Broken

By: S.J. West

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

At the tender age of seven, Jess Riley's parents were ripped out of her life by the Tear, a ripple of white light in the sky which randomly transports people from Earth to alternate realities and distant planets once a year. On the night the Tear first appeared, the Watchers, a mysterious group of men possessing supernatural powers, made their presence known to the leaders of the world, earning their complete trust to deal with the turmoil the Tear caused.

Now 22 years old, Jess is an agent working for the Watcher Agency searching for a way to bring her parents back home. When the leader of the Watchers, Mason Collier, recruits her to join his team, Jess quickly discovers she is meant to play a major role in sealing the Tear forever. Mason and Jess instantly find themselves drawn to one another but they both resist their mutual attraction for different reasons. Broken by past events in their lives, they each struggle to overcome their fears and find the strength to take a chance on one another.

©2013 S.J. West (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

This story sucks you in!

First things first... this book is rated "simmering" but to me it's more on the sweet side. If I had a teenager, if let him/her read the book. Nothing too... sexual is what I'm trying to say. However... I can tell that the author is trying to build up the suspense, so I can not speak to how appropriate books 2, 3, and 4 will be. I rarely do romance, I mostly read YA dystopian thriller type, but I'm currently trying out the romance package from audible and this was in my recommendations. Well Audible... you know me well, because this book was right up my alley! One thing that's very important to me in a book is a likeable main character. I personally love strong, smart female main characters and Jess is just that. The Male lead is... typical but that's okay I guess his personality would be "swoon worthy" to most women. I also like a love triangle and unfortunately this book is missing that. But I can live without it because this book has so what sooo many romance books is missing which is action, action, action! The main characters aren't just laying around having sex all day and getting into pretty arguments. There's an actual storyline and purpose (sealing the tear) which I love. Hats off to the author, I can't wait to read book 2.

Sci-fi but restricted by judeo Christian ideas

The author had me at the beginning. The premise of the world, the conflict.... Even the players of the story when they are revealed.. *spoiler alert*

But in a world where God is active and the universe is mutli-dimensional, the author didn't ask deeper proving questions, but decided to play with characters on how they are laid out in a Bible...which leaves potentially new interpretations and expansions of what is created in the Bible... Just sitting on the table.

The main character is asking relevant questions of God's existence where we have to rectify and tear in space with the Christian God... But the author ignores them and falls on platitudes like... "God's ineffible". Really disappointing.

Good narration. That's it.

So, this story started out pretty good. I was liking it quite a bit, then............. OMG the nauseatingly pity party and romance began by a strong female character and ruined her. UGH! I hate when authors turn a great female lead into an annoying whiny weakling character. SMH

This was also a cliffhanger. That was annoying too. For the rest of the story please listen to blah blah blah. So annoyed I wasted my time. Can't recommend this book.

As for the narration, it was good, thankfully. Otherwise I would have quit after the 10th eyeroll, and there were many eyerolling moments.

Great book on its own

This is easily the best written out of the series. The story is engaging and has a great plot. Character interactions feel normal and not rushed in this one.

The series goes downhill after this one unfortunately. So if you are just looking for the one book, get this one. Don't get dragged into the rest of it.

pretty darn good all the way around!

i only wish i’d discovered the Watcher Trilogy first, as i guess it’s supposed to Be heard first. i’ve decided i’ll just listen to it after i finish this series and treat it as a prequel series;)
onto book 2!!

Great story line!

I loved every part of this listen. The writing was spectacular and the story line entertaining. I wanted to keep listening because it had me on edge. The narrator did an excellent job building up each character. I loved the romance, perfectly portrayed while keeping it clean.

For those wanting something sweet, with action, adventure, and surprises around every corner, this one is perfect.

Really enjoyable listen

I was surprised how much i enjoyed this book - usually I don’t really like a ‘tortured hero’ theme that much. This book was actually more a tortured hero and heroine book, but because the author is so talented I really enjoyed the ride.

Possibly the only thing a little bit frustrating was the convoluted back story that was central but vaguely alluded to for much of the story. I felt like I put so much effort trying to remember who was who and what their, ‘thing/talent/defining reason for being in the story’ was, that I didn’t really enjoy the first part of the book.

I look forward to a main character that grows up a bit and matures, but I have hopes that this will happen more as the story unfolds. Well worth a listen.

Not going to bother finishing it

I keep trying to convince myself to pick this back up. I like the plot, but the main characters annoy me. Stop whining and pining long enough to focus on the story line!
From the view point of either character at different times in the book: The world as we know it may be ending, but the thing I really care about is if he/she likes me as I constantly check my phone for juvenile texts.
I gave it 2 stars because the world created and the plot really do have promise. If you don't mind pre-teen type angst this is probably a great book.

Jessica Christ (series review)

First and foremost, Brittany Pressley did a brilliant job at narrating this story. She is articulate, kept a broad range of characters separated by accent, tone, tamber and more, and was consistent with them all.

While reading book 1, I felt the storyline has a lot of potential. There’s mystery, intrigue, romance and a lot of action.

By book 2 I was glad I didn’t have to pay for them at all. The author began to preach here and there, a broad hint of sanctimony and piety woven in between the action. Aspects were added to the plot that had good potential but ultimately lead nowhere. Some things left me scratching my head like Jess was left sobbing her heart out when Lucifer, whom she’d barely had any interaction with, rejected her pious preachings. Jess and Chandler are publicly linked as a couple but this leads absolutely nowhere except to a moment when he forces a kiss on her in front of the paparazzi and she likens him to her pedophile uncle.

By book 3 I was sick of the romance, skipping over all love scenes. The world is ending, the very fabric of time and space is under threat from the devil, but the storyline had almost more time for sickly sweet romance than it did action. The author began to sound like a naive, sanctimonious fool, preaching how people should turn the other cheek, save themselves (sexually) for the right person, not question God’s will.

Book 4 was very difficult to get through. This book was all-out preaching, almost no story. The little bit of story that was told thickened the plot but then was left completely unresolved.

We found out that the President was a changeling/daemon as met in the first scene of book one and all these alarm bells were rung but then nothing was done about him. Chandler and Jess’s public relationship was never brought to a close. In fact they even kept the lie alive for Chandler’s family despite the fact he supposedly had the best relationship with his family. This made no sense and ultimately added nothing to the story line except a minute distraction from the sickly romance between Jess and Mason.

There was time for the huge wedding that Jess only went through to satisfy others. Seriously, it was almost like our author forgot she’d set the scene for a joke at Jess’s expense: the big floofy dress had incited smiles Jess hadn’t quite known how to interpret, Jess beleaguered the misery of the enormous dress and yet on the day it was still the enormous dress she wore down the aisle?

The absolute absence of any homosexual possibilities between characters was a glaring slap in the face. There were several times it could have come up but then the very notion was shot down immediately: Michael and Lucifer are soul mates but not all soul mates are romantically inclined, all the vessels feel attracted to Jess but “of course” the women weren’t physically attracted to her like the men were.

But the absolute kicker came in the last couple of hours when it was revealed that Jess should sacrifice herself to distract Lucifer ... it ultimately came down to a modernisation of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. This was somewhat surprising since there had been absolutely no mention of Jesus throughout the rest of the story yet here Jess insisted on spreading her arms, giving her life so that she might save the world... right down to being brought back to life a little while after. It really was a case of Jessica Christ.

And what ever happened to the bad guys? Lucifer and his princes of hell. They were trapped/imprisoned alive but then what? By the way, I’m pretty sure another author would have made some joke about the Prince of Lust, trapped in a the body of a decaying corpse, being the reason behind necrophilia.

This is story seemed to pull me in..

I was presently surprised.... this plot was different and intriguing. I enjoy books that use concepts in the Bible and explore ways humans can overcome destruction..
Characters seem to be complicated but strong.... whiny h/H annoy me. Going to be interesting to see what comes of this series

A love story with punch.

I don't normally write reviews, but this book is worth it.

it is enjoyable beginning to end. Yes, it's a love story but not sappy. Rather real and almost adult.

I hate books that have a weak or dumb heroin. This book has characters with real people flaws and pain without making you want to reach through the book and beat some sense into them.

overall, one of the better books I've listened to recently. The narrator is easy to listen to and the writing is really good.

looking forward to the next book.

4*

I really liked this book, would have given 5* had the book not ended with 42mins remaining . ( sneak view to next book) one of the reasons i got this book was the length .

I loved this story, it really gripped me

love this series of books, great story. I struggled to out it down. I listened to them non stop

more a heads up than a review

narrator was great, story fir first two books really solid, but after finishing the whole thing, I feel like there's a need for a warning to possible younger readers, first two books are a solid young adult fantasy, with interesting concepts, last two books however turn into nearly only erotic fiction, our previously hurt heroin becomes (spoiler alert) a nymphomaniac, 80% of the books is her and her guy doing it, on every surface of every house he owns, in her house, in the bathtub in hotel... and not all of us want to hear about how endowed he is or how he can go for hours or how he can hold back till she's done 5 times in a row... while in the meantime they still have that whole end of the world going on, but that's on back-burner while they go "get matches" it feels every chapter...

Fantastic

The story is gripping, the writing is evocative, and the narrator is clear.

I've listened to the series back to back. I can't say better than that.

The story is good but needs more depth.

Its a good story but the author needs to widen her descriptions. By the fourth chapter, I was sick of hearing how gorgeous everyone was. Does no one look normal or have more than one dimension in this world?
The main characters were kind of infuriating in their behaviours but the story was interesting enough for me to keep listening. I feel that everyone came across too 'plastic' and not really fluid enough but I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

Ok

An entertaining listen, especially as it was free on the Plus catalogue. The narrator is a bit monotonous when she represents Jess, but one gets used to it.

Jess is a bit too wholesome for my liking, but it didn’t become overbearing. Unfortunately, the second instalment isn’t as entertaining. (See my review for Kindred for more info on the next book.)

Loved it. Fantasy book but not so unbelievable

Due to parts of which some believe is real ie watchers an other realities ect made it somewhat believable as well as non fiction
Also the book hits on tiny bits of real life problems but still whisks you away into realms of fantasy
Narrator very good an gave the star character a real flare. She does a great job giving them all there separate voices an personalities all though Lucifer s Australian is a bit funny. I think a hot British accent would of suited him in this better but that's just my opinion.
Book one has paved the way for what i think will be an even better book 2 which I'm starting now.

More please

Love the story from beginning to end. A. J is one of my fav; author

uhm...

it truely sounds like she is so bored reading this and that makes me bored to listen to her.