damn day. I like my dark romances to be DARK. If you're into that then you very well will be into this. Leave your morals at the door when you open this beauty up, babes!