Breaking Him

Love Is War, Book 1

By: R.K. Lilley

Narrated by: Sarah Naughton

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

From internationally best-selling author R.K. Lilley comes a scorching new series with searing tension and all-consuming angst. It's love, it's war and it's Scarlett and Dante's story.

It was the kind of relationship where I invested more than I had to spare.

I gave it everything.

And so when it failed, I lost myself.

It changed me. He changed me.

I went down with the ship.

My soul, burnt embers in the aftermath.

The fire of him ravaged it all.

He burned me.

Broke me.

Scarlett had always dreamed big. She was headed straight for Hollywood. Destined for silver screen greatness.

But in her wildest dreams she never imagined she'd be broke and single at 28, doling drinks at 35000 feet.

She was a glorified waitress in the skies.

It had been years since she'd seen him.

But one day, there he sat, gazing intently at her, ready to set everything ablaze once more.

Dante wanted her. Again.

Sure, she'd play along...but this time, it was his turn.

She was breaking him.

After all, love is war.

©2015 R.K. Lilley (P)2015 R.K. Lilley

Great book!

This book was a rollercoaster of emtions, and I loved it! New to me author and look forward to reading more.

Love & Hate Romance

This one was crazy. It is the definition of a love/hate relationship. Dante and Scarlet had some really beautiful moments together growing up, but it was poised by mistakes and bad decisions. Now they can't but to cut each other deep every chance they get. Even still, no matter how much they hurt each other, they can't deny how much they want each other.

Some crazy things are revealed about Dante's family and how they treat Scarlet. I love this girl. I think her pain and anger run her and it causes her to be a bit too volatile. The girl can hold her own. She doesn't let anyone slight her and she is not afraid to defend herself by any means necessary. I like a girl that plays dirty and Scarlet does not hold the punches, literally. I really felt for her. R.K, Lilley does a great showing both her weaknesses and strengths. There is no doubt that Scarlet is a damaged woman.

I can't say much about Dante. I'm only really seeing him from Scarlet's eyes. Its clear there is more going on with him than Scarlet knows. I really want to know what's in his head.

Sarah Naughton was really great. She truly had Scarlet's voice down. I could feel the sarcasm in her voice and exactly what I image Scarlet would sound like. At times you feel her hate through the speakers. It was just really good listening to this audiobook. I definitely recommend giving the audiobook a go.

Dante & Scarlett

▪▪▪Review contains spoilers▪▪▪

Audible Escapes review. Single POV (Scarlett's). Book 1 of the Love is War duet. Each chapter starts with a somewhat random quote. Trigger warnings: baby abandonment in a trashcan, extreme school bullying, death of a grandparent, teenage sex. Cliffhanger. Chapter 38 is a snippet from book 2. Great narration.

Dante Durant (aka the bastard, hulk Dante) pursues Scarlett Thoreau (27; aka Angel, Trashcan girl, Tiger, Scar; childhood stutterer) on one of her flights. She's a flight attendant and he's a wealthy ex of hers. He tells her they need to talk but she doesn't want to. She remembers their childhood, that she was rescued as a baby out of a trashcan and being bullied being called "trashcan girl" in school. Dante never backs down from a challenge so she gets him drunk after baiting him hoping he'll just leave her alone. Unfortunately he's so drunk he barely makes it off the aircraft. She leaves him in the airport and goes to a bar with her crew to get drunk. Of course he shows up and they go back to the hotel and have sex. She leaves him without having talked to him. He goes to her place where he tells her his grandmother has passed away. Heartbroken she clings to him. His grandmother was very good to her and helped support her when her own grandmother kicked her out her senior year off high school. They're interrupted by one of her three roommates telling her her "boyfriend" is there. After harsh words, Dante leaves.

She travels back to the small WA city they grew up for the funeral. After the funeral they spent the night together. Horrible events occur and he takes her to a hotel for the night before taking her to the airport. Their seem to be lots of secrets that Scarlett never pushes to find out. Before she leaves he proposes asking her not to answer until she thinks about it. She gets home and calls to tell him yes when he dumps her for the second time. The events surrounding the first breakup are alluded to but never revealed in this book. There are lots of flashbacks to their childhood and the friendship they cultivated starting in the fourth grade. He defended her against bullies and then again to the vice principal. She was poor with only an uncaring grandmother and he was a wealthy boy with a very caring family.

Scarlett remembers when Tiffany moved in next to Gram and then started school with them. Dante is friendly with her which angers Scarlett until she realizes by avoiding him she's giving Tiffany time to move in on Dante so she takes him to the woods to be intimate. While in the woods she saw someone watching them. Not long after that day she leaves school and goes through the woods....cliffhanger.

Some of the characters: Renee is Scarlett's mom. Glinda is Renee's mom, the woman who raised Scarlett until she turned 17 and Vivian's best friend. Vivian Durant (aka Gram) is Dante's grandmother, an actress and named both Dante & Scarlett. Nate is Dante's best friend and the man Scarlett used to get revenge on Dante. Scarlett has 3 roommates and a pet dog named Amos. Anton is Scarlett's friend. Frankie, a recurring character throughout RKL's books, makes an appearance in this book on TV in her reality show 'Kink & Ink'. Eugene, Gram's gardener. Leo, Dante's dad. Tiffany Vandercamp (aka Fanny), Dante's ex. Adalaide, Dante's mom. LeeAnn, Tiffany's mom & Adalaide's best friend. Leo has 4 other son's by 4 different mistresses: Bastian (son #2 by his 1st mistress is the only one named so far). Jethro Davis, the man claiming to be Scarlett's dad. JP

A must read!

RK Lilly is really a master and her books are amazing! A must read but have -#2 ready to start as there is a huge cliff hanger!!!

Hit every part of a story I love!!!

Loved loved loved it. Can’t wait to finish book 2 then find more moves by R K Lilley but this was flawless! Even the quotes starting the chapters were so good.

My New Favorite Series!

What made the experience of listening to Breaking Him the most enjoyable?

All of it. The narration, characters and the strong writing. Not the same old story line.

What did you like best about this story?

Dante and his protectiveness. Also, Gram's strong family bond.

What about Sarah Naughton’s performance did you like?

She did it perfectly.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

OH, I did. Could not stop listening.

Any additional comments?

Well worth you credit.

I love it

I NEED book two please now! I love your books!
I can't get enough. I could not put this down i read this all in one day after finishing another one of your books!

A firey story of young love

This book is a cliffy so I had to head straight into book 2 as soon as I finished this one. This book is full of passion and heartache. Scarlett is definitely a man eater and makes lots of choices out of anger. This book drew me in and I couldn't wait to see how it ended.

I hate cliffhangers!!!

I hate cliffhangers! There better be a good reason for this. Heroine is very annoying and immature when she’s young but she is strong and fights back. That’s the only reason I’m still listening to this book. I lost interest a few times but I held on. She’s tough and stupid but who isn’t when their her age. Plus, from her background, I guess I can understand where she’s coming from. This book goes back and forth between past and present. Narrators does a good job. Plenty of sex scenes. I gave it all a 5 star bcuz it was a good story and narration was good as well.

WTH

Huge cliffhanger. Omg I’m so glad I didn’t discover this book until the second one was ready.

Ok so at first I couldn’t stand the female main character. She was way to high maintenance and and all out bitch. She gets off on hate and anger. But as the end of the book nears I can kinda see why she is the way she is, just a little.

If you think about it you can probably predict what the problem is and it starts with an M and end with a M, with an o in the middle. She a piece of work.