ARC Review: Broken Embrace by Dana Mason

Broken Embrace is the third book in Dana Mason's Embrace series, but each book can be read as a standalone. This one was a second chance love story filled with suspense and drama. There was a lot going on, and a lot of things happened. This one was fast paced, and even though it read pretty quickly I felt like there was just a ton of things packed in to this story and it ended up seeming rushed to me. I did think that Brian and Melissa were great together though, and I really believed that they deserved their second chance at love.

Brian and Melissa were childhood sweethearts that had made a promise of forever after high school. When Melissa left for college Brian was upset and turned to their best friend Julie for comfort. One thing led to another and Brian and Julie wound up married and pregnant. Now seventeen years later Brian and Julie have two children together and Melissa has returned to town. Even though Melissa and Brian and Julie are trying to repair their friendships, things haven't been easy. But when Brian's life suddenly comes crashing down, he turns to Melissa for help. As Brian and Melissa help to get through everything going on, they begin to reconnect and realize that their feelings for each other have never changed. Can they put their past behind them and move forward with a second chance at love or will there be too many obstacles for them to overcome?

I liked Brian and Melissa. I felt like they had always been right for each other and that Brian had made a horrible mistake. He did try to do right by Julie and he loved her the best he could. You could tell that he really loved his kids and that he didn't regret anything except for how things went down with Melissa. Melissa had been through a lot, and she had never been told the whole truth of what happened all those years ago. I felt badly for her because she had suffered through the betrayal of those closest to her and she never even knew exactly what changed. I did think that Melissa was looking for something stable and because of her wanting a husband and family so bad, she was completely blinded by what a jerk her boyfriend Chase was. She was willing to settle for him and it took her forever to wake up and see how awful he was. I think that Brian and Melissa had a great connection despite everything that had happened, and they were great with how they handled things with his kids.

I do think that this story just had too much going on though. It was hard to really get behind everything that was happening because it was so rushed. I think that it was written well, and that the main characters were easy to like and relate to for the most part. But I had wished that there wouldn't have been as much drama packed into this book. I also had trouble with most of the secondary characters. While they all had their moments that I liked them, for the most part they came off as opinionated and judgmental. They tended to be easily provoked and stuck their noses into business that wasn't theirs. I really just wanted to smack a lot of them and tell them to shut their mouths on more than one occasion. I think they meant well, but I think their actions came across too pushy and some were flat out rude. I think that this book would have been much easier for me to get behind had things been split into more books or if there was less going on. It just didn't feel real to me with the way it was. I think it was a good story and then events that happened were real and easy to believe it was just the amount and timeline that I struggled with. I think if you like suspense and some drama and angst with your romance, you should give this one a shot. I would read more from Mason in the future, and look forward to reading more of this series.

**ARC Provided by Book Plug Promotions**

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