Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Unbreak My Heart
SERIES: Standalone
AUTHOR: JoJo Stone
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 173 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2024
BLURB:
𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧
Ten years ago, the person I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with disappeared without a trace. I don’t know if he’s alive or dead, happy or sad, near or far. I don’t know how to live without him and my heart has cried for him every day since he left me. He was my protector, my hero, my first love, and the other half of my soul. My sisters tell me I need to get over him. To forget him. But how can I do that when he took half of my now-broken heart with him when he left?
𝐆𝐚𝐞𝐥
Ten years ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life. What I thought was going to be an escape from a lifetime of abuse at my father’s drunken hand, and the chance of a future worthy of my soulmate, turned out to be the worst decision I’ve ever made. I’m not proud of the things I did to survive, and that, combined with the guilt over how I ruined what we had, has kept me from reaching out. But now my heart has led me closer to him once more. Can I make myself deserving of the love only he can provide? I know I’m holding his heart in my hands, but I don’t know how to overcome my shame and the trauma of our time apart. How will he ever forgive me when I can’t forgive myself?
Unbreak my Heart is an MM, second-chance romance, with two broken men who are trying to heal from the damage that one wrong decision ten years ago wrought on their lives. There are mentions of the off-page assault (both sexual and physical), abuse, and prostitution of a main character.
REVIEW:
While out Christmas shopping, Cameron comes across a man who has been attacked and left for dead under some covers. The last thing Cameron expected was to recognize him as the man who had broken his heart ten years previous. When Gael wakes in the hospital, he is surprised to be alive. The few words received from the man who saved him remind Gael of Cameron, whose heart he stomped on and left behind. But it couldn’t be Cameron – for Cameron has undoubtedly moved on and lives with someone who deserves him – hasn’t he?
Unbreak My Heart is a relatively short story set in London – UK, capturing a brief period that was ten years in the making. It is an emotional rollercoaster that one can’t help getting mushy over.
The story is written well and told in the first person from the viewpoints of Cameron and Gael. Worldbuilding is more emotional than physical, as Cameron and Gael remember the past and the effect Gael leaving had on Cameron. Love never died, but the route back to trust is only one wrong action away from breaking.
Gael and Cameron are delightful characters who I couldn’t help liking. Despite having a shared past, their experiences from childhood to adulthood were vastly different, and this is something both need to face to understand the past, regain trust, and look toward the future.
As already mentioned, the opening scenes are ones of Christmas shopping that everyone will connect with. Then, I was plunged into gut-wrenching drama that had me in tears. The only aspect of the story that I queried was that, as the blurb says, Gael was assaulted, sustaining a range of injuries. Then, not far into his recovery, intimacy ensues.
I get the inclusion of a hefty dose of spice. After all, both fear the other will disappear once reality sinks in, and both live in the moment. But – here is this stunning, moving story about lost love – and while I want Cameron and Gael to have their intimate love conquers all moments, given Gael’s injuries, the timing felt somewhat off. Also, I would have loved the story to be a little longer. It is punchy and flows well. However, adding a couple of thousand extra words would have enabled the inclusion of scenes showing closure of the past instead of telling the reader it happened.
While I’m a little concerned about the timeline, there is a lot to like in this book; some parts were exquisitely written, allowing the emotion to jump off the page.
RATING: 
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