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A review by rihoward
Breaking Beth by Jennifer Bene
5.0
4.5 stars
From the moment that I read the disclaimer at the beginning about a conversation that had happened between this author and two of my other favorites that I was going to be taken on a bumpy ride. However, Even that did not prepare me for this book because there is dark and then there is DARK. Pitch black. Darker than 13 midnights. Even then, I am not sure that could be construed as dark enough to describe this book.
This book is most definitely not romance. It will not make you feel good. It didn't entice me, put me in a mood for sex, nor did I find pleasure in this. I did, however, find a story that was as riveting as it was disturbing. It was my book version of a SAW or Hostel movie. I knew going into it that it would be disturbing yet I cannot quit watching because I have to figure out the story.
I am pretty sure I am now broken because my heart hurt reading this. This most definitely is not a book for the faint of heart. I am not sure who ultimately won this standoff. The horrors Beth faced were some of the worst that I have encountered in fiction. Yet, the author depicted it so well that I had to read on. It felt real and I wanted to know how Beth withstood the horrors that were inflicted on her. Furthermore, I wanted to know why? What had created Anthony as such a monster? I found myself wanting to know the human psyche which says something because this is fiction. That takes a true master writer to engage her audience to the point that rather than be repulsed it made me seek answers because I truly needed to understand. The fact that this is fiction only served to intrigue me more because it felt real and wouldn't surprise me if there weren't many cases that were similar to this in real life. Which to be honest, is what makes this even more compelling. It ultimately made me question if maybe, just maybe, it would winning means sometimes you need to lose?
I look forward to the next part of the story and seeing Beth get her HEA. I have to be honest though, I look forward to seeing how the author manages to make that happen because how Beth is shown at the end of the book I am not sure there is enough Super glue in the world to put her broken pieces back together.
From the moment that I read the disclaimer at the beginning about a conversation that had happened between this author and two of my other favorites that I was going to be taken on a bumpy ride. However, Even that did not prepare me for this book because there is dark and then there is DARK. Pitch black. Darker than 13 midnights. Even then, I am not sure that could be construed as dark enough to describe this book.
This book is most definitely not romance. It will not make you feel good. It didn't entice me, put me in a mood for sex, nor did I find pleasure in this. I did, however, find a story that was as riveting as it was disturbing. It was my book version of a SAW or Hostel movie. I knew going into it that it would be disturbing yet I cannot quit watching because I have to figure out the story.
I am pretty sure I am now broken because my heart hurt reading this. This most definitely is not a book for the faint of heart. I am not sure who ultimately won this standoff. The horrors Beth faced were some of the worst that I have encountered in fiction. Yet, the author depicted it so well that I had to read on. It felt real and I wanted to know how Beth withstood the horrors that were inflicted on her. Furthermore, I wanted to know why? What had created Anthony as such a monster? I found myself wanting to know the human psyche which says something because this is fiction. That takes a true master writer to engage her audience to the point that rather than be repulsed it made me seek answers because I truly needed to understand. The fact that this is fiction only served to intrigue me more because it felt real and wouldn't surprise me if there weren't many cases that were similar to this in real life. Which to be honest, is what makes this even more compelling. It ultimately made me question if maybe, just maybe, it would winning means sometimes you need to lose?
I look forward to the next part of the story and seeing Beth get her HEA. I have to be honest though, I look forward to seeing how the author manages to make that happen because how Beth is shown at the end of the book I am not sure there is enough Super glue in the world to put her broken pieces back together.