A review by cheryl_gager
A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

The only reason I got through this in 1 sitting was because I was listening to it on audio and I was forcing myself to keep going as I didn't think I would pick it up if I stopped listening for too long. The premise and how the romance built was really good in theory, however, it was spoilt by the characters. Lia Mara, our new character, I just found annoying. She showed signs of being intelligent and having something about her but for the most part she fell flat and was missing some fight and initiative and just seemed weak. Then you have Grey, who seemed to have no personality whatsoever outside of not wanting to be in the situation he is in. I would not say he had a personality switch from the first book but that his personality is not suited to being one of the main POVs. On the other hand, two characters that did have a personality change was Harper and Rhen, mainly Rhen. it felt like for the sake of dragging this out to a third book they decided to make Rhen and by association Harper dislikable and it just was not worth it. The ending as well is not making me want to pick up the next book straight away as I just feel like it is setting up for a lot of repetition and pointless conflicts, and what I have heard about book 3 also has not helped this. Overall, though I didn't love book 1, I enjoyed the first book enough to be really excited to get to this one and I just feel let down.