Break Me Like a Promise: (M/M and M/F Contemporary Romance) (The Promises Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

I got this book because of a recommendation and fantastic review I read on Goodreads. I knew that this was going to be an exciting book as I trust the reviewer immensely. I didn't expect my mind to explode and have the story leave me with a huge OMG moment at the end. Aria Grace and Kyan Christopher have made a fan of me for life. Not only were their characters lifelike, they loved and lost and lived like any single person close to my heart.

Brent and Tad are truly remarkable brothers. They took an inheritance and made their dreams come true by opening up a world-class luxurious gym. They are both strong leading men and their lives reflect on that. Brent makes me laugh with his flirting ways at the gym. Openly gay, he has a lot of love and passion to give. Tad makes me smile with the enormous love he feels for his wife and kids. His family is his world and all he wants to do is provide for them so they want for nothing.

Brent and Tad are a well oiled machine in their business and together with their employees, who are more like extended family, they thrive and succeed. And with the emotional and physical support the Thomas brothers find in Luke and Marissa, their lives are impacted for the better.

But tragedy and turmoil strike in more ways than one and the lives of the Thomas brothers and their closest friends are thrown for a loop when death comes knocking on their door; when a thieve among friends threatens to tear their unit apart; when anger and deceit and jealousy impede a budding relationship and second chances. The angst, heartache, excitement and anticipation only build and come to a thrilling and steamy conclusion.

If you're looking for a book that will keep you glued to your seat, have you screaming and jumping for joy, and just leave you enthralled and satisfied from start to finish, this book is for you! I immediately went and pre-ordered the next in this series because characters like Brent, Tad, Luke and Marissa are not characters you forget or want to put down any time soon!

I received an ARC in return for an honest review. And honestly, I really enjoyed this book - so much, I just bought book 2. And pre-ordered book 3.

The book was interesting because every chapter was from a different character's point of view. So there were five voices giving their take on the events they were most involved in.

And it takes place in Cleveland, Ohio, where I was born, so some of the locations are very familiar to me.

The story concerns two brothers who own a gym near downtown Cleveland. One is straight, one gay. The others include a young woman who runs the juice bar and teaches Zumba classes, a bitch accountant who has been stealing money and cooking the books, while planning to try to breakup the straight brother and his wife and marry him. And finally an advertising exec the brothers hire who has a crush on the gay brother. A tragedy occurs, bringing these characters closer together and furthering Beverly's ( the accountants) plans, which turn even more evil.

Pick this one up and I know you'll want to read the next two as much as I do.

As a result of having been gifted with a new Paperwhite Kindle and shown the option of signing up for free or low-priced offerings on BookBub, I was delighted to be able to take advantage of the opportunity to investigate titles in the LGBTQ genre. For a long time, since what might be termed the “sexual revolution” in the 1960’s, there have been many “romance” novels published, but only recently has the genre expanded to include books that, while involving explicit sex of the M-M variety, also have a plot and what one might call “redeeming social value”. “Break Me Like a Promise” by Aria Grace and Kyan Christopher fits that category.

This story involves an interweaving of relationships, and even includes a bit of tragedy and mayhem. It is told in alternating chapters from the viewpoint of various characters and as such is fast-moving and engaging. Readers who want steamy sex scenes will be rewarded with several, but those who want sympathetic characters will also find them.

Recommendation: Skip this one. Even if it's still free.
This book was slow. Very slow. I think I was at least half way through the book before it seemed to finally get around to the plot.

Also, something that irritated me a lot was the constant shift between character viewpoints/narrators. (There were about 5 of them.) The viewpoint shift doesn't usually bother me in books, but there were too many switches between too many characters in this one, and it simply didn't add enough (or have enough relevance) for that format to make sense to me.

Likely due to the inconsistent viewpoint, I never got around to connecting with the characters. None of the "tragedy" or mild angst pulled at my heart, and if a story can't manage that then it's pretty much a lost cause for me.

I'm very glad when I confirmed that this was a free book when I bought it, because I'd have been extremely, extremely frustrated if I would've paid for it.

There are brothers who are supposed to be the main characters. I would have liked to have seen their characters developed more. There were really 2 major events that happen to one of the brothers, but they felt very glossed over and the intensity did not match the event. I think because I did not feel the connection with the Tad. It got a little muddled with all the sub characters. I ended up liking all the characters, but felt like it was only on the surface. There were too many plots for the amount of pages. I found myself skimming over small character's story lines because they were too predictable and wishing for more from the main character's story lines. The bones were there, but the meat was missing. I would give the authors another try, because I know it's hard to write. It just seemed a little disjointed. Maybe more collaboration would help. I'll try the 2nd one to see how it goes.