Visibly Broken by Chelsea Camaron and M.J. Fields

I am a firm believer that not very book suits every reader and this is one of those books.

This story contains actions that were always going to be divisive and I think the authors must have known that when they were writing it. Physical abuse is never going to be high on anyone’s to be read list but it is unfortunately a very real fact of life and therefore I can understand why it was included in the story.

Jason was a product of his past, as with everyone there were things he saw, experienced and at times endured that were all party to who he was at that particular time and those influences and experiences had a direct correlation on the decisions he made …both right and wrong.

Could I hold him responsible, you bet you’re a$$ I could but could I hold it over him for the whole book, well that was the million-dollar question because doing wrong is one thing but knowing you have done wrong and doing absolutely nothing to change not only what you have done but why, well that is an entirely different story.

Jason’s view of relationships has always been through a veil of pain and apathy, a feeling of never being either good enough or even just enough was his reality and as you see from the absolute get-go that has very much led to the fact that if ever there was a man that was a product of his environment it was him and while that doesn’t excuse how he lives his life as an adult, it does bear influence but I got that and I also got  that what lay beneath the skin was a heart that wasn’t as dark as I initially thought.

Meeting Lorraine was his turning point, the catalyst he needed in order to finally lay his demons to rest. He knew that by helping her to break free from a past that was littered with pain and tragedy he would be able to find a solace that he had never known himself, they could heal each other so to speak and while that might have sounded a little cliché it was what they both needed.

Lorraine was such a lost character, and I got the impression that life wore her like a cloak, it was as if she was swamped with the enormity of everything around her and from the minute she saw Jason she was like a moth to a flame. They shared a connection that was only ever going to grow stronger the more they got to know each other.

I liked the fact the story had a redemptive quality about it, I know I have read plenty of bad guy turn good books but I actually thought that Jason was more realistic than I had considered possible. Some parts of the storyline had my eyes rolling and I could have skimmed over little bits here and there but there was something about the two of them, about their connection and about the transformation that I was desperate to see come to fruition that kept me reading.

I wanted more for the child that didn’t know what it was like to feel loved as he grew up, for the boy that used his fists more than he should and for the man that finally understood what love really meant.

The story was well written, very descriptive and positively evocative and for me that was all I could ask for.