Reviewed by Tammy
TITLE: Unbreak My Heart
SERIES: Unbreak My Heart, #1
AUTHOR: K-Lee Klein
PUBLISHER: Amber Quill Press, LLC
LENGTH: 286 pages
BLURB:
Brett Taylor has been doing just fine living in his own little world for the past three years, thank you very much. Losing someone special is life changing, and Brett doesn’t understand why everyone and their damn dog thinks they can get all up in his business about him needing to move on. He managed to make the transition from musician to rancher without relying on anyone else’s opinion or help, and he certainly doesn’t need some city kid coming into his life to disrupt his routine—one that involves grief, isolation, and a whole lot of Jack Daniels.
Moving from one meaningless job to the next, JT Campbell is on a quest to escape his old life and figure out who he is and where he belongs. He’s not looking to save anyone, let alone a secretive, hotter-than-hell rancher who wears his heart on his sleeve. JT likes working for Brett, but Brett’s made it perfectly clear that any relationship between them other than a professional one will never see the light of day.
But when JT’s lust turns to love, and he gives in to his desire to find out what makes Brett tick, will his interest push Brett away? Or will he, through his patience and support, be the one who can finally unbreak Brett’s heart?
REVIEW:
Brett Taylor is a country music star who lost the love of his life three years ago, he’s been coping with his loss by drinking copious amounts of Jack Daniels and writing love letters. While this is completely understandable behaviour for a bereaved partner I’m sorry but, three years? Brett’s mother Millie, rescues JT Campbell from the side of the road after he’s been in a fight with three homophobic cowboys who feel he’s trying to turn them all gay! Millie has decided it’s time for Brett to return to the land of the living and JT is the perfect person to help him.
JT has left behind a high society life in California to find the love and family he’s never had. He thinks he’s found both with Brett, his foreman Ray and Millie. He comes to love the ranch and working with the animals, he feels a definite connection to Brett. Brett just wants to be left alone to wallow in his guilt and alcohol. While Brett is busy wallowing, JT is the one who has to tell him about the relationship blossoming between his mother and Ray!
It’s at this point where the story slows down to an almost catatonic state! Everyone walks on eggshells not to disturb Brett when disturbing is exactly what he needs. Nothing much really happens, the men play cribbage every night, JT tries to get Brett to talk about his dead partner so he can start to heal and generally gets shut down. You feel very sorry for JT because he’s trying very hard to get Brett to respond to him but whenever there is a little breakthrough Brett immediately retreats back into his guilt. When they finally make some real progress on the relationship front there’s a terrible misunderstanding that sends Brett back to the bottle whilst shutting JT down completely. This seems to be the catalyst that’s needed to break through to Brett but even then it seems that he’s fitting JT in his heart and life in the space left from the memory of the love of his life and JT deserves so much more than leftovers.
All in all, I liked the story (I really wanted to love it) in spite of the slowness of the story and the fact that I really wanted to slap Brett for his attitude and behaviour! I sincerely hope the next book in this series redeems my faith in the author because I really wanted to love this story.
RATING:
BUY LINKS: