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Release date August 3, 2013
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A childhood crush who moved away. An adult love that shattered her world. Twenty-seven year old Mackenzie Tillson hasn’t been living for quite some time, rather, just existing. Life is passing her by and even with the love of her friends and family she can’t quite seem to snap out of the disconnected bubble she has created around her. Moving day by day as a shell of a person who once knew what it meant to live.

Until one day, the boy who first had her heart comes back. With a vengeance...Drew Dean has been apart from the girl he loved all of those years ago for far too long and now that fate has provided them with a second chance, he will make it clear to her that she is, and always has been the one for him. But what Drew discovers in the process, is Mackenzie may just end up being completely unreachable.

Is it possible to get through to someone who has no intentions of ever letting anyone in again? Can a person find their way through the darkness and emptiness they've created? For Mackenzie, trudging along in life alone is where she feels she deserves to be. But will she find it in her to fight and break the barrier of the internal distorted view she has of herself? Or will she let everyone and everything slip away?
As Mackenzie tries to piece together the remnants of her shattered existence, she inadvertently discovers life, love and loss are one in the same. A hopeful journey to be taken with an ending to fill the emptiness she's carried for too long.

*This book contains adult situations and some explicit language.*

When her childhood friends/teenage crush return to town after over ten years, they challenge her to get out of her comfort zone and try to pull the old "Kennie" back out. Drew was her older brother's best friend and the boy she always loved, but she had no idea that he was harboring feelings for her as well. And Jax is his younger brother and was always a great easy going friend to her. But when they were torn apart by distance, they went on with their lives.

I loved Drew. He was charming, sweet, charismatic, and determined. He is ready to get to know Mackenzie again, but realizes quickly that she is not the same. He finally sees his chance to have a real relationship with "Kennie" and he is going for it. Drew seems perfect for her. He really knows what makes her tick and has deep feelings. He is invested in making it work, but he is also hiding some issues from his own past. His younger goofy brother Jax quickly worms his way back into a comfortable friendship with Kennie. He is easy to talk to and still makes her feel safe.

Drew and Jax, along with Kennie's older brother, Kip, and her friends Ade and Cass  are determined to help their friend find herself and happiness again. I loved the interactions between Ade and Kip as they were sarcastic, fiery, and funny . And also Jax and Cass have an immediate reaction to each other. He was attracted to her and she resisted as much as possible.  They all sparred, sparked, and oozed sexual tension.

Drew and Kennie were kind of a mess. He knows what he wants and worries he is not worthy due to past mistakes. She knows what she wants, but does not think she deserves it. There is angst, avoidance, ups and downs, some WTF? bad decision moments, sweet times, and rocky times. Drew's heart was in the right place and he really wanted to help heal her, but he did not always make good choices. And for that matter, neither did Kennie. She was really held back by her insecurities, fears, and self doubt. It was easier for Mackenzie to express herself in her poetry at times than in actual conversations.

"So you see, girls, you may think Drew would be good for me, but how can anyone be good for me when I haven't figured out how to be good for myself?"


 "Kennie, I want to make you feel wanted. For all of the times you doubted yourself, what you were capable of, how beautiful you are inside and out. Mainly, I want these things for you because you deserve to feel all of it from someone who knows exactly what he’s got."

The secrets of Mackenzie's betrayal and of Drew's past slowly unfold throughout the book so they are a mystery for most of the story. Their pasts are revealed gradually as the book progresses and then they have to deal with the repercussions.

When faced with hard truths and lies, can Mackenzie learn to forgive herself and others in order to move on or will she just shut down again? Will a second chance at love heal her or completely destroy her?

I have to admit that this story started out a bit slow for me. At first Mackenzie was really wallowing in self pity and it was hard for me to really like her. I actually kind of wanted to shake her.  But I warmed up to her as she started to change and began to like her. I loved all of the secondary characters as they were unique, outspoken, and fun. But you can tell they have underlying issues, especially Jax that will be explored in the next book Ending a Torn Past. I look forward to learning more about Kip as well as the series continues.

I like having both Mackenzie and Drew's points of view and they were clearly defined with name headers. I think that was really important to see the story from both sides. And even though I did enjoy the flashbacks and learning more about their younger years, at times it felt a little disjointed between present and the past. But the author says the final version will be more defined with both asterisks and italics for the flashbacks so that should make the transitions much smoother. And these flashbacks did add a depth and sweetness to the story and their relationship. This was an emotional story of second chances, love, and forgiveness. Even though this will be a series, thankfully there is a resolved ending and no ugly cliffhanger. The rest of the series will feature the other characters.

Thanks to Melissa L. Delgado for providing me with and ARC in exchange for an honest review. 


Ending a Broken Journey is a great debut novel from Melissa Delgado and I look forward to her other stories in this series! I really wanted to rate this four stars and it totally would have been a four star read for me except, Ending a Broken Journey holds a huge pet peeve for me; I found it really hard to get past this as it took up about 60% of the story. My issue was not with Melissa's writing because she did a beautiful job with that. My concerns centered solely on the leading female, who in fact killed this book for me. Seriously, I loved the other 98% of the book, not to mention I adored the premise and characters. My love/hate relationship with this character knows no bounds. Kennie's character was just way too overwhelming, so much so that I almost felt suffocated with her negativity. I often thought of giving up but, here is where I tell you the same thing Kim told me, hang in there because the book does take on a wicked sweet feel to it; the hero and secondary characters will snag your attention keeping you engaged.

Mackenzie (aka Kennie) really threw me for a loop on this one. As I said earlier, I had a major love/hate relationship with her. I don't want to seem insensitive because I totally got why she was so down on herself, furthermore, I also understand what the effects of emotional and mental abuse can do to a person. However since it took her so long to open up and begin the healing process I found it very hard to connect with her character. The beginning of the story is very overwhelming, somewhat heavy, as we learn of Kennie's thoughts regarding her self-worth. In my humble opinion, I really wanted to see the healing process flow a bit sooner through her journey, starting the healing sooner could have softened the staggering negativity in her character, making Kennie easier to sympathize and relate to.

Where Kennie drove me nuts her co-characters helped balance that out with their fun witty banter and lovable personalities. The character development and chemistry between all of them was well written and often times intriguing (I even adored Drew and Kennie together, I just struggled with her personal growth). Drew, Jax, Kip, Cass and Ade really do own this story. I had so much fun with them. Especially Jax (broken tatted bad boys always seem to snag my attention though, I am so damn easy). So Melissa, please get us Jax soon!

Thanks you, Melissa L. Delgado, for providing me with an ARC of Ending a Broken Journey in exchange for my honest review.


Be Inspired. Be Beautiful. Be YOU." - MLD ....My life motto.

Formally known on Goodreads as: "Profesora Emerson~Mel~" ( I DO miss the name btw ;) )

I love anything and everything pertaining to make up or beauty. I love to write and shop. I love going to the movies and spending time with my friends and family.I love to dance. I love to laugh and to make others laugh. I'm inspired by dance, music, poetry, and photography. I feel there is beauty in everything. I believe to get respect you have to give respect and to treat others how you want to be treated. I love everything and anything vintage. I love Jesus and believe in having faith in the unseen and unheard. I love to have fun and make new memories. But mostly, I love life. Enjoying the road I'm on and making the most of it :)