Hell and Beyond (Broken, #2)
**4.5 STARS**FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!!! …is it possible to murder fictional characters? cause I have a few people in this book that are on my shit list!!! In this second book of the Broken Series Kol Anderson has continued his abuse of my heart, in fact I think he ripped it out of my chest and stamped on it a few times! This isn’t a book that you can curl up and relax with, rather you spend the duration of your reading experience sitting on the edge of your seat in a hyper state of anxiety with my poor Kindle experiencing the tension of a white knuckle ride! But I am an adrenaline junkie with a depraved soul and this is the type of book I CRAVE and Kol has not disappointed but delivered a blissful fix to sate my addiction… Just bloody fantastic!!!
Hell and Beyond… perfect title …and pretty much sums up where poor Aaron is at. I feel sick in the pit of my stomach when I think of this poor boy… even now writing my review his hopelessness and despair make my chest ache. He wants to survive this ordeal and has resigned himself to his life as a slave and looks to Vince as his glimmer of hope in the darkness. But no matter how hard Aaron tries, what he gives of himself, the fact that he submits and performs as required, has finally found something… a place inside him that can at least be happy with Vince in control, the bastards keep changing the game plan, leaving him confused and bewildered… and my blood boiling!
Vincent’s training is relentless, Aaron no longer has a will of his own as Vince demands his submission by any means, he has a job to do… train Aaron as a slave to the required standard of his client and whether Aaron likes it or not he will comply and obey orders… of course this is all for Aarons benefit, preparing him for his new owner will get him used to the pain and abuse that is to come when he is sold… yeah right! you are a sadist Vince! …or do you know the deviant nature of the client?
Meanwhile back at the ranch! Eric and Sebastian are playing happy families and quite frankly I hated them for their unknowing oblivion. Yes they are still looking for Aaron but it hurts that they are carrying on with their lives while Aaron is living a nightmare, I think Eric is hoping Sebastian will forget about Aaron, fade into nothing, so he can continue repairing the damage of his infidelities.
Aaron is in a constant battle with his inner self, that part of him that wants him to fight, his voice of reason that mocks his submissiveness. He is happy not having to sustain the merciless torture from when he first arrived and he sees his behaviour as his survival mechanism kicking in, yet finds the rewards and praise from Vince make him happy, finding a euphoria he has never known and finds himself wanting the glimpse of compassion he sees in his captors eyes and the physical attention he occasionally bestows on him… he is conflicted and not really understanding why the pain is now turning to pleasure.
Vincent is also conflicted and his mixed signals piss me off… he feels something for Aaron, something he has never felt for another sub, the beauty of his submission, the fact that he has practically delivered his soul on a plate to him… but most of all the trust… Aaron trusts Vincent and all of those things called to his heart. But Aaron is a commodity and investment and not only that the silent partner demands his financial rewards… and Vince himself has to deliver or suffer the consequences.
When we meet Carson, the silent business partner, I gained some understanding of Vince’s behaviour, but the last part of the book made no sense, why punish Aaron for something out of his control? That shit was all wrong and just when I thought Vince was starting to redeem himself… the bastard proves me wrong yet again! The ending is brutal and just about broke my heart… I read the end of the book through a fog of tears it hurt so much! Aaron had given everything, done as he had been asked, obeyed orders no matter how bad… had at last found a little happy place inside him, all he had done and achieved so far he had done for Vince and he had no comprehension or understanding of exactly what all that shit was about!
I have to say everyone in this book seems conflicted in one way or another… as well as me! Do I want Sebastian to charge in as the white knight and rescue Aaron? In book one I would have said “Hell Yes,” …yet now I find a part of me wanting Vince to act on his heart, be the bigger man, consequences be damned and start to nurture what he has sparked in Aaron, that boy needs to be loved his heart is yearning for it, he is broken and someone needs to put him back together. The drugs… for some reason the drug addiction is part of the book that makes my heartache and blood boil the most, does he comply because of his need? or is there really something within him that has warmed to Vince? I HATE THE DRUGS! I also HATE those three nameless men that have been the cause of Aarons true fear… and God help me I want to take a cattle prod and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine and take great pleasure in doing it!
Kol Anderson… is a remarkable young man and I am excited by his talent and also the promise of what is to come, If authors manage to get to the very heart of your emotions with their words, if they manage to make you empathise with characters, to see them, feel, hurt and bleed for them, then to me that is the mark of an excellent storyteller and long may it continue.
OK… I have vented, fumed and schmoozed enough… Kol Anderson… I WANT BOOK THREE NOW! that ending was just plain mean!
The Prisoner (Broken #1)
Hell and Beyond (Broken #2)
