Jace Riley’s close connection with his identical twin brother, Jaxon, is put to the test when he tries to choose between keeping his promises and following his heart. Is this girl that still haunts his dreams, even after four years, really worth it? Jace can’t help but wonder if he made a huge mistake all that time ago when he let her walk into someone else’s arms, especially since that someone was his twin.
Audrey Mills often wonders at what point she should throw her hands up in defeat and allow all of the horrible circumstances of her life to overtake her. Despite the demons she has faced, however, something inside her won’t give in. When she leaves her small town in Texas to attend college in California, Audrey runs into the one guy who could make her or break her. But is the past they share too painful for them to overcome?
This is the second book in the broken series. While each book can stand on its own, it's recommended you read Beautiful Broken Rules before Beautiful Broken Mess.
4 Stars
There are many words I could use to describe Beautiful Broken Mess (BBM), such as:
avoidance, miscommunication, secrets, immaturity, frustration, angst!
The main theme of the BBM is ---- > Lack of communication.
I want to say is that I LOVE Beautiful Broken Rules (BBR), like hard. I love Kimberly Lauren as an author. I love her writing style, I love the way she forms sentences and creates enjoyable dialogue and descriptive words. It’s one of the reasons why I rate her so high.
HOWEVER
I did not agree with the BBM storyline. I didn’t agree with the “issue(s)” and the characters.
Audrey is from BBR and if you don’t remember her, she had a brief introduction as Jaxon’s ex-girlfriend, and she was not painted in the best light, but I didn’t really remember her, so that didn’t bother me. Jace can’t date a girl his brother has dated (some sort of bro-code). Jace pushes Audrey away. At the same time Audrey is dealing with past issues and hurt feelings.
BBM is very dramatic, it’s not the light hearted read I was familiar with from BBR. That’s okay, I love dramatic reads, so when I read the first two chapters and I was hit with a pow-wow in my face, I was really happy! I was grinning from ear to ear. I wanted to read about a dramatic, damaged Heroine. Please Jace come recues Audrey! BUT - > From chapter 3, everything shifts.
From there we get to know Audrey and kind of get her side of the story (sort of). I do not like angsty reads, so I can tell you, this will be a hit with a lot of people. I understand I am not the norm. It’s very rare when I love an angsty read. My definition of an angsty read is a struggle between the Hero and Heroine throughout the entire book, based on one or many issues (mostly miscommunication) that (in my opinion) can be easily resolved by a conversation.
I do not understand Audrey, nor do I sympathize what she went through. When she told me why she is the way she is, I see it, I process it, but that doesn’t really explain her actions (again, my personal opinion). She also has a best friend, Lane, who I didn’t care for. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy best-friend/brother type, but I just didn’t feel it in BBM and I don’t know why. Yes, Lane is sweet and yes it added value to the read, but again, I do not get it.
Now there’s Jace. So as Audrey goes through her crap, we get to understand why Jace is so upset and yes, he lives in his brother’s shadow, yes he cares what people think, but come on, Jace, I wanted to reach through the pages and just SLAP HIM! Oh I was frustrated. I was beyond irritated with his reasoning and verbal abuse.
I struggled most with why Audrey and Jace could not work it out. Audrey would try to open up, but then she would shut down and tell Jace, she just can’t tell him anymore. Oh my god, are you serious?! Just when I thought they get past a silly little issue, there is another silly issue to overcome. Okay, no, it wasn’t silly nor little, to me the issue just didn’t seem like it was enough to warrant that much tension. I wanted to scream at them to just talk it out!
I did not find redeeming qualities in either main character. Another shocking factor is that BBM kind of showed me something about Jaxon and that kind of upset me too. I had a version of Jax in my head and after I read BBM, I now think of him differently and I do not like it.
To point out the positives, I LOVE EMERSON! I loved her from BBR and oh boy, I loved her in BBM. Thank god for that.
Also, BBM is a lot steamer! Oh hello, thank you. I really did think BBR was a bit tame, but it didn’t take away from the story line. I really enjoyed the extra steam in BBM, although the hint dominance in Jace was slightly off-putting. Again, I didn’t get it, but I kind of just kept on reading.
I understand this is a slightly less than glowing review and honestly BBM isn’t bad, it’s written very well. I see writing and story line as two different things. When I look at the development of characters, conversation flow and narrative tone, it’s a hit for me. I was never bored. Again, I love Kimberly’s writing. I had a huge issue with the story. Frankly the story didn’t fit my personality nor taste preference.
BBM will be a hit for a lot of readers. I know plenty of people who love this type of read. I am disappointed it wasn’t a hit for me, but I still love Kimberly’s writing and I’m still a major fan.
Series Order
Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, #1) - REVIEW
PURCHASE
I'm a wanderer, an adventurer, a traveler.
I want to see it all. I haven't been everywhere but it's on my list.
"She travels the world & home is always in her heart."
Lately if I'm not traveling or chasing a toddler, I'm writing. Which is weird because I hated writing in college. Oh wait, that's because that was boring. Who really wants to sit there and cite all your sources into APA format? Not this girl. Writing for yourself is enjoyable and cathartic. Please try it. Then tell me about because I love indie authors.
When I was 19, I packed up and followed my high school sweetheart from Texas to California. We had a blast living it up in San Diego. Four years later we made a crazy decision and packed up again and moved to Germany. What? Yep, you read that right. Guess what? Best decision ever! We OWNED Europe. For three years we saw as much as we possibly could. We lived an hour outside of France, a couple from Switzerland and Italy. Most amazing time of my life. Please go out there and see the world, you won't regret it. After Europe we moved back to California, and for now we're just debating our next adventure.
I earned a degree in Child Development. And now I write novels. Makes perfect sense! I write because I walk around all day with these stories in my head. It's nice to be able to get them out of my head in an organized fashion. I hope that someone out there enjoys them, because I have enjoyed so many others'.
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