Unbroken by Jay Crownover [ARC Review + Excerpt]

[book-info]

Don’t want to read the excerpt?  Click to jump to the Review?

“This the one, Ms. Priss?” I turned in a circle, hating how restrictive and stiff the refined suit felt. There would be no staying on the horse for eight seconds in something like this. I doubted I could even bend over and pull my boots on in this getup. I failed to see how being dressed like I was going to high tea with the queen was going to convince normal men with a little extra cash to buy the junk in my hair. It felt like overkill, but I would chew my tongue off before telling Della that. I knew how much this campaign meant to her, and I needed her to keep me around so I could get paid. .. and get to kiss her again.

Della circled around me, eyes scanning from head to toe. A small frown tugged her perfectly arched brows down into a V, and her lush, soft mouth pulled into a pout I was becoming achingly familiar with. She lifted a hand and touched the knot of the silk tie where it rested at the base of my throat. She fingered the delicate material and heaved a sigh.

“You look perfect, but something is still off.” She met my gaze with a scowl. “Can you try and look a little less like you’re being tortured? That might help the overall image.”

Her snippy tone and the upturn of her nose made me grin. I rolled my head around, causing my neck to pop and my shoulders to relax. Della’s expression softened when I was no longer standing at attention, but she still let out a dejected-sounding sigh and reached for my tie, releasing me from the expensive noose.

“You have a body made for designer clothes, but something is lost when you put them on. I feel like we’re trying to wrap the Mona Lisa in silk or something. Frankly, it’s annoying that you make denim and flannel look just as good as Versace and Prada.” Once she had the tie off, she told me to go ahead and get back into my own clothes. I asked her what the plan was for the shoot and a brief flare of panic and doubt lit up her cat like eyes. She forced a smile and told me she would figure it out.

Since I was totally a fish out of water in this scenario, all I could do was follow orders like a good soldier. I stripped out of the fitted vest and worked on the tiny buttons of the shirt. I was handing them both off to the flirty wardrobe girl who was enjoying the impromptu striptease when Della’s “Wait a second!” had both of us freezing on the spot.

She was looking at me in the mirror, eyes roving over my half-dressed form. She wandered over to where my jeans and boots were tossed in a haphazard pile on the floor. After a second of rooting around, she came toward me, my black wifebeater in one hand and my boots in the other.

“Put these on with the pants.” She looked at the wardrobe girl with a lifted brow and had to snap her fingers in the woman’s face to get her attention. “Go find me a pair of suspenders, leather if you have them.” The other woman scurried off to do as she was told and I dropped to the seat to pull on my boots.

“I keep trying to turn you into something better.” I looked up at Della as she snorted out a laugh. “But from the start, you were perfect the way you are.”

Well, hello there, Jay Crownover! Another amazing start to a new series! And also WHY I’m not a fan of novellas because Unbroken SHOULD be a full novel!

Jay Crownover really knows how to write bad boy heroes because Crew is an amazing bad boy hero whose redemption really paid off! As someone who grew up around someone who had an addiction, I wasn’t a fan of Crew. However, he officially stole my heart when he met and Della!

Della was the perfect heroine for the disturbed Crew! I love the sparks between the two and of course, their conflict and hatred between Crew and Della when they first meet. It was quite obvious why Della didn’t care for Crew at the start because of his playboy reputation.

Ultimately, I loved the romance between Della and Crew, but I seriously wished it was a full book instead of a novella. Unbroken is an awesome start to this new series and I can’t wait to read Justified!

[rating-report]

affiliate links below

Do you love intro-novellas (short novellas before a series officially starts)?