Book Review — Broken Juliet (Bad Romeo #2) by Leisa Rayven

“He always loved you.”
“Even when he was breaking my heart?”
“Yep. Even then.”

• Buy BROKEN JULIET (Kindle)
• Buy BROKEN JULIET (Paperback)

SQUEE!!!! This was the perfect conclusion to the story that began in Bad Romeo, which is one of my top favorites. I totally devoured this book in one sitting and LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!! Just pure awesome!

If you’re a fan of intensely passionate love stories — I’m talking the kind of love that doesn’t let go even after years apart and the deepest hurt, where you just know in your heart that these two people are meant for each other, then you have to read this series!! Plus Ethan Holt is this deliciously tormented, moody, and insanely hot bad boy whose love for Cassie Taylor is guaranteed to melt your heart.

“Do you feel this?” he whispers. “This is what makes us keep coming back, despite everything we’ve gone through. This is why I had to change, and why, despite how much I hurt you, you can’t walk away. The way we sink into each other. The way I can’t tell my heartbeat from yours… It’s about this.”

I don’t want to give away too much of the story but basically this is a second chance romance. We saw the beginning of Ethan and Cassie’s story in Bad Romeo — where they met in drama school and had this intense connection that pulled them together. After a tumultuous on-and-off (but always in love) relationship, he finally broke her heart for the last time and they were separated for years. When they are cast together as romantic leads in a major production of Romeo and Juliet, they’re faced once again with their undeniable chemistry and Ethan is now determined to win back Cassie’s heart and prove to her beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s sorry, that he’s changed, and that he has never stopped loving her.

“I meant every word, and if you let me in, I’ll prove it to you. Show you. Love you. Please…”

He brushes his lips against my ear, and it makes me tremble.
He wraps his fingers around mine and pulls them away from the door.

“You want to hold on to something?” he says. “Hold on to me.”

Gah. Ethan Holt. I love him so much! Honestly, he’s very much the kind of hero I’m drawn too. What can I say, I love the tortured, tormented guys… especially when they’re beyond in love with their girl. I think there’s something about the struggle that they have to overcome in order to be with their loves that makes me feel for them even more than usual. It’s like an extra measure of sacrifice and effort. My heart really broke for him. This guy was so convinced that the people he loved would eventually hurt him that he either shut them out or left them before they could do the damage, but just ended up hurting everyone more so as a result. I think the most painful thing of all was how though everything — the mistakes in his past, all the hurt he caused her — it was always so clear to me just how much he loved her.

“Fuck, Cassie, I know the right thing to do is leave you alone. But when I think about doing that, it…” He grips his chest. “It fucking hurts.”

He didn’t want to be that way, and he never wanted to hurt her. He just didn’t believe he could ever be the kind of guy she wanted or who deserved her even though she loved him exactly as he was.

What I really appreciated though was that the story took the time to show you what he was going through. Honestly, even though it was a mistake, I ended up understanding why he left that second time. His breaking point made sense to me. Gah, they were so deeply dysfunctional even though they were so madly in love. So, I got it. I definitely did…. And then I just wanted to hug him.

He pulls back and leans his forehead on mine, eyes closed. “One more chance is all I need to prove how different we can be. Please. I know second chances are hard to come by and here I am asking for a third, but… fuck, I need you. And despite everything, you need me, too. Just say yes. Please.”

This story made my heart race!!!! I could just feel in every single scene how much these two people were meant for each other. They had this connection, this pull, this undeniable chemistry that drew them to each other over and over again. It just rolled off the page. I felt it. From the first page to the last.

My favorite stories are the ones about a love so strong that even the most painful of heartbreaks can’t ever truly break it. And this was one of those. But I loved the way it was balanced out with little outbreaks of humor that would catch me off guard. Here I was reading this crazy madly-in-love, passionate forever-soulmate, epic romance and I’d be totally wrapped up in it with my heart pounding in my throat and then suddenly I would just laugh out right loud over a hilarious line. So perfect!

Just like with the first book, this one went back and forth between their past and present. It would fill in the missing pieces of their past while moving their present day story forward. I loved the way these blended together. As a huge fan of second chance romances, this is a storytelling method I’m quite fond of and this author pulled it off seamlessly.

Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet tell one of the best love stories I’ve read!! They had everything I look for in a romance in the perfect measure: amazing writing, an addictive story, and ALL THE FEELS!

Highly recommended for fans of intensely passionate love stories and insanely hot bad boys!! 

Rating: 4.5+ stars! 

• Buy BROKEN JULIET (Kindle)
• Buy BROKEN JULIET (Paperback)

Note: Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet together tell a complete story about the same couple (with a completely resolved ending). The next book in the series will be a standalone about a different couple. You do not have to wait to start these. They are essentially their own mini-series, within a larger series. 

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Book #1 — BAD ROMEO
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #2 — BROKEN JULIET
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review