Wolf shifter Lucas Cooper is usually up for any wild mission Harper Hall throws his way. But impersonating a doctor and breaking a woman out of the psych ward at a supernatural prison? That’s a little crazy even for him. Until he sees her. One look into her haunted blue eyes and every protective instinct he has flares to life. He’ll do anything to save her. Not that it’ll be easy. Break her out … out of prison? No problem. Convince her she’s not broken, undeserving of love, and incapable of redemption? That might be trickier.
She’s 754821 and she’s a perfect killing machine. A nameless Sentry cleaner raised from birth to destroy paranormal threats, she’s the thing monsters fear. But then Lucas rescues her and everything changes. According to him, she has a family, a home, a purpose. To Lucas, she’s not just a number; she’s Seven, and she’s beautiful.
They’re nothing alike. He’s warm, open, easy to talk to. Her? Not so much. Violence is all she’s ever known.
And none of that matters when she’s in his arms.
But when a threat from her past emerges to destroy the new life she’s worked so hard to forge, Seven knows she’ll need to rely on her killer instincts to protect the future she longs for with Lucas. She can only hope she doesn’t lose what’s left of her humanity—and Lucas—in the process…
Semi-Broken works best if read as part of the Harper Hall Investigations series (Book 1: Semi-Charmed; Book 2: Semi-Human; Book 3: Semi-Twisted). This book is intended for mature audiences. This book is not intended for anyone who doesn’t enjoy smart, kick-ass (literally) heroines and potty-mouthed, alpha werewolves, and who doesn’t appreciate a plethora of nerdy pop culture references. For the rest of you: happy reading!
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Semi-Broken is the fourth book in the Harper Hall Investigations series, a series I am absolutely in love with. This book and series has quickly become a comfort series to me. When I need a good read with some quirky but lovable characters this is definitely on the list! There is plenty of snark, sarcasm, wit, and friendly banter that happens between these characters that I just connect to them all. I just can’t get enough!
After months of searching, Harper believes that she has finally found Riddick’s little sister. Same as Riddick, Grace had been given to foster care when she was an infant. She was then sold to Sentry and became only known as #754821. Harper sent Lucas and Violet to the Midvale Prison Psych Ward to seek out the inmate that was presumed to be Grace. Having never known her name it is decided that #754821 would go by the name of Seven. She had been captured after Sentry was disbanded and she’s been locked up, drugged, and experimented on for years. Seven had exceptional skills and in her previous career, was trained to be a cleaner. When everything went to hell, it was the cleaner that was brought in to eliminate…well, everyone. It is for this reason that Seven was considered extremely lethal and without conscience.
Not having known life outside of Sentry or prison, how Seven is going to react to “real life” was questionable. As much as Riddick and Harper want to help Seven, they couldn’t have her at their place. They feared that it would put their baby in danger as well as be cramped living arrangements. With the options being limited Lucas stepped up to offer a hand and let Seven move-in with him for the time being. This puts both of them in a comfortable-uncomfortable situation as they seem to have developed a bond with a side of oooh-la-la. When Seven is marked for death the whole team has to come together to figure out who it is that wants Seven and why? This life or death situation puts things into perspective for Lucas and Seven as they quickly learn what is worth fighting for.
Lucas Cooper is a shape-shifter who has been a part of this series since book one. For the longest time, he was sure that he carried feelings for Harper. He believed that he was in love with her and that it should have been him that married Harper, not Riddick. Now that Riddick and Harper have had their baby, Haven, things have become even harder on Lucas. That is until he met Seven. He quickly realizes that he is not in love with Harper, and he is confused by his attraction to Seven. Lucas has never met anyone like Seven and frankly that scares him. It also just makes the attraction between them a delightful smoldering of want!
I loved Seven’s character! 1) her name is Seven, 2) her character reminds me of River Tam from Serenity (I LOVED that movie), 3) she is a kick-butt heroine, and 4) she has super skills. She has spent her life essentially as a machine so she views everything from a unique perspective. I enjoyed that in the beginning she decided to view getting to know her family as a “mission.” It took away the awkwardness you would expect with someone that removed from society. Made her integration believable.
This book is a fast-paced story that has plenty of action, danger, and sexy times. The wonderful thing about this series is that the main characters you have come to know from book one are still a part of the story. Each book focuses on a different situation with a different couple but their story is completely different each time. Having all the characters makes me look forward to reading these books. You can read this story as a stand-alone but I suggest that you read this series in order. You will just love it!
This review is based on a complimentary book I received from Author, Isabel Jordan. It is an honest and voluntary review. The complimentary receipt of it in no way affected my review or rating.
I think I’ve made it clear in my other reviews that I’m not a fan of deep, dark and emotionally scarring reads. For the most part, I just want to be entertained when I read. I prefer light-hearted-but-still-emotional reads that make me LAUGH a time or two. That’s why I love this series. It reads like a perfect blend of all my favorite romantic comedies, action movies and supernatural TV shows. That’s what kept me coming back to this series after Semi-Charmed, and why I loved Semi-Human and Semi-Twisted.
Semi-Broken still has all the elements that made me fall in love with the rest of the series, but it isn’t EXACTLY like it’s predecessors. There’s a little less slapstick comedy, a little more emotion, and a LOT more ass-kicking. And the fact that 90% of the ass-kicking is done by the heroine? Well, that pretty much makes this book my own personal brand of catnip.
I’ll be honest, though. I wasn’t one of the readers who was crying out for Lucas’s story. I thought he was a good secondary character in the other books, but I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of him as a hero. I’m happy to say I was proven wrong. Somewhere along the lines in this series (when I wasn’t looking, apparently), Lucas became HOT. He’s alpha without being an alpha-hole, which isn’t easy to find in the world of paranormal romance.
And Seven? Ah, Seven. She’s the anti-Harper Hall. Where Harper is snarky and open and supremely likeable, Seven is somewhat confused by emotions and unsure of how to relate to normal people, so she keeps her guard up all the time. Seven is like a cross between Nikita from La Femme Nikita (the 90s TV series that I ADORED), Leelo from The Fifth Element and Alice from the Resident Evil series, maybe with a little Jason Bourne thrown in for good measure.. In other words? My catnip. All. The. Way.
So, long-story-short: get to your Kindles, folks. This one’s another keeper. Bring on the next book in the series! I have my one-clicking finger at the ready…
Full disclosure: We received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.