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339 pages, ebook
First published February 2, 2014
Un-fucking-believably AMAZING!
I have sat here, trying to write my review for Broken Pieces and I know my words will never do it justice, I want everyone to read it but I could never convey in just a few words how immensely powerful this book is and just how much it moved me. How I was so connected to the characters I couldn’t part with my Kindle… not for a moment did it leave my hands and I was compelled to absorb as much of Josiah, Mateo and Tristan and their story as possible. I lived through their years of pain, every single one another knife in my heart. This book encompasses everything I love about reading… it’s the whole package for me, with dark undertones, plenty of angst, tortured souls, enough emotional turmoil to make you feel your heart will surely explode through the burden of it all… and that’s only me, never mind the characters. There was no quick fix to anything… it’s a slow development of the relationships and trust, the pacing was perfect with each of them in their own way, flawed and damaged by pasts they had no control over. It’s raw and intense, yet profoundly beautiful, my heart bled for these characters, singularly, as couples and as the resulting threesome… because Broken Pieces is such an apt title, that is exactly what they are, broken, not only mentally, but also on their own they are never quite whole, incomplete, a part of them missing, with Josiah being the magnet they gravitate to to complete them and the glue that will eventually keep them all together.
Each chapter is a character POV… which is just genius and where the intensity of it all comes from because I got to know and understand each of them intimately. I could feel their inner most fears and anxieties, the joy in their hearts and the pain of loss and their emptiness, that void that left them all so lonely. It’s smooth, perfectly written and the transition between the chapters never missing a beat in the story. It spans years in their lives, but starts out with the innocence of young love…
Josiah is so sweet and kind, incredibly self conscious and intimidated easily with a vulnerability that called to the protective side of Mateo… Our bad boy, a gang member who has been groomed all his life for his role on the streets. Their love story and it’s rendition moved me to tears, two boys with a past full of demons and no love to speak of yet they find something in each other, so intense they can barely breath through it, they have nothing and no one, but they have each other. Jay has a hidden strength and such commitment in his love for Teo you feel he would move a mountain to be with him. Teo, stomped on my heart and completely crushed it, his love is selfless… loving so much he is willing to push Jay away to save him from the harsh realities of life, nothing quite so bland as propriety, but life and death, wanting Jay to have a better life, one that he deserved. But true love never dies and in the case of Josiah and Mateo truer words have never been spoken.
“…I’d never known what it was like to really belong until you, Teo.”
“Me too, mi precioso. I’ve only ever belonged with you.”
We don’t initially know why Tristan is so emotionally guarded or what happened in his past to make him so distant, so disillusioned with life and love he focuses on his career as an attorney. But like Mateo he is also drawn to the warmth and genuine goodness that emanates from Josiah and also like Teo… he’s not sure why either.
“Love equals power? So, you’ll never love because you never want to hand over the power.”
I have to admit that Mateo being back on the scene after nine years away was an emotional moment that had the tears running down my cheeks and I wanted nothing more than for them to fall back into the love that had never left either of them. However, Tristan is a man to be admired not only did he save Jay, he understands that he cannot give Jay what Teo can offer him… but together they can make the one light in their lives happy.
Josiah and Mateo together was innocent and as sweet as young love should be, Josiah and Tristan together, well that was HOT!… but safe. Now all three are in the same proximity the sizzling sexual tension between Teo and Tristan is powerful, both strong alpha males vying for dominance… which only ignites what is happening between the three of them, making it EXPLOSIVE! Yep… cold showers at the ready my friends, I LOVE MENAGE!!!
I love it when I find a new author that makes my heart sing, where words morph into visions and emotions that can only come from excellent writing, where a story takes over a part of your soul and everything else becomes invisible, their life, hopes, dreams… their very existence becomes yours for those few hours and you feel blessed to spend that time with them… Then, for some time after, they pop up in your head occasionally and you wonder just how they are doing… Did Riley Hart deliver? FUCK YEAH!!! She bled my heart dry, punched me in the solar plexus on numerous occasions and left me sobbing, ugly tears! (that damn homemade chess piece makes me cry every time I think about it) …Loved every minute of Broken Pieces and so far, the best book I have read this year and definitely on the all time favourites shelf!
And the best news EVER!
Josiah, Mateo and Tristan’s Story continues in late 2014
There was something so fucking innocent
about him. And Mateo wanted that.
Wanted to protect it.
Because even though Mateo was hard...
there was something beautiful about him, too.
Breathe. Walk away. Don't come back.
It's what I should do.
"Takin' care of you is all I have.
The only thing I have."
All he wanted to do was love Josiah,
to be with him and protect him.
Was that too much to fucking ask?
"Te amo, mi precioso... It means what you
are to me.
Precious."
"I'm sorry I can't give you the
things you deserve."
The loneliness. Worry. Fear. Regret.It has been, five and a half years after Mateo sent Josiah away...and the pain of his loss is still fresh in Josiah's heart. He still holds hope that Mateo will come back to him. Holds hope that the love they shared, was real...the dreams they discussed was both their dreams and not Josiah's alone.
Love. Mateo.
I've never been with anyone but him.Taking a chance, Josiah approaches the stranger...Tristan, and they form a slow growing friendship.
I don't want to be with anyone other than him.
He doesn't want me.
He sent me away...
"I wanted you. Want you...
I never thought I would care about someone
again,
but you gave me that too.
"If I could completely give myself to anyone,
it would be you.
If I deserved anyone to take care of me,
I would want it to be you."
"I don't want to push you, Tristan.______________________________
I know there are reasons you still can't share."
Can three broken pieces make a whole?
Fought to be nearer to Josiah.
To feel him, touch him, after a fucking
lifetime.
"You don't get to do this...
You don't get to touch me and tell me
you miss me. You left, Teo."
Nine years apart, and the connectionConfusion and indecision begins to form in Josiah. How can he love two men so much and not be able to choose between them? How can he love two broken souls so deeply? And fear losing one or hurting the other?
was still between them,
visible even to Tristan's eyes.
"Don't we all deserve some kind of happiness?
What if we can find it together?"
He was the glue that made all
their broken pieces fit to make them whole.
"Mi pieza perdida."
"Mi preciosos.
‘Maybe...just maybe taking care of this kid would absolve him from some of his sins.’
“And loving someone would make you lose that control.”
”He would be kind, loyal. Stronger than he realized. Braver than most people thought. He'd like coffee and cooking. He'd like to walk, and he'd always feed the birds.’
“...There isn't a magical time frame where it's okay to fall in love with someone or okay fall out of it. Emotions don't play by rules. That's what makes them so incredible."
"Takin’ care of you is all I have. The only good thing I have."
"I told you, it wasn’t just you who had to take care of me. We’ll take care of each other. You and me. Together."
"You make me feel like someone for the first time in my life. Even without me, you’d be something Teo."
"His heart would always belong to Teo, anyways."
"He was the rock, and not just because he drew them together. No, because he held them together. He was the glue that made all of their broken pieces fit to make them whole."
"We might be broken in so many ways, but together, we're whole."
“Goodbye, my precioso. Te amo.”
“I was sixteen when I met him. The first time he walked into the room, I thought he would kill me… but he didn’t. He saved me. He loved me.”
“Don’t let me lose you. Whatever you’re thinking right now, come back to me Jay. You’re here. Dios, I can’t fuckin’ believe you’re here.”
"We might be broken in so many ways, but together, we're whole."
⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱*Wasn't so bad*⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱
This review is mostly for me to remember the details; meaning it's long
“You might not realize it now, kid, but everyone is some shade of fucked-up.”
On the outside, Josiah looked like the weakest of them all. Mateo had always known how strong he was, but looking at him right now, hearing him, it slammed into his chest just how much more strength he had. More than himself. More than Tristan, too. He was the rock, and not just because he drew them together. No, because he held them together. He was the glue that made all their broken pieces fit to make them whole.
He looked up as Tristan reached him. No doubt he had tears mixed with the rain sliding down his face. “It’s my birthday,” he whispered. “That’s when he gave me the queen. He said it’s because I was the strongest person he knew.”
Tristan’s heart ached like it hadn’t since he was a kid. Without a word, or thought, he wrapped his arms around Josiah and picked him up. Settled a little into his touch when Josiah’s arms wrapped around his neck.
“Don’t let people have that kind of power over you. I’ve seen what power does. When people love so much they put someone else above themselves. Or equal to themselves. All it does is hand power to them. Keep that for yourself. No one else deserves it.”
Josiah opened his mouth, not expecting the words that came out. “Love equals power? So, you’ll never love because you never want to hand over the power?” The thought made Josiah kind of sad. It was so...cynical, and so true.
Tristan sighed, making his reply obvious. “Veto.”
Nine years apart, and a connection was still between them, visible even to Tristan’s eyes. And the knowledge there, in the back of his head, that Mateo would give Josiah the things Tristan couldn’t.
There were things Tristan could give: Help with his business, a home...but the emotional pieces were trapped inside him. Probably always would be.
“Yeah.” There was no sound. Mateo stepped closer, wondering if Josiah said something he couldn’t hear.
“Yeah?” Molly prompted.
“I guess he makes me feel a little less lonely.”
“You shouldn’t feel alone, Josiah. You know we love having you here.”
Her words became muffled sounds in Teo’s ears. His stomach cramped. Josiah’s words collided into each other in his head, falling off into quiet before surging up and sounding again.
Josiah’s hand was in his hair again when he said, “I won’t give you up, Tristan.”
Hearing that calmed some of the storm inside him. “I know. And you’re mine. I won’t give you up, either.”
Despite it all, he knew Josiah couldn’t give up Mateo, either.
As they sat there, Tristan weaved his arms around Josiah’s waist and wondered what they were going to do...or why he wasn’t more upset that Josiah couldn’t lose Mateo, either.
Mateo’s feet stopped moving. He didn’t try to keep his hand from reaching out for Tristan’s arm. For turning to face him, and still holding on while Tristan did the same. Dios, this was crazy shit. He didn’t understand it, but as he looked into Tristan’s dark eyes, he saw more pieces of himself. Pieces he never expected to see in the man. Pieces he hadn’t see in anyone else.
Mateo ran a finger down Tristan’s jaw. “Mi pieza perdida. My missing piece.” And then his hand ran down Josiah’s back. “Mi precioso.”
Josiah leaned up, taking Mateo’s mouth first. Then Tristan’s. “We might be broken in so many ways, but together, we’re whole.”
“There aren’t laws for emotions, Tristan. There isn’t a magical timeframe where it’s okay to fall in love with someone or okay to fall out of it. Emotions don’t play by rules. That’s what makes them so incredible.”
“Don’t baby him. He’s a man. Treat him like it.”