REVIEW: Broken

Broken by Sage Whistler


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When Sage Whistler posted on her site that this publication had been accepted by Total-e-Bound, I was excited beyond belief! I'd read Torn and was madly in love with her twincest stories and wanted more. I'm a twincest whore and will not deny it. Taboo story? Bring it on!

Summary: Sometimes bravery and love are one and the same.

Gabriel and Tristan Stalling parted ways seven years ago when their father kicked Gabriel out of the house for being gay. The years that passed were hard on both brothers. Tristan was left with his guilt and shame for not sticking up for his twin, the relentless need to please their parents, and the gnawing ache for his other half.

Gabriel manages to make his dreams of becoming a rockstar come true, but with his fame comes drugs and meaningless sex as he tries to drown out the hurt he feels when Tristan abandoned him.

As fate would have it, the Stalling twins are about to get one last chance to make things right. Both Gabriel and Tristan will be tested as never before. Not only will they have to make a choice between giving in to a love so taboo it can never be revealed or spending their lives forever broken, but they will also have to face the ghosts of their past, even the ones with the power to destroy them.

What I liked about this book: Really, there was very little that I DIDN'T like and I devoured this novella in several hours then went back and savored a few chapters again. Whistler has the uncanny ability to transport you into her stories with such ease that the world hare characters live in is both palpable and realistic.

The only thing I have to say kept this from being a five-star for me was the fact that her twins in Broken and Torn are almost as identical as their counterparts are. You have the reserved twin, the wild twin, the twincest sixth sense, etc. But where Broken breaks the mold is in the way Gabe and Tris face their demons and break through the barriers that their family and past choices have placed in their path. Not to mention the sex scenes are SCORCHERS!

Excerpt: The hands that covered his own startled him, made him jerk his head up and look at Tristan. Tristan tugged his hands down and held them in his own. Their blue gazes locked, one soul looking into its reflection. Tristan’s thumbs ran over his knuckles, sending shivers rippling over Gabriel’s skin.

“Hey, man, just tell me you’re done with Mark and you’re done with drugs.” Tristan took a step closer until their chests almost touched. “Tell me, Gabe, and I’ll believe you.”

Gabriel’s heart slammed up against his ribs in a panicked rhythm that had nothing to do with the skeletons in his closet and everything to do with Tristan’s proximity. Tristan really had to stop touching him, or he was going to go up in flames. Even knowing it was a bad idea and that he should be pushing his brother away, Gabriel curled his fingers around Tristan’s. His breath hitched, and he managed to say “I am. I’ve been clean for thirteen months now. I’m done, Tristan. I swear it.”

Tristan nodded, and a small smile curled his sensual mouth. Just like that Gabriel was absolved of his crime. He didn’t doubt Tristan forgave him, that he would think no more of it. If he knew anything about his twin, it was that Tristan had a forgiving heart, especially when it came to him.

Gabriel found an answering smile tilting up the corners of his own mouth. “Thank you.”

Shaking loose one of his hands, Tristan startled him by caressing the pad of his thumb over the skin inches away from Gabriel’s mouth. “I had almost forgotten you have a dimple here, Gabe.”

Just that simple touch, sizzled along Gabriel’s nerve endings. He groaned, and his eyes fluttered shut but quickly snapped open.

“Forgive me,” he whispered.

“Gabriel what did—” His twin started to say, but Gabriel sealed his question with a kiss.

Nothing in life had prepared Tristan for being incinerated from head to toe. He almost expected licking flames and a little devil to spring up behind him. Instead, he was met with soft, heated lips and a questing tongue. It felt like being pulled apart and put together again. Arousal shot straight to his gut and landed in his groin. His cock hardened all at once to an achingly brutal erection. Tristan groaned against the fierce pressure behind his zipper, but most of all, he couldn’t help vocalise the pleasure of his brother’s thrusting tongue inside his mouth.

Tristan captured it and suckled it gently, forgetting in his mindless arousal and hunger, the principles that forbade such activities. Gabriel surged off the door and pressed against Tristan’s body, fitting as if he belonged there. Tristan felt the same steely heat press against his erection as their bodies melded together.

Gabriel’s fingers tunnelled in Tristan’s hair, his grip desperate, his kiss even more so. Gabriel whimpered into their kiss. His teeth nipped at Tristan’s lower lip as if trying to devour him. Tristan’s mind reeled at the clear evidence of his brother’s hunger for him. An answering jolt of white-hot arousal slid into his gut, making Tristan shiver uncontrollably.

Knock. Knock.

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