Review: Broken Pieces by Riley Hart
♥♥♥ 3 Sad, but really hot Stars ♥♥♥
Ahhh!! I absolutely hate when I end up not completely loving a book others really seem too. But unfortunately it happens. And in this case, I ended up not loving this book as others did. But I did end up somewhat liking it.
This story starts off with a sixteen year old Josiah Evans, and a seventeen year old Mateo Sanchez. Both of them are in foster care and end up in the same home. They both are completely different, but share a common bond of loss. They also share the fact that they are both gay. And as time goes by, this unlikely pair become close. What starts as a friendship, ends into a romantic relationship.
It was really beautiful to read how these two teens find love in each other. From that moment on, I was really hooked to their story. It was full of heartache, though. I felt deeply for these two--which ended up being three--lost souls. But I really thought that by having each other, they could all move on.
First, let me tell you a bit about Josiah--Jay. He was a really shy teen. As he grew up, he remained quite the same. He was sweet, and was really positive. But at times he also seemed to be kind of weak to me, and in other ways not so much. I felt like he relyed too much on the men he loved, rather than to be truly independent. But I also thought he was a brave person because he was able to tell people what the thought and felt. But still, I really wanted him to be stronger. Most of the story revolved around him. So that span of ten years are pretty much about his life and how Mateo and Tristan become a part of it. It was still in all three of their POV's, so don't worry.
Mateo is the gay son of a gang leader. His mother was killed and then found himself in the foster system. He has done and seen things no kid his age should see. When he meets Josiah, he feels the need to protect him. I loved Mateo for the way he cared for Josiah. I could really feel that connection between them. I was saddened by how unworthy he saw himself because he really was a good person at heart. I hurt deeply when circumstances caused him to let Josiah go. This caused him to not see him again until about ten years later.
This is where Tristan comes into the picture. Josiah has left New York and has moved to San Francisco. Here he meets Tristan, this lonely man who likes to keep control of his life and actions, and doesn't let anyone in. Josiah and Tristan are also very different and yet quite common. The start a strange relationship with very little talking. But with time, Josiah manages to get him to open up to him. As this kept going on, they ended up falling in love with each other. They were both so damaged and flawed, but together they worked so well. I started to really like the relationship that they had. Tristan had his own issues to get over, but I felt like the one person to help with that was Josiah. I just loved seeing them together.
I started really liking this story but slowly became...not boring exactly, just a bit hard to follow. It was just hard for me to see a connection between Tristan and Mateo. I think it was because of all the time that was skipped. But I wasn't able to truly feel it. I felt like they fell in love with each other too fast. I also feel like Mateo kind of became like the third wheel which was at times awkward to me. On the bright side, there was some crazy off the charts steam in this book. Like smokin' hot! But again, at times seeing them all together was a bit odd. It seemed to me at first like Josiah had to be with one or the other. And when the three got together, I didn't feel like enough time was spent on how that relationship between the three grew. Because again, time would just go by which was a shame.
While I loved the concept of this story, it didn't really end up working completely for me. I still managed to really enjoy it, however, but not love it. I liked each character individually and in pairs. I'm still not too sure how I feel about them all together. And it's not because I have a problem with menage stories because I don't. I did like learning about each of the character's terrible backgrounds. You could see how that molded them and caused them to live their lives the way they did. I liked that with the help of each other they were able to slowly move on and finally live. There was a sad tone to the story which at times I wished could have lightened up in some moments for a bit of relief. There was also angst which I did enjoy, as well as the high steam. Overall, I thought this one was a pretty good read.
