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Broken
When Amanda bumps into a strange man, she thinks nothing of it until she sees him again. And again. Wherever she goes, even at home - he's there.
She tries to ignore him. But he doesn't like to be ignored.
Amanda doesn't know who to turn to. She's just met Lucas, a man her friends believe is perfect. While she can't deny her attraction to him, demons from her past and present continue to haunt her. And she's not the only one with secrets.
What follows is a desperate escape from the city, where she's forced to confront her past, deal with her growing feelings for Lucas, and fight for a future she's just beginning to believe in.
Is she strong enough to survive?
She tries to ignore him. But he doesn't like to be ignored.
Amanda doesn't know who to turn to. She's just met Lucas, a man her friends believe is perfect. While she can't deny her attraction to him, demons from her past and present continue to haunt her. And she's not the only one with secrets.
What follows is a desperate escape from the city, where she's forced to confront her past, deal with her growing feelings for Lucas, and fight for a future she's just beginning to believe in.
Is she strong enough to survive?
198 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 2017
378 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
April 30, 2022
This was the authors debut novel. I thought it was very well drafted, rounded characters a good plot although not entirely unusual, yet the way she wrote it was executed very well in my humble opinion.
Amanda has a stalker.
Love stalker type reads and I liked this one for all of the above comments and reasons.
Amanda has a stalker.
Love stalker type reads and I liked this one for all of the above comments and reasons.
September 3, 2017
Amanda has a stalker .. or at least she thinks she does. Her mother, her best friend think it's Amanda's imagination. Something happened in Amanda's past that has brought to the forefront a mistrust of just about everyone... especially when it comes to men.
Her best friend has a guy she wants Amanda to meet. Lucas is just about perfect for her. But he has secrets.
When her stalker appears more and more often, Amanda tries to ignore him. But then, he doesn't seem to care if she sees him or not. When she finally confronts him, he mysteriously tells her to ask her new boyfriend.
And when the cops get involved, things go from bad to worse.
Story premise is good, the writing is well paced. The characters are credible, if not likeable at all times. With a past that refuses to stay in the past, the suspense builds and builds until the surprising ending.
Many thanks to the author / Close-Up Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this debut novel. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
September 10, 2017
Genre: Romance
Setting: Melbourne, Australia
POV: 1st person
Writing style: 2.75/5
Suspense level: 2/5
Romance: 2/5
This story started off okay before it dived into multiple directions and then fell flat. The identity of the stalker turned out to be a lackluster reveal as was the budding relationship between Amanda and Lucas. This wasn't a terrible story, but it just didn't work for me.
*NetGalley ARC provided by Broad Universe in exchange for an honest review.
Setting: Melbourne, Australia
POV: 1st person
Writing style: 2.75/5
Suspense level: 2/5
Romance: 2/5
This story started off okay before it dived into multiple directions and then fell flat. The identity of the stalker turned out to be a lackluster reveal as was the budding relationship between Amanda and Lucas. This wasn't a terrible story, but it just didn't work for me.
*NetGalley ARC provided by Broad Universe in exchange for an honest review.
July 22, 2017
Strange encounters keep happening to Amanda. She soon confirms that she's not mad and she is indeed being dangerously pursued by a dark yet well-groomed stranger determined to get his revenge. He just won't stop, no matter how misplaced his twisted ambitions are. But just how far does his influence extend? With a past that refuses to stay in the past, Amanda, and the reader, are never sure who she can trust. The suspense builds with a desperate escape and an edge-of-your seat climax that readers will relish.
Broken is what I'd call a 'comfortable' suspenseful mystery/romance. Enjoy the thrill and the escape from your couch, with the knowledge that this author knows exactly what she's doing.
Broken is what I'd call a 'comfortable' suspenseful mystery/romance. Enjoy the thrill and the escape from your couch, with the knowledge that this author knows exactly what she's doing.
September 19, 2017
I have no idea how I feel after finishing this book, I just don’t think I connected with it. Broken by Brooke Linford is meant to be a romantic thriller but for me I didn’t feel like it was a thriller. I’m sure some people really enjoyed this book but for me it didn’t get good till right at the end.
While I didn’t feel a connection to the book, I must say I can’t fault Brooke Linford’s writing. The story is told from Amanda’s pov which I found easy to follow.
Even though I didn’t feel a connection to this book, I would try the authors work again.
While I didn’t feel a connection to the book, I must say I can’t fault Brooke Linford’s writing. The story is told from Amanda’s pov which I found easy to follow.
Even though I didn’t feel a connection to this book, I would try the authors work again.
October 16, 2017
**3.5 stars**
Amanda still has trust issues after suffering from a breakup with a controlling older man. She also has a friend who works at the local restaurant, who is desperate to introduce her to the new barista call Lucas.
Over the week, Amanda has thought that she was being stalked by an older gentleman and on finally changeling the stranger he tells her to ask Lucas. So begins a terrifying event.....
This was a quick enjoyable read. I went into the book thinking it would be a domestic noir type of thriller but I came away thinking it was more of a romantic suspense type of book. It was fairly light and I wasn’t totally immersed in the characters but the storyline was compelling enough to keep reading to a fast paced finish.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read and review.
Amanda still has trust issues after suffering from a breakup with a controlling older man. She also has a friend who works at the local restaurant, who is desperate to introduce her to the new barista call Lucas.
Over the week, Amanda has thought that she was being stalked by an older gentleman and on finally changeling the stranger he tells her to ask Lucas. So begins a terrifying event.....
This was a quick enjoyable read. I went into the book thinking it would be a domestic noir type of thriller but I came away thinking it was more of a romantic suspense type of book. It was fairly light and I wasn’t totally immersed in the characters but the storyline was compelling enough to keep reading to a fast paced finish.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read and review.
December 8, 2018
Great debut novel
Really good read. Has all the elements, love, betrayal, revenge and redemption! Nothing is as it seems. Loyality is sold, to the highest bidder.
Really good read. Has all the elements, love, betrayal, revenge and redemption! Nothing is as it seems. Loyality is sold, to the highest bidder.
September 13, 2017
We have an interesting storyline with a woman who thinks she might be stalked by a strange man, is suffering from severe PTSD due to a childhood trauma that was worsened thanks to a bad relationship, and is swimming in trust issues.
The writing moves fairly quick and the chapters are small so you can blow through this book in 1-2 hours especially once the action picks up towards the end.
Her characters feel realistic and their behavior for the most part makes sense except for the PTSD that Amanda is suffering from. Apparently when she was a kid she didn’t like the water, as in the ocean not the drink, then she saw a kid drown and developed a phobia from that. It doesn’t say that she saw this happening and there’s no intimate connection to the kid implied. The combination of her already unexplained and illogical fear of the ocean with this drowning she had no connection to became something that followed her into adulthood to the point she refused to get on boats and would have near panic attacks near water. The breaking point was when her fiancée threw her in the water with the alleged intent to drown her out of anger for breaking their engagement. Now that last part I could definitely see being something that would cause trauma but the lead up didn’t have the same sense of believability to it at least not to cause the extreme PTSD that is implied.
It wasn’t a bad book but for me it didn’t have that same level of spine tingling suspense I was hoping for considering all the rave reviews and build up. It could be that since I didn’t like the lead character and thought she was an irritating, whiny child I had trouble caring whether she would end up dead or not. It didn’t help that it was also being billed as a ‘Romance’ because there really wasn’t much to that unless you count the blink & you’ll miss it scene of Amanda and Lucas finally “getting over their trust issue” in the biblical way – cue eye roll. Like I said she just irritated me.
The writing moves fairly quick and the chapters are small so you can blow through this book in 1-2 hours especially once the action picks up towards the end.
Her characters feel realistic and their behavior for the most part makes sense except for the PTSD that Amanda is suffering from. Apparently when she was a kid she didn’t like the water, as in the ocean not the drink, then she saw a kid drown and developed a phobia from that. It doesn’t say that she saw this happening and there’s no intimate connection to the kid implied. The combination of her already unexplained and illogical fear of the ocean with this drowning she had no connection to became something that followed her into adulthood to the point she refused to get on boats and would have near panic attacks near water. The breaking point was when her fiancée threw her in the water with the alleged intent to drown her out of anger for breaking their engagement. Now that last part I could definitely see being something that would cause trauma but the lead up didn’t have the same sense of believability to it at least not to cause the extreme PTSD that is implied.
It wasn’t a bad book but for me it didn’t have that same level of spine tingling suspense I was hoping for considering all the rave reviews and build up. It could be that since I didn’t like the lead character and thought she was an irritating, whiny child I had trouble caring whether she would end up dead or not. It didn’t help that it was also being billed as a ‘Romance’ because there really wasn’t much to that unless you count the blink & you’ll miss it scene of Amanda and Lucas finally “getting over their trust issue” in the biblical way – cue eye roll. Like I said she just irritated me.
October 12, 2022
The book was OK and that is all. A girl meets a new guy. She discovers man she doesn't know is following her. Her new boyfriend was involved in a car accident in which a woman died. The woman's husband is determined to get justice by kidnapping the girl and killing the her in front of the boyfriend. Justice, right? The boyfriend and the girl run away to a friend's house who is a retired cop. The maniac shows up and shoots the cop and starts to set up his plan to get even. The girl (who isn't very sure of herself) gets really brave and stabbed the maniac, (he's dead), the cop was wounded but managed to call for help. The boyfriend is in the hospital, the girl has been wounded. The book ends here. It was a really quick ending. I thought it should have been a little longer.
September 11, 2017
This was a great debut thriller! When Amanda meets Lucas after a bad break-up that's been haunting her, she thinks she may have found the man of her dreams. But can she trust him with her heart? Cautious and skeptical, she becomes paranoid when a strange man turns up everywhere she is and when confronted, tells her to "ask her boyfriend." How are these two men connected and can Amanda trust her instincts or should she run? Well-written and fast-paced, this is a novel was a fun read. While I usually like more layers in my thrillers, this one did not disappoint!
November 3, 2022
I didn't like this book. Why was the stalker following Amanda? she had nothing to do with his wife's death. Lucas should have been his focus. The part about her ex and Amanda being afraid of the water could have been left out of the story. They had such a short romance..Why would she let Lucas take her away from her friends to a place unknown. I would not recommend this book the whole story line was unbelievable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2017
The writing is well done. But this book really wasn't for me. I don't think it's advertised well as far as a Romantic thriller as I really got neither out of the story. There is an element of tension but too m much is given to feel like a thriller. And I really didn't connect with the characters enough to feel invested in their outcome which always makes a book feel flat.
December 13, 2018
Terrifying and realistic
This book was terrifying in that it was something that could actually happen. How one little part of life can cause a reaction so severe. How two people in love can face terror and find a way to survive. You won't be able to put down this book once you start it.
This book was terrifying in that it was something that could actually happen. How one little part of life can cause a reaction so severe. How two people in love can face terror and find a way to survive. You won't be able to put down this book once you start it.
September 4, 2019
Very enjoyable read
I marked this with 5 stars because it kept me engaged from cover to cover. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and experience the growing relationship. The heroine is relatable and her struggles feel real. Kudos to a first time author. Thanks for an enjoyable read.
I marked this with 5 stars because it kept me engaged from cover to cover. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and experience the growing relationship. The heroine is relatable and her struggles feel real. Kudos to a first time author. Thanks for an enjoyable read.
September 7, 2019
This is a wonderful book. It kept me reading it in one sitting. I loved the character's. I loved the love story trying to form in the midst of denial and chaos. There is so much excitement and surprises that just keeps happening. I was glad to have been able to read this book. I want to read more from this author.
October 2, 2022
The whole story was unbelievable and rushed. I also felt like the storyline was scattered.
The whole story takes place in less than two weeks, so the budding romance, the stalking and the whole plot are finished before it even begins.
While it was a very quick read, I would not recommend it to anyone.
The whole story takes place in less than two weeks, so the budding romance, the stalking and the whole plot are finished before it even begins.
While it was a very quick read, I would not recommend it to anyone.
November 28, 2018
Exciting
It was unexpected but good. Couldn't decide at first if I would like it. I wanted to shake to tell what happened with Marco. I've recently spent two weeks in Sydney so I could imagine the surroundings along with the accent.
It was unexpected but good. Couldn't decide at first if I would like it. I wanted to shake to tell what happened with Marco. I've recently spent two weeks in Sydney so I could imagine the surroundings along with the accent.
December 4, 2018
Broken
I thought this was a good book for her first try,it was, kind of an easy read and I liked it but it aS kind of easy to. Guess what was coming next .I look forward to her next book
I thought this was a good book for her first try,it was, kind of an easy read and I liked it but it aS kind of easy to. Guess what was coming next .I look forward to her next book
March 5, 2024
Started out interesting. Then repeated itself for 200 pages. Skimmed the last half thinking the ending must be good , since NOTHING happens. Were we being lulled toward a great twist?
NO.
It ended.
NO.
It ended.
July 16, 2024
This plot was so ridiculous. I know it’s fiction, but it was just so far fetched I kept saying oh come on, REALLY? The only saving grace is that the author truly seems to be a good writer. I just don’t think this book was a good opportunity for her to showcase her skills.
August 10, 2017
A sensational novel - a gripping page-turner with lots of action and romance. I can't wait to read Brooke's next book!
February 18, 2018
DNF. It was not a particularly bad book I just couldn't engage with Amanda or connect with the book. It had promise but was not for me.
June 9, 2018
Good Book
This was a good book. Many different stories. Love, romance, thriller. I am not much for reading romance books but this one was good. Thumbs up for me.
This was a good book. Many different stories. Love, romance, thriller. I am not much for reading romance books but this one was good. Thumbs up for me.
October 25, 2018
Exceptional
The author has an amazing ability to put you into the characters mindset. It had me spellbound until the end.
The author has an amazing ability to put you into the characters mindset. It had me spellbound until the end.
November 26, 2018
Great suspense
Keeps you turning the pages...Brooke Linford, you have found your calling!
Will be waiting for more works from this author.
Keeps you turning the pages...Brooke Linford, you have found your calling!
Will be waiting for more works from this author.
December 9, 2018
enjoyed this suspense story very much. It was very tense when the guy was always turning up. around corners. The only thing that grossed me out was when Amanda and her friend would do the laundry and fold the clean cloths on the carpet, on the floor, that everyone walked on.
December 5, 2018
Good plot
IT WAS A BIT LONG. IT KEPT YOU GUESSING WHO WAS INNOCENT AND WHO WAS GUITY. WOULD RECOMMEND IT. Have a good read.
IT WAS A BIT LONG. IT KEPT YOU GUESSING WHO WAS INNOCENT AND WHO WAS GUITY. WOULD RECOMMEND IT. Have a good read.
December 24, 2018
Fantastic
A truly interesting story. So many twists and turns through the story. The characters were all intriguing. A book that kept me interested.
A truly interesting story. So many twists and turns through the story. The characters were all intriguing. A book that kept me interested.
September 27, 2022
I enjoyed this book from the first page.
October 1, 2022
Trauma
I liked the way our heroine was truly finding herself after a horrible break up and wth the dominating mother she has.
I liked the way our heroine was truly finding herself after a horrible break up and wth the dominating mother she has.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews