Lily Riley
Lily’s past is filled with pain and darkness. She dreams of having peace, safety, and maybe even what she craves most, love. Yet, those dreams are continually shattered by the reemergence of the demons of her childhood.
Nessian Alexander
After a stint in the Army to escape his controlling mother, Nessian decides to go from medic to doctor. He has no desire, no plan for love… until Lily. Now he only wants to love and protect her gentle heart from the ugliness that wants to destroy it.
Can their love survive the darkness? Can it overcome the pain and despair?
My Review
This book does have a trigger warning at the beginning of the book. I love the message in the warning about the stigma regarding the sensitive topics in this book and the support contacts the author included at the end.
Lily is in her mid-twenties. She struggles with her past and her mother. Nessian is a grumpy man who seems to be behind in school. This book seems to have a college setting.
The dynamic between Lilly and her roommate Melly is sweet and caring. Bubba is a corn-fed football player who also seems to have a brotherly dynamic in the girls’ lives.
Lilly has some great friends, and she seems to be thriving despite her past. She is cheerful and caring. Nessian is attractive to her, and she isn’t sure what’s up with him yet.
I love the ideals in this book so far with strong, outspoken, caring women and men who are protective but not some much so that the women are pushed around. They seem like brothers loving and protective but willing to go to any lengths to right a wrong against their friend.
Both Lilly and Nessian have some baggage. This book jumps between perspectives, so we get an inside peek at both Lilly and Nessian’s point of view and a few other characters. We get more clues as to Lilly’s past. It is very emotional. I love that she has such a strong support system.
This book jumps back in time to give the reader an inside peek at the horrors Lilly dealt with. The author is quite graphic, so you may not want to read this book if you are disturbed by situations with minors. We then jump back to the current time.
Lilly and Nessian have a wonderful spring break together and really get to know each other. You can feel the happiness thru the pages. I love the original name and the story he tells behind it. This book gets steamy quickly as they both discover they like each other.
This book is all rainbows and roses, and Nessian and Lilly profess so much love for each other. I’m waiting for the shoe to drop, and it does when they go home to meet his parents. It couldn’t have gone any worse, and poor Lilly’s wholly shattered. Oh, Anya, Lillie adopted mother, yikes, I wasn’t expecting that. That last convo was hilarious; even though it wasn’t supposed to be, I guess I took sick joy in them squashing the evil mom.
This story gets better and better as we see her get professional help and meet the family. This book does time jump a lot in the late chapters. Every time they find happiness, something horrible happens. This last one, omg! I can’t believe it, and I can’t put it down either.
Honestly, these two go thru so much devastation. I’m surprised they come out of it still in love with each other and life. The author has surprises at every turn. Some of them are horrifying, tear-jerking traumatic events that leave you on the verge of tears. This book does end happily, but it is a page gripping journey to get there.
I love that although our main character Lily was broken, she was also strong, a true heroine. She took what life threw at her and never lost her heart, her forgiveness, or her grace. Nessian was a pillar of strength in the most challenging times for her, and with his love, he managed to repair some of her broken pieces. This book clearly defines true love, supporting each other in good times and bad, healing each other, and loving despite what life gives you. I loved every movement of this story, even though some of it was difficult to read. I will admit I got mad that our sweet Lilly characters had to go thru so much pain and devastation by so many to finally live happily. This story was awe-inspiring. Yes, it was full of triggers and definitely all about sensitive subjects.
I thought the author embraced the problematic parts with a loving hand. The characters were terrific; they were truly special as they didn’t take what was thrown at them and spiral every time to more vicious outcomes. Still, instead, there was so much support they embraced it and took steps to heal. PTSD and child abuse are not easy subjects to write about, and yet the author did this in a riveting story that was so filled with love and support and family that you can’t put it down. It did suck that every time she found a sliver of happiness early on, it seemed to be squished and sent her spiraling. However, as a reader, her episode and darkness were well described and softly touched to help us understand.
This was a very touching read. This book gets steamy, contains romance, shows difficult times, and we really don’t get Nessian full story. I know the book wasn’t about him at all, but I do kinda wish he wasn’t so perfect. I wanted more like his own PTSD or him knowing a friend who had a connection to better understand what his girlfriend was dealing with. However, he was the perfect supportive book boyfriend. This book has so much heart I’m truly captivated by this story. I love a book that is so deep and so surprising that you can’t help but be enthralled by the story. This is the type of story that forced will leave an impact on someone. This story is memorable, heart-wrenching, and romantic, all in one fantastic book.
If you would like to read Broken Butterfly Dreams by Euryia Larsen you can find it on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases.
If you like this book you may also like books with these tags and categories Contemporary Romance, Dark Themes, and Enemies to Lovers.
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