BROKEN PLAY (False Start #1) by ALISON RHYMES

‘It’s the soft whimpering gasp…A gasp that sounds as loud as a bullet ricocheting several times off metal walls…A gasp that turns my blood cold. I know that sound. I’ve heard it before. It’s the sound my wife makes when she’s scared or hurt.’

Broken Play is the debut book by Author Alison Rhymes and what a book this was! We loved EVERY SINGLE MINUTE spent with June and Drew (and of course Noah)! We have always had an intense love-hate relationship with books featuring cheating. When an Author writes it well, we absolutely LOVE the angst, passion, and high emotion and feel something for each character in their own right. However, not all Authors manage to balance that fine line perfectly, but we can wholeheartedly say that Alison Rhymes did just that. She nailed it. Bravo!

‘Catching the love of your life with another woman has a way of making you question your entire existence.’
“That’s the hardest part because I can never hate him enough to not have him part of my world. But how? How do I do that? How do I leave him and move on?”

Broken Play had us hanging on every single word, furiously turning the pages, unable to put our kindles down for love nor money. We were enthralled, addicted, and compelled from the first page until the very last. It is one of the most well-written novels with adultery at its core, which we’ve read in a long while. This is how it’s done!

“Who even are you, Drew McKenna?”
“I’m just a man in love with a woman who, rightfully, hates him.”

Drew and June had a very problematic marriage from the get-go. Whilst we at no point questioned their love for one another, their friendship nor their passion, they ended before they truly began. The respective traumas weaved tightly into their nature and very being. From Drew’s horrid family and childhood to June’s horrific attack, both marring the way they love and spurring behaviours in line with their emotional and subconscious suffering. Where June was protecting Drew from feelings of abandonment, trying to make up for everything he never had whilst loving and supporting him fiercely; Drew was protecting June from a side of him he kept hidden, not wanting to pick at an open wound, not wanting to sully the most important person in his life. Neither was truly honest or open -Drew in particular- both treading on eggshells throughout their short 5-year marriage, June without consciously knowing, not wanting to hurt the love of their life.

“You’re the love of my life, June. I can’t see you as anything but mine. My Junie. Please don’t ask me to tell you things that will hurt you. I hate it.”
“This isn’t love.”
“Bullshit. It is love. It’s fucked up, it’s damaged, and that’s my fault. But it is love. The undying kind. The type that makes you stupid and makes you hurt, but it lasts forever.”

Drew was the instigator who brought it all to a head. And it happened in the most excruciating of ways. Our hearts cried for June and we wanted to throw breakable things at Drew. We have to say though that the prologue was so powerful we knew that what was to come was not a simple case of black and white, rather we knew we’d somehow find ourselves in a grey area. Marriage is hard, sometimes more than it needs to be. As human beings, we are all fallible, no matter the strengths of our efforts. We make mistakes, some are minor, and some are whoppers. It is how we attempt to realise, reflect and resolve which is key. “To err is human, to forgive divine.” Drew and June had a long unexplored road ahead of them, and each had to do a lot of soul searching along the way to find compassion and gain understanding, redemption, and forgiveness.

‘Hearts are mighty, resilient machines. They’re also fickle, fragile creatures. Either way, you look at them, they need proper care and tending. Not just of your own, but of those that are given into your care.’

There wasn’t anything we read that took us out of the story, we even fell in love with Noah, Reed, and Leighton, who all played an integral role. Especially Noah! There’s a scene in the book which we absolutely loved and we applaud this Author for having the guts to integrate this scene which actually played a meaningful part in the healing road to recovery. It showed growth and mutual acceptance between Drew and June. We never saw it coming but when it did, the intensity and passion were pure unadulterated heat. There’s no question that this story has its own ‘story to tell’ and a few loose ends to boot, which we assume will be tied up somehow. So yeah….we want more from this wonderful Author! And we’re hoping the next instalment is Noah!

‘Don’t look back on the what-ifs, don’t worry about what the future holds. Be in the now.’