BROKEN - Megan Hart

Spice

ISBN-10: 0-373-60515-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-373-60515-6

May 2007

Erotica Chick Lit

Present Day

Every month she's a different woman with a new name.  Sometimes she's older, experienced, and others she's younger or virginal.  The common denominator in who she becomes for that particular month is Joe.  No matter her persona or where he picks her up, Joe uses his skill to arouse and satisfy her every need and desire.  She's addicted to Joe and almost can't wait those long weeks until she sees him again.

And it's all in her mind...

Psychiatrist Sadie Danning married her college sweetheart and, though her life isn't what she expected, she still very much loves her husband, Adam.  But the fact of the matter is that, ever since the accident that left Adam a quadriplegic, they have drifted away from each other; Adam in his frustration and Sadie in her desire to keep a stiff upper lip despite the situation.  Once a month over lunch, Joe, a chance meeting on a park bench, tells Sadie about his latest hookup and all of the salacious details of the encounter.  What Joe doesn't realize is that Sadie sees herself as the star of his stories, living vicariously through him.  Is it cheating if it's all in your mind?

A thoroughly unexpected erotic drama, BROKEN is as thought-provoking as it is sizzlingly sensual.  All of the key characters are remarkably realistic, dealing with life and it's problems just as any of us would.  Early in her marriage, Sadie was content to take a backseat to her literary spouse.  She loved Adam with all her might and enjoyed her role as the dutiful wife.  But the accident that doomed Adam to a wheelchair forced Sadie to accept the mantle of the dominant figure in their relationship, causing a friction that she has yet to figure out how to alleviate.  Joe, like many thirty-somethings, is searching for love.  Instead of love though, he finds himself involved in a series of one-night-stands that chip away at his spirit.  Joe and Sadie are each other's outlet, with that brief once a month meeting enabling them to get through the subsequent weeks until they see each other again.

On a deeper level, the story explores the roles we take in our families and the difficulty in breaking those molds; the search for love; and managing when the unexpected happens whether it be the birth of a child or a devastating illness or accident.  While the erotic sequences are numerous, basically kicking off each new chapter, readers will quickly come to realize how true to life they are especially when they understand the characterizations of the protagonists -- a woman who has gone for years without and a man searching for love through sex. 

Megan Hart has blended erotica and Chick Lit in a truly heartwarming and realistic tale that won't soon be forgotten once read.  BROKEN.

Phillipa Ann