J. Bree

The rape from Book 1 was never dealt with, at least not in any decent way. Ollie was told by, pretty much everyone, that it wasn’t really rape because “you didn’t say ‘No’ and didn’t fight him off” and she believed that. And Knox’s, who raped her, is a lot older and bigger than her too, which just adds more terrible to it. But, damnit, the books are still engaging and enticing!

🖤⚔️ **Broken Bonds* by J. Bree** 🕯️💀

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**⚰️ Synopsis Snapshot:**
After losing her mother and her mother’s Bonded, **Oli** finally finds her own Bonds—five powerful men tied to her destiny. Sounds romantic, right? Wrong. The fate of her world depends on her, and she decides everyone’s safer if she disappears. Five years later, she’s dragged back to face the very men she ran from: **North, Nox, Gryphon, Atlas,** and **Gabe.** Guilt, power, and heartbreak await… and show more so does chaos. 🌒

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**🕷️ My Take:**
I *wanted* to love this—dark magic, fated bonds, a touch of apocalypse? Sign me up. But somewhere between the tangled world-building and confusing magic system, my brain decided to tap out. The story tried to mix dark fantasy and modern-day grit, but the result felt more like oil and water than smoke and shadow. 🩸

I *did* enjoy the main heroine—she’s strong, damaged, and driven—but sometimes her choices made me want to resurrect myself just to sigh louder. 😮‍💨🪦

Maybe the audiobook dulled the impact, maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace—but either way, I felt more *bonded* to my confusion than to the plot.

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**🩸 Final Verdict:**
*Broken Bonds* had the bones of a killer dark fantasy but lost its spark somewhere in the murk. Intriguing premise, muddled execution. I might revisit it later… if I can find my way back through the fog.

⭐️⭐️ (2/5 Blood Moons 🌑)

**Vibe Check:** 🖤 Dark fantasy meets dystopian angst
**Tropes:** found family, fated bonds, power dynamics, trauma, morally gray magic
**Best For:** readers who love chaos, tension, and complex character webs—just be ready to *work* for clarity. ⚰️ show less

I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a tad annoying how the males constantly harped on how much distrust they had and how the MFC had to have a underlying devious plan. It truly just makes me dislike all the Fae.
At this point I don't want it to be enemies to lovers. I want her to get her vengeance and leave all of the Fae and their egos behind. They don't deserve anything and I hope the next book reflects that. I think I'll be disappointed at this series if they end up being lovers. He should show more rue each day she was mistreated. The Goblin King's son deserves a chance.... show less

Did I enjoy this book? Very much but I'm starting to think that audiobooks should start with their trigger warnings list...

Did I enjoy this book more by listening to it as an audiobook? ... Honestly, I think so, yes. Kasi Hollowell's voice is so engaging, and the conversational prose works so much better spoken out loud. I don't know if I would have gotten far into this book if I was reading it written down. Seeing additional voice casting for the later books is getting me curious for show more sure... Dual narration perhaps?

Ole's friendship with Sage is so sweet and I love seeing strong female friendships in my stories. You really get the feeling that their bond lives outside of just the scenes shown on the page.

Atlas and Gryphon are definitely my favourites, but then again, it's hard to like the other 3 guys so far. Yet, I want to know everything about them still, their powers, their pasts. There's still so much to uncover and this book barely scratched the surface. Still devoured it in two days anyway... what did she put in this??

This was toxic, it was trashy, and it was so much fun! But I definitely only recommend it to other dark romance readers who like things a bit unhinged. I don't enjoy the tormenting so much... but I'm absolutely going to love the groveling once they figure things out. show less