Title: Forever Broken
Author: Evangeline Anderson
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Genre: Paranormal M/M
Length: Novel (171 PDF pages)
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5
Summary Review: When two worlds collide and ancient feuds are rekindled, do the lovers caught in the middle go up in flames?
*This review may contain what could be considered spoilers*
THE BLURB
As second wolf in the Lunas Locas pack, Paul Kraskowski has power and prestige. He also has a dark secret, one he hides and won’t admit even to himself—until the night he meets Laurent.
Born to one of the oldest families of his kind, Laurent Montcrieve is vampire royalty. He stands to inherit massive wealth and the title Viscount of the Blood. But he would give it all up to find the one man who can complete him—his Coeur de Sang, or Heart’s Blood.
Two worlds collide when Laurent and Paul meet and form an accidental blood bond. But the instant spark between them ignites a raging bonfire of conflict. Their people are enemies who would rather see them dead than together and Paul refuses to admit his attraction to another man. Now the clock is ticking as they agree to explore what lies between them. Their search may end in true love or death. But they must be careful…for if they sever the tie that binds them, the bond they share will be forever broken.
THE REVIEW
Evangeline Anderson, the Queen of Angst, is back with a new offering, a heartfelt story of two doomed lovers – a classic case of opposites attracting both in personality and culture – gay vampire royalty Laurent and bad boy werewolf Paul who swears that he’s not gay, even though he’s hot for Laurent.
Paul, aka Krackskullsi, aka Skulls, is second in command to leader Angel in the Lunas Locas pack. Paul can never be leader of the pack because he is non Cubano but he and Angel had been best friends since the 5th grade and he wanted to join his pack to be with him. In addition, he had always secretly been attracted to Angel but maintained it was nothing more than friendship. Paul’s main challenger for the position of second was Chulo, Angel’s first cousin who constantly tried to “one up” him. One evening when Paul was left in charge, the weres were told that there was a vampire coven in the area. Unfortunately, Laurent who was the only vampire around, wandered into their camp by mistake. That was when Paul’s troubles started. Laurent, a 100-year old vampire and future Viscount of the Blood, newly arrived in Miami by way of Paris France, had been forced to leave France by his father, the reigning Viscount, because he didn’t like the man Laurent was seeing. Daddy thought it was time for him to assume the title, take a wife and sire little heirs. Of course Laurent wanted no part in his father’s plans and had no desire to be the next Viscount – instead he was on a lifelong quest for his Heart’s Blood or Coeur de Sang.
When Laurent showed up at the were camp Paul was instantly attracted to him although he denied the attraction because of course he wasn’t gay, something that would get him kicked out of the pack unceremoniously. However there was no doubt that something strange was going on between him and Laurent when Laurent touched him by accident and there was a tingling buzz in his body almost as if he were being electrocuted. Since he didn’t want Laurent to be killed he came up with a plan to save his life and sent the other weres to look for the coven and do their vamp bashing elsewhere after promising that he would kill Laurent himself. When they left Paul asked Laurent to explain the strange electrical charge when they touched the first time and Laurent requested that they shake hands to see if it happened again, which it did. Paul was so overcome by his feelings he grabbed Laurent and kissed him, something he had never done with a man. As soon as he realized what he had done Paul shoved him away and told him to get going before the weres returned, but before he left Laurent told Paul that he was his Coeur de Sang and gave him his daytime address, something no vampire would ever give a were voluntarily as they are sworn enemies.
A life threatening situation caused Paul to seek out Laurent when he was poisoned by wolf’s bane. Realizing how dire his situation was he went home and consulted his stepmother Lucia, another were, who advised him that the only way to save his life was to have the poison sucked out by a vampire since wolf’s bane was not harmful to the breed, so of course he has to seek out Laurent, the only vampire he knew. The exchange of blood between Laurent and Paul has unusual consequences for both of them and Paul has no choice but to take Laurent up on his suggestion to visit his old blood nurse who might have a solution for their current dilemma. Can a vamp and a were who are blood bonded break the bond without dire consequences?
What follows is a tale that is so complex and angst filled that you will wonder how Paul and Laurent were able to escape a fate worse than death even though they were not human. There is only so much pain and suffering that anyone can endure, and while their pain threshhold was higher than that of humans, the suspension of disbelief played a very large role in Forever Broken because every time they run out of options they are miraculously saved. However this is fiction and therefore heroes are expected to be extremely resourceful, and help sometimes comes from unexpected sources. 🙂
I have to say that I was annoyed and exasperated by Paul because he kept denying to the bitter end that he was gay; apparently tough macho weres can’t ever admit the truth about their sexual orientation if they are not straight. He was very conflicted about being gay and while he enjoyed “receiving” everything Laurent had to give including lots of oral sex, he felt it was not normal and made Laurent very unhappy. I felt like slapping him much of the time because he seemed to care little for Laurent or his feelings. He had no problem taking from Laurent sexually but initially he was a very selfish lover and it wasn’t until almost the end of the book, when he admitted that maybe he had softer feelings for his lover, that he reciprocated wholeheartedly. As in any book by this author the sex was hot and she can write sex that would make your hair curl. Angel, Paul’s best friend and leader of the pack, was another tough werewolf who apparently had secrets of the gay variety but never admitted his orientation. He had suspected for years that Paul was gay and kept dangling the bait in front of him in non verbal ways about getting it on together, but he was never open so Paul had no real encouragement to see where the bait of “something more” would lead, and Angel maintained plausible deniability throughout the story.
Of the other characters, Lucia, Paul’s stepmother was the most sympathetic and three dimensional followed by Laurent’s old blood nurse Nana. Mercedes, Chulo, Paul’s father and Laurent’s parents were two dimensional at best but Evangeline Anderson offered very vivid glimpses of vampire culture through Laurent’s lifestyle and the demands that were made on him because of his status and royal blood as well as his father’s rigid adherence to the old ways. Although I liked Laurent a lot I couldn’t understand why he didn’t tell his father earlier in the story to take a hike since at 100 years old he was old enough to fly from the nest and make his own way in the world, even if he would have to do so without Daddy’s cash. Paul’s father was extremely homophobic with no redeeming qualities and there was nothing likable about his character – he was all bombast and no substance. There were many minor characters who played a role in the book but they were not significant enough except perhaps Laurent’s mother at the end when she seemed on the verge of rebelling against her husband.
Forever Broken – definitely recommended if you love paranormal stories that are dense with detail, have incredible conflict and enormous angst, great world building, danger, with the characters defying death on multiple occasions, finding love when least expected, and love triumphing against all odds.
Evangeline writes steamy novels, and I love this cover. I’ll add this one to my TBR stack.
Review well done.
Hi Hannahva
I’m a fan of this author and if you like her sex scenes and love angst, you will be in heaven. I really hope you enjoy this story.
Hi Wave,
I read Forever Broken two weeks ago and
this is a fabulous and 100% fitting review for a highly entertaining over-the-top story. 😀
Thank you so much! *still laughing*
s.
Glad you like my review Sims. I tried not to reveal spoilers but as I said in the review
This was a tough book to review because it was dense and packed with detail. It was also so angst filled that at times I had to take a break. However, I love Evangeline’s writing and I’m glad you found my review entertaining. 🙂
This sounds very good, but I don’t know about all that pain and suffering … not a big fan of pain and suffering. 🙂
Val
You’re tough. If you write paranormals a little pain and suffering shouldn’t make you break a sweat. I don’t do pain and suffering much but it wasn’t too tough for me. If you love angst this is the book for you baby. 🙂
You’re tough. If you write paranormals a little pain and suffering shouldn’t make you break a sweat.
Ha, ha! I’m not a huge fan of angst, though. I sometimes want to smack the characters and say, “Get over yourselves!” But I will give this title some thought. 🙂
I have to be in a certain sort of mood when I read weres/vamps (paranormal, really), but this sounds interesting.
I’ll add it to my list for when I AM in that sort of mood. 😛
Thanks for such a detailed review. I might have completely passed on this book otherwise!
~Tis
Hi Tis
If you’re not into paranormals this may not be the place to start because it might upset you. However, if you want to take a walk on the wild side, giddyup. 🙂
Val it’s Evangeline! It is not as bad as Wave describes. At least I don’t remember it that way.
I liked it because the book has a slightly different “feel” to it as her other books. But in a good way.
*lol* – It was that bad…but a good bad! 😀
YOU Sims are VERY bad. lol.
Ingrid
Without revealing spoilers I can’t say why I thought it was very violent. However, try to remember the last scene wiith the weres and Paul when they were giving him what amounted to almost his last rites. It’s very fresh in my mind since I just finished this book a few hours ago. 😉
Aha, I a few weeks ago. Of course I only remember the happy end
Ingrid
Of course that’s all you remember. Boy they really worked hard for that HEA. 🙂
I don´t usually wander in the paranormal field but this book looks like a good choice for vampires & werewolf lovers. Thank you for your review 🙂
Helena
If nothing else this book has a lot of information about vampire and were culture but if you are leery about violence you might not be able to read it in one sitting. I hope you enjoy Forever Broken.
this sounds like an amazing book. i feel like it needs a spoiler alert warning, tho…
-kkm
kkm
I didn’t really include a lot of information from the book because, as I said in the review, it’s very dense in terms of action. However, I’ll do a quick re-read to see if anything I said could be considered a spoiler, and if so I would be happy to include a warning. Thank you for your comment.
I read this book the day it came out (I’m an EA junkie). I liked the fresh approach to vampires – especially the idea of them having live babies. A blood wet-nurse is so creative and creepy!
Although I liked Laurent a lot I couldn’t understand why he didn’t tell his father earlier in the story to take a hike…
Laurent was afraid of his father (and with good reason as it turned out). Also there were all those references to werewolf –loving being “madness” or “insanity”. It was an interesting reference to when homosexuality was classified as a mental illness and people were committed to institutions. I guess that still happens with teens and “reorientation” camps.
I have to say that I was annoyed and exasperated by Paul because he kept denying to the bitter end that he was gay
Yeah, that got old real fast… but for better or for worse denial to the bitter end is a trademark of EA stories. 😉
He had no problem taking from Laurent sexually but initially he was a very selfish lover…”
I think this goes hand-in-hand with the denial and being part of a homophobic culture that only considers guys who “bottom” to be gay. In the story Angel got off on getting oral sex from guys too but didn’t consider himself gay.
Overall I’d say 4.25 is a fair grade! Thanks for the review Wave!
*SPOILER ALERT*
Hi Diane
I was on the fence about this book when it came to the rating and I waited an hour before I rated it, for several reasons.
EA is one of the authors I really love even though I’m not into too much angst but she writes it well.
Denial is trademark of her characters as you said (see The Assignment which is still my favourite EA book.)
What bothered me the most were the two protagonists who were flawed but not in a good way. I thought that Laurent was weak and Paul was overly aggressive towards him. Perhaps as you said Laurent was afraid of his crazy as a coot father who clung to the old ways, but I thought he should have shown more backbone. Imagine being forced to leave your country because Daddy hated your BF? I do understand that it’s a cultural thing, but still ….. at 100 years old he should have stood up to him and told him where to get off.
As for Paul, I didn’t like him that much because the character was too selfish. It wasn’t until the very end that he mellowed.
Angel, what can I say about a man who was so gay but was afraid to come out. Whoever heard about a ceremony to kick someone out of the pack that involves the boss getting oral sex from the men? No straight man would want that. He was so transparent.
All in all I think I was really fair in my rating and thank you.
**SPOILER ALERT**
Regarding Angel… In the beginning of the story, the author puts a lot of emphasis on how Paul is attracted to Angel and Angel forces guys to blow him when they leave the pack.
You know Paul is going to leave the pack at some point… so weren’t you expecting a scene where Paul is supposed to blow Angel? It just seemed the story was building up to that showdown and it never happened.
What I thought was going to happen was that Paul would have to leave the pack and still have some feelings for Angel… but when presented with the opportunity to fulfill his teenage fantasy of sexual contact with Angel, he would not want it and realize Laurent was the only guy for him.
Did you expect something like that to happen or am I just reading into it too much?
Hi Dianne
While I didn’t want Paul to be humiliated in front of his pack mates, especially Mercedes and Chulo, I thought there would be some resolution to the sexual attraction and the frisson between them by a final showdown, but of course that never happened. Maybe it would have put Angel in a difficult position because Paul was, above all, his friend as he proved in the end.
I got the feeling that the attraction, at least on Paul’s part, was still there and Angel definitely had feelings for him.
I hope that EA will write a book about Angel so that his sexuality is resolved. Despite everything I liked his character.
Hi Wave,
Great review. I sometimes have a hard time with this author. I can’t put my finger on why. I’ve read many of her books and I find them interesting. I am tempted although of late I’m less inclined to buy paranorms unless they have a unique take on the theme. I feel as though I have read something very similar to this. I’m on the fence with this one.
Hi Lisa
If you read my comments (especially the one right above) and the review you might get a sense of some of the problems I had with this story, particularly the characterizations.
I love EA’s writing and this story was quite good in terms of giving more than a glimpse of vampire culture, but it depends on what you look for when you buy a book. The mix of vamps and weres was unusual because they typically hate each other which is brought out clearly in this book. If there’s one thing I would have loved it would have been resolution of Angel’s sexuality but maybe he will be in another M/M book. I would love to see that.
Fabulous review, Wave! I’ve got this one on my TBB already. I love were/vamp stories and enjoy reading Evangeline’s stories.
Lily
This is what I call an epic EA story because it spans so much. While I did have some problems with the protagonists, overall I really liked the book so I know you will enjoy it.
Hi guys, Evangeline here. Just wanted to thank Wave for her excellent review and all of you for your great comments.
I always think it’s funny how differently people see the characters that I write than I do when I am writing them. A lot of you seem to find Paul unsympathetic but he was my favorite character in the entire book–lol. Honestly, this book is his story, it’s about his growth as an individual and his gradual acceptance of who he is and how he feels for Laurent.
I will admit that “denial to the bitter end” is one of my plot points but if the character decides in the middle of the book that he’s okay with his sexuality, where do you go from there? Anyway, that’s my thinking when I’m writing. : )
If anyone is interested in what inspired this book, there are several sources. First, it was an idea that came to me while writing a M/F book called Deal with the Devil. The heroine in that book has a gay brother who is in a Latin gang. I wanted to tell that story but I didn’t want to re-tell Deal with the Devil all over again from a different POV. So I wound up writing an entirely different character (Paul) in the same type of situation.
There is also an excellent movie called Shank that inspiried some of Forever Broken. If you haven’t seen it I highly reccomend it. But beware–it’s even angstier than my writing. The ending is not for the faint of heart. But if you’re interested, here’s a link
http://www.amazon.com/Shank-Unrated-Director-Wayne-Virgo/dp/B002L1YGRY/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1295283085&sr=1-1
Sorry, I know that’s long.
Anyway, thanks again for all your comments! For those of you who wanted a story about Angel…well, I don’t know. I didn’t like him much to be honest although from these and other comments I have read it appears that lots of readers did. Some of them even wanted Paul to end up with Angel instead of Laurent which was never my intention. I’ll have to think about it and see if anything comes to mind. In the mean time, if you guys keep reading, I’ll keep writing!
Hugs and Thanks for the great review, Wave!
Evangeline
Evangeline
Thank you for coming by and joining the discussion and also for clearing up some of our “misconceptions.”
To be honest I didn’t like Paul until the very end when he accepted that he was gay and treated Laurent the way I thought he deserved. Paul was the typical A Type werewolf (to me anyway) and the only person he thought was worthy of his attention and love was Angel. Perhaps that’s why we all thought he would end up with Angel.
However that aside, we really would like to see what happened to Angel after he left the pack. I hope that he finds a man who blows him away. Maybe you could write his story soon. *hint* 😉
I’ll check out Shank based on your rec. lol. Thanks again for stopping by Evangeline. As you can see, the readers on this site really love to talk about books. 🙂
Thanks again for having me, Wave. I promise I will give some thought to a book about Angel. Right now I am working on a sci-fi M/M book tentatively titled Catamite. And yes, it has angst in case you’re wondering. ; )
Thanks to everyone for their comments.
Oh, and Re: Shank. When you see the ending of that movie maybe you’ll understand why I didn’t want to write a sexual confrontation between Angel and Paul in the end of Forever Broken. I was afraid it would go too far and there is only so much you can put your characters through before the reader gives up on them and puts down the book, even if they know a happy ending is on the way.
*SPOILER ALERT* for both Forever Broken and Shank
I just googled some scenes from Shank. Holy cow… that was NOT what I meant by a showdown between Paul and Angel. Yikes! Hell… I’m still emotionally scarred from the shower room flashback in Broken Boundaries… LOL
I pictured them meeting alone and Paul telling Angel that he was leaving the pack and Angel using it to rationalize coming on to Paul (as in a half-assed romantic gesture, not violence). But Paul would finally see Angel as the pathetic closet case he is and realize how lucky he is to have an out and proud guy like Laurent.
A gang rape didn’t even cross my mind… that would have made it an entirely different book. Yikes! – again. 😮
I love your sci-fi stuff (shower room flashbacks notwithstanding)… so I can’t wait for Catamite. 🙂
Holy Cow
I’m glad I hadn’t googled Shank as yet. I don’t know if I’m ready for gang rape. 🙁
Wave, it really was a rough scene. I liked the first part of the movie much better. But since I paid to view it on Amazon I went ahead and watched it all. It has a powerful message if you can stand to see it.
: ) E
Lol, Diane, I told you it wasn’t for the faint of heart! It was a really good movie but that end scene was hard to watch.
And I think I felt like Paul had already had his epiphany by the time he got around to seeing Angel again. He knew it was Laurent he loved and he didn’t need a come on by his former crush to reinforce it. That was my thinking when writing it anyway. : )
Thanks for saying you like my sci-fi stuff. I have had a lot of readers ask for another book in the Slave Boy universe and I am thinking about that. But right now I’m working on Catamite and I’ve already got 40K on it so I probably need to keep going.
I’m bad about abandoning one book right in the middle to write something else if a new idea comes to mind. That’s why I have over 100 unfinshed novels on my laptop. For every novel you see me publish, there are 3 or 4 more that died on the vine, so to speak. Just part of my creative process.
Hugs and happy reading!
: ) Evangeline
Very well done Wave. I do like vampires and werewolves, and Evangeline’s writing, so combine the three and I’m sold! I’m glad I read your review first though so I know what to expect. Thanks Wave!
You’re very welcome TJ. This was a tough book to review because there was so much information and action, and it was difficult to give an idea of the story without including a few spoilers but hopefully not too many.
I really hope you like the book.
Wonderful review Wave!
I’m glad to see your review of this book because I hadn’t heard of it until now. Everybody knows how much I love paranormals, so I think I’ll really like this book. Although, I might have to take this one in little bits because I remember reading The Assignment and having to put the book down at certain points because I was getting so stressed out!
I’m still looking forward to it though 🙂
Hi Cole
Evangeline loves angst and her books are never in a straight trajectory. lol.
This is a pretty complicated story with both warring cultures and a love affair right in the middle. However if you love weres and vamps I think you will be engrossed in the story because she does a fair amount of world building especially on the vampire side of the house. 🙂
You were stressed out by The Assignment? I loved Sean and Nick and thought they were wonderful.
No, I loved Nick and Sean, but I was so afraid of what the goons were going to do to them 🙂 Then when they put them in that box, they wouldn’t just DO it. So, I was afraid the goons would come in and it would get really scary, lol.
I know, I’m nuts. But I get really upset in any type of dubcon situation…even times when most readers wouldn’t consider it dubious, I often do. When that happens, I have to distance myself because I feel like I can’t let that feeling of betrayal go, and I can’t let the character’s emotions and feelings take away mine.
Okay I understand now. You can rest assured that there’s no dub con in Forever Broken. 🙂
I’ve actually gotten kind of interested in dub con lately, mostly because I have gotten into Japanese manga. I love the M/M books but almost every single one has some kind of dub con in it. But since they’re like little comic books, they can make it almost funny, which is completely impossible when you’re writing a novel. I know that makes no sense but you’ve have to read one to see what I mean.
In fact, in manga, there is no switching around–one guy is always the top or “seme” and the other, who is usually more boyish and delicate, is always the bottom or “uke.” It’s interesting to note that the word seme actually comes from the Japanese word for attacker. So some of the manga get pretty rough. And yet some are so sweet you just wanna say, “Awww…” Weird, I know. But i like weird things. If I didn’t, I guess I’d be writing for Harlequin instead of writing paranormal M/M.
Evangeline, I´m as hooked to yaoi manga as I´m to mm romance so I totally understand your point about the dub con. Because the way a lot of them are written, most of the time you don´t get emotionally involved or feel it as real, and as you say it´s not the same when writing a novel. Having said that, there are times when manga can be as intense and real as novels.
As for the switching, it´s true that it´s rarely seen in yaoi manga. Although some mangakas use it more often that not without problems, in general it´s only shown once in a blue moon (and then generally in a series depending on the character´s partner). However, this really seems reversed in novels, and sometimes it just feels forced. So, why are novels so insistent in switching??? Wave, if there is a previous post about switching, could you point it out to me?
Helena,
I just recently got into Manga and I already have some favorites. I love Junjo Romantica as well as The Tyrant Falls in Love to name a few. Since you seem to have been into it longer than me, can you reccomend any more I might like? (Yup, I’m hooked and always looking for something new.) The only problem with manga is that they are so short–you get one and read it in a few hours and they leave you wanting more. Sort of like chocolate…lol.
I don’t know why we’re so hooked on the idea that both characters must give and recieve in novels. I personally think it would be easier if we adopted the Japanese system of one seme and one uke and the two never switch places. Maybe we have an idea that it isn’t “fair” to do things that way in Western culture. I need to think about the idea of writing a book where there the two guys don’t switch off. And I would still like to do a dub con but as I said, that’s hard, maybe impossible, to pull off in a novel. Unless, of course, your main character who forced the action appologizes and feels bad for it later. But in Manga that almost never happens–they just keep on forcing the action and the uke is protesting the entire time. : )
Evangeline we did a post last year with our fav manga’s. Junjou romantica is there but also a lot of others. http://www.gayromance.org/?p=24625
Oh wow, thanks so much, Ingrid! Now I have some new titles to look for. I can see I need to keep up with Wave’s site better than I have been. She’s got it all.
: )
This is what happens when you stay away E. You miss all the fun. lol.
Evangeline, as you see by Ingrid link, yaoi manga is like chocolats in more that a sense since there is a lot of different ones for everybody 🙂
Maybe you´ve already read it but if I have to pick one just for you I would go for Pathos by Mika Sandahiro: it´s a vampire manga and MS is the “queen of switching” in yaoi 🙂
Also, Okadaya Tetuzoh work is mentioned in one of the post, but she is not so well known as others, so if you are curious about it, you may want to check the author site (English) here http://okdy.sakura.ne.jp/
I have thought about the “Western” bit, but then I see male gay writers skipping the whole switching part without problems and makes me wonder. And I can´t help thinking about the need to relax a bit around the swithching and just let it happen or not the same way other things in a story happen or not. I personally don´t mind one way or another but maybe because of the “yaoi training” it´s something I noticied soon enough as a general thing.
As for the dub con, I totally agree with you. In a novel other things may end overlooked or forgiven in a character but this is no one of them. It´s really a challenge to make it work outside yaoi 🙂