Judith‘s review of Broken Destiny 
When Casey Owens runs away from Nevada bad boy Mark Whitlow, she’s fleeing not only one of the most powerful families in the south, but the man who just happens to be the father of her newborn son. Tossing caution to the wind, Casey refuses to let her past get in the way of her future. Her only focus now is Tyler, the precious little boy her ex future in-laws consider “the bastard child.” While the last thing Casey wants to do is start over, it’s not about her anymore.
Jamie Wallace, Rebel Canyon’s favorite cowboy, is sick of the bar scene. Who would imagine a successful, good-natured hunk would have so much trouble getting a date? But when Jamie wanders off his ranch and takes one look at the helpless waif of a woman he nearly kills with his truck, he wonders if the man upstairs has finally answered his prayers. Jamie can’t wait to explore every inch of Casey’s body and he’s just as intent on winning her heart as he is undoing her zipper. There’s just one catch: Jamie has no idea about Casey’s past or the baby. And when he sees the scars that mark her body, Jamie loses more than just his nerve in the bedroom. With unseen forces working against them, Casey’s resolve will be tested by a man whose kind of love leaves bruises while Jamie’s heart will be torn between bending Casey over the tailgate of his truck and changing dirty diapers.
Offering Casey nothing more than his heart, Jamie can only hope that one day Casey will grow to love him in return. But will she ever truly be free from the hold of another man?
This second novel in the Rebel Canyon Series continues the saga of this small Utah community and the stories of characters introduced in the first novel Broken Together. Jamie Wallace is a successful businessman and one who has finally come to know that being a “player” is a life he no longer wants to maintain. He wants a companion, lover, spouse, someone to parent his children and to help him begin building stability that goes beyond owning businesses or being a member of a small community or finding play partners among bar-hoppers or buckle bunnies. While on the way to meet up with one of his friends, he is almost involved in a head-on collision with a car careening out of control and heading right for him across the Interstate. Last minute swerving prevents the crash, but the car in question lands in the ditch. Jamie, who is really a very caring and giving person, stops, finds Casey Owens behind the wheel, calls for help, and so begins his involvement with a beautiful waif-like woman who has literally crashed into his world.
Casey is on her way to Colorado to pick up her son Tyler. She is running away from a terribly abusive relationship with Mark Whitlow, a playboy whose parents keep hoping that by giving him responsibilities in the family businesses he will prove himself to be truly grown-up. They dislike Casey and because her continuing relationship with their son is built around her pregnancy and the birth of Tyler who they dislike intensely, Mark’s treatment of Casey, while not unknown to the elder Whitlows, continues to become more and more destructive and physically abusive. Now, with the help of Mark’s father who wants Casey and Tyler out of Mark’s life, she is driving to Denver to pick up her son and find a new path for her life. Falling asleep at the wheel enroute is not a part of the plan, but it effectively heads Casey into a new direction.
Jamie is immediately “taken” with Casey and as soon as she is released from the ER, drives her to Denver, cancelling his plans, and planning ways to make Casey a part of his life. Finding Tyler there is totally unexpected as Casey has not really filled Jamie in on the realities of her past with the Whitlows. Casey is an educated woman with a teaching degree, but now has no income–only the generous “pay-off” Mark’s dad has given her with the understanding that she will never contact them again about herself or Tyler. Even with this shock and unexpected “bump” in the planning process for their lives together, Jamie continues to be a man who is willing to expand his personal context to include Tyler, especially if that means keeping Casey in his life.
Just one more complication: Jamie is a man who, like his sister Rachel Wallace and her best friend, Bryn Baxter (heroine in the first Rebel Canyon novel), is into the world of Dominance & submission. His attachment to Casey is growing by the minute and he wants her in his life and in his bed. But how does one bring a woman who has had the hell beaten out of her routinely into a Dom/sub relationship? Jamie goes to Bryn’s “master” and lover, Beck Reynolds and to his sister Rachel for guidance and works to bring Casey into this new dimension in their relationship. And while he has never had a problem “holding his own” as a lover, he is really stumped as to how he can keep Casey in his life if their future sexual relationship is only just “vanilla” sex–that just doesn’t do it for him.
This is a love story through and through but it is a messy affair–just like real life. This is no boy-meets-girl-and-everything-is-roses-and-light kind of story. There’s hurt and fear, destruction of self-worth and dreams, hopes and cries for help, and the beauty of a man’s generous and giving spirit as well as the strength of a woman to withstand some of life’s worst horrors. Because that is exactly the kind people Jamie and Casey are. Jamie’s pursuit of Casey never falters but he knows that he can further damage her unless her understanding of his lifestyle comes with an understanding of its caring and its potential to free her of her fears. On the other hand, he cannot deny who he is, so the dilemma is real and palpable. Casey is a fragile woman who wanted so much to be a good teacher, a role-model for needy children and one who wanted to really do something fine with her life yet she is now not sure she has the strength to move forward. She had attempted to be a thoughtful person about her relationship with Mark, even to the point that she did not fall into bed with him immediately. She thought he loved her and wanted to care for her. She finds out that once she surrenders to him sexually, even to the point of telling him that she had never been with anyone else, she finds out that it is all about him–their first time together amounted to a rape of sorts that resulted in Tyler’s conception. Does she have good instincts about men and are her instincts about Jamie accurate? She thought Mark was a good man; he wasn’t. Can she trust her own reading of Jamie’s character? In many ways it is painful to watch these two good people struggle with these and other issues, but that’s the core of the story and what made it so good for me.
I found this book to be a compelling tale, one that kept me glued to the page and hoping for a resolution to the complications for both Casey and Jamie. Their circumstances were never easy, it seemed, and even though Jamie’s financial worth would make Casey and Tyler’s futures secure, there were all the emotional hang-ups, loads of baggage that just kept getting in the way. That Jamie’s love for Casey was genuine and fine was the one constant in the story and one that I appreciated. That his understanding that she was so fragile in some ways and so very strong in others kept him on track in his search for a way to resolve their problems made me delighted when they were able to find ways to move forward. Mark kept intruding–the stalker/abuser who could not get past his obsession with Casey as “property” and his son as a “belonging” rather than a human being. Even without the support of his family and thinking that he was covering his tracks from his dad, Mark never hesitated to do all he could to find Casey and crush her resistance to his abuse.
There are twists and turns here and just when I thought I had it all figured out, the author surprised me with a scene that was completely unanticipated. That’s just plain good writing, and testifies to a writing skill sure to keep this author’s work in the forefront of romance fiction. There are aspects of the BDSM life here, but it is very mild and really not the main aspect of the story–only that it is a part of who Jamie is, and somehow he must reconcile his love for Casey and her past with who he is with what will satisfy his needs in the relationship. Even that aspect of their relationship was resolved in a surprising twist.
I was delighted to be able to read Jamie’s story, to keep on getting to know him better. He had been a positive presence in the first novel as the sort-of-brother to Bryn and a support to her as she tried to find her way back after a devastating and horrific happening in the Middle East. Now it is possible to explore Jamie and his way of living and relating in greater depth and I found him to be a wonderful guy, knowing his own needs and desires, comfortable in his own skin, having determined where he wants to go with his life, but willing to flex and allow Casey’s needs for healing to impact his plans for the future. These are two complicated people with complicated needs, yet their basic honor and respect for people in general and for one another comes through loud and clear, even as they struggle to find a way to walk into the future together. From the first Jamie knew that Casey and Tyler were a package deal and he was prepared, almost from the very first, to love Tyler as his own. I am not convinced that there are that many men “out there” willing to do that with just wholehearted acceptance. Another “gold star” for Jamie, to be sure.
As was the case with the first novel, my appetite to read more from this author has been whetted and I am delighted to see that a third novel in this series is coming out soon. If the reader likes a very good love story but is willing to read one that is pure difficulty from start to finish, then this novel will be a favorite. I confess that I have gone back and re-read Broken Together and found even more to like there. I am absolutely sure that will be the case with Broken Destiny as well. Just one really fabulous read!!
I give this novel a rating of 4.5 out of 5.
You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.
This book is available from Rebel Ink Press. You can buy it here
