Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: What We Broke
AUTHOR: Marley Valentine
NARRATORS: Joe Arden & Teddy Hamilton
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 6 hours and 3 minutes
RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2023
BLURB:
From USA Today best-selling author, Marley Valentine comes a brand new, marriage in crisis, hurt/comfort, standalone, gay romance.
If someone asked me to describe our love story, I would only need to use two words.
Before and After.
When I met Leonardo Ricci, he was determined I would only be a fling, while I was certain he was my forever.
Seven years later, we’re the perfect couple. Happy, married, and in love–in sickness and health, till death do us part.
At least until the unthinkable happens.
Now we can’t look at each other. We don’t sleep in the same bed. We can’t even be in the same room. The loss is too great and the pain runs too deep.
But this man is the love of my life. I convinced him once, and I would be damned if I couldn’t do it again. I would be damned if I couldn’t fix what we broke.
REVIEW:
CW: This story deals with the loss of a child/stillbirth and the aftermath of that loss. If this is a trigger for you, I would suggest skipping this one.
Jesse and Leo are married. They have a happy life with their teenage daughter Raine – Jesse’s daughter with his best friend Zara from a teenage indiscretion. After a number of happy married years together, they experience a loss that breaks Leo. He’s had a lot in his past that has led to deep seated feelings of insecurity. He cannot deal with the loss and falls into self-imposed isolation and self-medication with alcohol – which is particularly troubling given his family background.
After a year of dealing with Leo – both in and out of their home – things come to a head when Leo wants a divorce. Despite therapy, things are still very very difficult. Jesse is so busy trying to handle everyone else and make sure they are OK, that he’s neglected his own needs. It’s heartbreaking to see these two men who obviously were so much in love and so happy fall to pieces and struggle to put things back together. Zara and Raine aren’t immune to all this either as they are intimately involved in the loss that has had a very real impact on everyone in this family.
Ok, so this is a hard read. No sugar-coating it. And PLEASE take heed of the content warning. This is a very very angsty book. The story is told in timeline jumps from present day to Jesse and Leo’s love story – how they met, how they built their life, their relationship with Raine and Zara. The prologue is heartbreaking and then the story gets harder 🙁 I will admit that there were parts of this story that had me wanting to shake both of these men. They were suffering so much. I’ve seen this kind of loss rip marriages apart – this is not in any way unrealistic. But it is very very hard. Time doesn’t heal all wounds – it’s what you do with that time and how you learn to live with events that makes life bearable again. There is much healing to be done for these men.
These two narrators, Joe Arden and Teddy Hamilton are pros. I FELT the pain and anger and frustration and betrayal and love between these characters. If you’re up for a real angsty second chances story of a marriage in crisis. Have at it. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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