A review by cjcharding
Beautifully Broken Life by Catherine Cowles

3.25

3.5/5🌶️, contemporary, small town, part of a series but can be read as a standalone (some character overlap, no plot overlap), bit of suspense, tortured FMC on the run from an abusive ex-fiancé, rockstar hiding out to beat writers block, slow burn, mild spicy

The good first: narrators did a good job on this book, I thought. It would have suited duet narration but at least we got dual (each person reading their own chapters). This book was your classic small town, romance with a suspense element, no third act breakup/miscommunication, once the couple is together they stay together. I also love when the FMC gets to take revenge against the people that hurt her instead of the MMC playing the knight. Now onto the not go great: this was not a rockstar book. There was really no reason why the MMC was written as famous beyond a very minor (pointless) plot line. Nothing groundbreaking sexy wise. I would classify this as JUST beyond open door, as descriptions were a bit more detailed but infrequent.

Rant incoming: why do authors include casual misogyny to make the MMC seem tough or manly? The MMC says things like “you can’t give a boy cat a weak name like Bubbles” or “are you going to put that girly shit in the bath” - after being invited to share said bath- said in jest but repeatedly. I dislike when authors throw in these little jabs to show how macho their characters are, especially when also trying to establish how gentle and kind he is; the author writes about how the MMC is shedding tears in the next chapter. Off hand comments like this turned me off a bit (probably because this is something I deal with daily - frequent slightly misogynistic comments, especially when said in jest, always leave me a bit fired up and viewing the speaker in a different light.) Also, this is another “it’s ME not the book” thing, but it gets brought up a lot about how some people can’t read a book if a MC shares a name with someone they know, but that doesn’t bother me (kids’ names, nephew’s names, even my mom’s name once - no problems - I think because my family doesn’t have unique names, so I know many people with their names). However, I was uncomfortable when one of the antagonists had a similar name to a close family member. I think because I associate that name with love and happiness, it made it difficult to hear it linked to hate and violence and bitchiness.