Broken Circle: A Gray Ghost Novel, Book 1 AUDIO BOOK

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Broken Circle is a story about how keeping secrets in a marriage can lead to the destruction of a relationship. I enjoyed the themes of love, infidelity, greed, deceit and family that were explored in this book. All of the characters had strong motivations and ties to one another. This is my fourth Amy McKinley novel, and I’m not disappointed. I love her writing style and how she structures her stories. This is also my second audiobook narrated by Regan Brown. I appreciated Ms. Brown’s performance better in this one and felt like she gave all of the characters their own distinct feel.

I do have a few nitpicks. Sometimes, I felt annoyed with the main character, Liv. In the beginning of the book, she was very suspicious of her husband, Alex. She was afraid of infidelity because of how her parents had dealt with it during her upbringing. However, until the second act of the book, I didn’t feel like Alex gave sufficient reasons to be suspicious. Liv felt upset that he was being secretive, but he literally worked in law enforcement to dismantle crime organizations. I didn’t really understand why she felt so entitled to the classified information Alex had to deal with for his job. These are spoilers, but I also didn’t feel like Liv had appropriate reactions when she found out that Alex belonged to a high profile cartel in South America, and she also seemed too careless when she was undercover and trying to run away from Alex’s family.

In the end, this story is definitely a fantasy type of romance. The woman bounces from one handsome, sexy, wealthy man to another. She is always provided for and she always has a man to cherish and protect her. All of the danger and excitement are just twists and turns along the way. If you’re looking for romance that’s tinged with tragedy and adventure, then you’ll enjoy Broken Circle.