Sticks and stones do break bones, and words will surely hurt you. Staring down the barrel of a loaded 9mm is a wake-up call, especially when it’s your husband’s finger on the trigger. Brooklyn James’s only thought is to take her baby and run. It’s better to end up on the streets than suffer one more day beneath her husband’s hand. Finally back on her feet, Brooklyn is stronger, better prepared, … feet, Brooklyn is stronger, better prepared, and determined not to run. That is until she gets the call that her husband has been released from prison after serving his three years for DWI.
Cain James has his wife on his mind, always. With his friend Donovan at his side, anything is possible. He can find her, bring her home, make her love him again. While Cain has serious anger issues, Donovan is much worse. Cain can’t control his friend’s sick, twisted mind and even sicker actions.
Donovan has Cain’s best interest at heart, and he’ll do whatever it takes to help Cain bring his wife home—including murder. After his time in prison, Cain doesn’t want to hurt his wife again and becomes a man torn—divided between the darkness inside him, his twisted love, and his lifelong protector, Donovan.
As Cain tries to convince his wife that he’s changed, he watches the bodies hit the floor one by one at the hands of his sidekick. Enraged by his estranged wife’s new love and conflicted by his own anger and need to protect his family, Cain unravels.
He can’t live without her, and he won’t let her live without him.
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Break My Bones is one of those pull you in and don’t let go kind of books. And to top it off, it was totally predictable. It doesn’t take long to figure out what’s going on with Cain, and normally that would irritate me, but Racheal Tamayo does such a good job with the story that it didn’t matter if I figured it out. The story was still just as good. Parts of it will break your heart, other parts will make your heart race. And it all comes together for a story I didn’t want to put down. The only drawback for me was the romance. It just felt a little fast, and for a while I thought maybe there was going to be something – well, something other than what it was. Nevertheless, Brooklyn’s turmoil and fear felt so real, and I even though I had the gist of it figured out, I had to see how it would all end for Cain and Brooklyn. The book is well-written, the pacing is good, and the story held my interest from start to finish.
What an Amazing twisted Psychological Thriller of a ride this was, i could not put this one down and Devoured it in one sitting. My heart went out to Brooklyn and all that she had to endure at the hands of a sic bastard. but what if the person doesnt truly know they are sick?
Rachael Tamayo is a new to me author and has sucked me right in and now has a new fan. I cant wait to read more of her works. IF you are a fan of Thrillers with a slight twist. check out her books. you wont be disappointed
This is the first book I have read by this author, but holy cow, I need to look up more! This book was NOTHING like I expected, I was thinking more spooky, with Halloween coming up. Boy was I wrong!!
This had so much real, raw emotion! A dual POV with mental illness, domestic abuse, and all the horrors that come with it. So heartbreaking, mainly because it’s so true and hits home for so many people. I have not been in a situation even close to this, but I was transported right there with Brooklyn. I highly recommend this book!
Cain James is in prison for a DWI charge although he’s lucky that he was never charged for abusing his wife, Brooklyn. Now he is out and with his best friend Donovan’s help he is going to do whatever it takes to get his wife back and there isn’t anything that he or Donovan won’t do.
Brooklyn James has become a single mom to 5 year old Carissa and she has gone through so much including enduring abuse at the hands of her husband and losing everything and having to start all over. Now she is ready to move on with her life and perhaps that includes dating Brandon Maradona, the cute IT guy that is fixing the computers at her office.
But Cain isn’t ready for Brooklyn to move on and how far will he go to get her back?
This was an interesting book about moving on and overcoming everything and really dealing with the unknown.
This is one of those difficult reviews to write as you don’t want to give anything away about the twists in the book as it’s something certain readers will pick up on and others won’t. I had figured everything out right from the beginning partly due to another book I have read. That being said I really enjoyed the book and all of the twists that it had.
I loved Brooklyn and the strength she had as a mom and how there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t have done for Carissa. I was so sad at everything that she endured from start to end and how her and Carissa had to live after Cain was in jail.
Cain was interesting as it was obvious how much he loved Brooklyn yet he was struggling with everything. Yet he managed to get his job back but his friendship with Donovan was very toxic and he struggled with what Donovan wanted him to do.
I was never sure how far Cain and Donovan would go and I understood why at the end that Brooklyn was willing to do whatever she needed to do to make Cain understand that she was willing to be with him to keep Carissa safe. I can only imagine what Brooklyn was going through but realizing that people died would have definitely motivated me as well.
The end was sad as I felt like it wasn’t a good ending with evil winning and Cain not getting the help he really needed.
3.5 Stars
By Rebecca
Twisted, suspenseful, and sexy…I couldn’t put it down
A Raw Tale of Domestic Violence Weakened by Plot Inconsistencies
Take one demanding, abusive husband, Cain, who equates marriage with ownership. Add one sadistic sidekick, Donovan, who believes it’s his obligation to goad his friend into settling the score with his wife—whether her indiscretions are real or imagined. And finally, the woman, Brook, who’s tired of running with her child and has decided to take a stand against Cain. Those elements promise a tense tale of domestic violence and that’s what Rachel Tamayo delivers in Break My Bones. The prose is descriptive and raw—not for young audiences. The pacing is fast, as the story moves between the ‘lessons’ Cain taught his wife in the past to the reconciliation he plans for their future, a reconciliation on his terms or else.
For her part, Brook prepares for Cain’s return from incarceration for DWI, the only crime he’s been convicted of perpetrating. She starts to rebuild her life. She pulls herself out of poverty. She buys a gun and gets into shape. Those measures, however, prove completely ineffectual, as he easily overpowers her, again and again after he returns. Now, she is trapped in the psychological conflict of an abused spouse—guilt in turning against a first love and the father of her child vs. her terror of making another misstep in his eyes. There is hope for Brook, however, in the form of a new love—one she didn’t want, never expected, but can’t resist. Brandon enters the picture, offering her the shelter she needs in this violent storm. This budding relationship is described with sensitivity and well-turned prose, although it felt a bit far-fetched in the midst of everything else.
But the real problem with the book are issues with the plot. First, there is an “explanation” at the end of the book that presumably was to be a twist. Unfortunately, it’s a convenient scapegoat easily spotted early in the book. But more importantly, events just don’t hang together. For example, at one point Brook decries the fact that she has no proof of her husband’s abuse to take to the police, and yet, in other places we learn her back is covered with scars from cigarette burns. That’s not self-inflected. In another scene, Cain breaks into a house in the middle of the night where Brook is staying with friends. It’s surprising he could do so without waking anyone, but when the friends do nothing the next morning—they don’t call the police, change the locks, install a security system—the turn of events is inexplicable. And as a final example, Cain visits his lawyer, then leaves his office with the man dead. And yet, the lawyer’s receptionist apparently can’t put it together since no one comes looking for Cain at that point. A book that could have been nail-biting and gut-wrenching becomes unfathomable in several places.
Overall, Break My Bones is a chilling tale of domestic abuse and the psychological conflict of a woman caught in it. Fixing some of the plot inconsistencies would have made it much better.
I was given a copy of the book by the author. I elected to write this candid review.