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Bruised but Not Broken

By: Nicole Dykes
Narrated by: Stephen Dexter, Michael Dean
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Summary

Ben

Spark of Hope: A bi-weekly trauma support group. This is my nightmare. When I think of a support group, I think of sad people sitting around talking about their feelings and nothing changing.

And yet, when my brother and his best friend, who happens to be a therapist, presented the idea of holding the meetings at my gym, I caved.

Because I, Benjamin Price, have always tried to rescue the people in my life. But I can’t. I’ve usually failed them.

Now, I’m hosting a trauma support group and desperately trying not to fall into my old habits—of attempting to save everyone.

And then, he walks in. Bruised. But not broken. No matter how exhausted he may feel, a strength in him calls to me.

And there’s no way I can ignore the need deep inside me to at least try.

Colby

I’m tired. I’m afraid. And I don’t want to go back. Not to the abusive relationship I told myself I was okay with for years.

But what am I supposed to do?

I have no real life skills. All my life, I’ve been told I’m pretty and that’s it. Then I walk into a gym, looking for a job, but I find so much more.

I don’t want to trust Ben. I don’t believe his help doesn’t come with a price. But what choice do I really have?

One thing’s for sure: neither of us are getting out of this intact. What we lose though, that’s anyone’s guess.

Bruised But Not Broken is set around a trauma support group and will, therefore, touch on extremely sensitive subjects. The author handles these topics with care and healing, but please heed this trigger warning should it apply to you.

©2022 Nicole Dykes (P)2022 Podium Audio
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Good but...

I enjoyed this but overall it felt rushed. Colby walks into Ben's gym when he sees a help wanted poster in the widow whilst he is walking around after fleeing his abusive ex. Ben has a bit of a saviour complex and instantly knows Colby needs help so offers him the job and a place to stay. Their friendship and subsequent romance goes from there but for me it all happens too quickly, especially where Colby is concerned with him coming from an abusive relationship. When topics like abuse & trauma are a main plot point for a character I feel they need to be given more depth, emotion and time to be worked through and other than a couple of conversations we didn't really get that with Colby and Ben who also has trauma in his past. Infact both characters openly say how they think therapy etc is ridiculous and how they don't see the point of it, which contradicts the fact Ben let's his friend Andrew who is a therapist hold a support group for trauma at his gym. 🤷‍♀️
Ben's bi?/gay? awakening also felt rushed, I'm all for low angst awakenings but to have no internal trepidation for such a drastic shift within one's self felt unrealistic to me. Both MCs were sweet though and had cute moments together, the spice was ok but because everything else felt rushed it didn't add much to the story for me. I will give the next book in the series a go as I've read other books by this author and loved them so maybe this one just slightly missed the mark for me.

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Amazing

I have no idea why i waited so long to start this series as i love Nicole’s books . I absolutely loved Ben & Colby and even though Roman was a pain he was so funny please tell me he has a book.

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struggled to finish it

Same old trope. I've read it so many times now I think I might start churning them out. Straight man recently divorced but still friendly with ex meets gay man and decides he wants the D. Nothing else happens.

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