Early Review Tour: Three Broken Promises: Monica Murphy

by Reviews by Tammy and Kim - Monday, December 30, 2013

THREE BROKEN PROMISES (Drew+Fable#3 )
Add to Goodreads
Pre-order/Buy: Amazon/B&N
Expected December 31, 2013

Commitment.

That’s what I really want from Colin. Ever since my brother, Danny, died in Iraq, Colin’s done so much to help me, including giving me a job at his popular restaurant so I can leave my crappy waitressing job at the strip joint. But lying in bed with him every night to comfort him from his horrible nightmares isn’t enough anymore. I know he feels guilty about Danny’s death, about not going to Iraq, but I can’t keep living this double life.

I love him desperately, but he’s got so many demons, and if he can’t open up to me now, then he’ll never be the real partner I need him to be. I gave him a month, and now I’m out of here. If he truly loves me like he says, he knows where to find me.

We met Jen and Colin in Second Chance Boyfriend. Jen is Fable's best friend and Colin is their boss at The District. Colin and Jen also grew up together, share a past, and a significant loss.

Oh my, Jen and Colin literally circle around each other. They live together, work together, really want to be together, but there are such walls between them and both are wary to cross them. Both have guilt, secrets, and regrets from their past. They desperately want each other, but are too scared of rejection or ruining their friendship. So they are experts at fight or flight syndrome and try to avoid crossing the line.

But Jen hates feeling like an obligation and feels the need to escape and it terrifies them both. The sexual tension builds and builds until they cannot stop their physical chemistry from exploding. But both are too fearful to let their true underlying feelings show. So they continue to dance around what is really going on and avoid spilling what they really feel.

"We're always hurting each other rather than facing the truth. It's just easier that way."

Jen's a true runner and her impulsivity tends to get her into trouble. She wants to be independent and have freedom, but it also scared of being alone. She really did make some poor decisions that had me shaking my head. Colin takes responsibility for everything and internalizes it to the point that it nearly destroys him. He often pushes her away. They're both so bogged down by their their guilt and their pasts that they can't seem to break down those last few walls. And they are both just stubborn enough and insecure enough that the situation is hard to resolve. It was clear to everyone that they belonged together, but they were the ones holding themselves back and too afraid to face the rejection that they feared. So it was push and pull throughout the book with miscommunication, avoidance, fighting, and chasing. I got frustrated with both of them at times. I seriously wanted to lock them in a room and hide the key until they said what they needed to say. There were times I wanted to shake him and others I wanted to hold him and make it better. We got both of their points of view so we knew what they were feeling, but they were both clueless, stubborn, and insecure when it came to the other one. They both just were too afraid to face it all and open up. I wanted to high-five Fable and her big mouth for trying to make them see the situation. And Drew for getting involved too. And their issues were not created in the day so it was not going to be solved in a day either.

I really wanted them as a couple though. They had such a deep connection binding them together. But it was tempered by feelings of loss and guilt. Their pain and fear crippled them both emotionally. But they had good chemistry and truly cared about the other one.

This installment was frustrating and tense, but also emotional and sweet at times. Monica Murphy likes to get you all riled up about her characters' actions and this was no exception. But it was not as angsty or deeply emotional to me as the first two books. But I enjoy the characters in this series and I look forward to more with Fable and Drew in Drew+Fable Forever and her brother Owen's book Four Years Later.

Thanks to Monica Murphy for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Three Broken Promises dwells in the world of the Drew + Fable series, but centers around Jennifer and Colin, Fable's best friend and her boss. Jennifer and Colin have been friends since childhood, when Colin was best friend's with Jen's brother, Danny. When Danny dies, Jen leaves home and falls in to dark times. Colin is filled with guilt about Danny's death and the situation in which Jen finds herself. Feeling like he has failed his best friend and the woman he promised to take care of, Colin keeps himself separated from Jen, offering her a place to live and work but little else. All Jen has ever wanted was to love and be close to Colin, but her past keeps her from opening up, as does the fear that she is too dependent on Colin. Both have secrets they are keeping from each other, and those secrets keep each from trusting that the other will stick around when the secrets come to light.

I spent a good half of this book wishing the characters would just talk to each other. Colin spends so much time making sure Jen is safe, and Jen spends her nights comforting Colin after his nightmares, but neither one talks about why they are so willing to support the other. Nor do they recognize that the other is there for the same reason. The lack of communication added so much tension and conflict to the story that at times I wished I could reach in and smack them. Or that Fable would smack them for me. I noticed some points, especially in the first half of the story, that Colin and Jen seem to ignore everything around them. It seems that Fable, and even to a certain extent Drew, can see that they are both interested in more from the other, but they just ignore all the signs.

Once I reached the point where some of their secrets come to light, and Colin and Jen quit ignoring the signs around them, then it started picking up again for me and things flowed better. Characters that come in to play later in the book are really the reason Jen and Colin start talking.

It was a good story with conflicted characters. I'm kind of a sucker for these kinds of characters, so even with the pacing issues I had with the first part of the book, I enjoyed reading Jen and Colin's story. I found through my frustration with their lack of communication thinking, "OK, they have to talk about it now, right?" And that thought process kept me involved and moving with the story.

Thanks to Monica Murphy for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Other Books in this series:

ONE WEEK GIRLFRIEND (book 1)
Add to Goodreads Buy Amazon/B&N
Kim's 4.5 star review

Temporary. That one single word best describes my life these last few years. I’m working at a temporary job until I can finally break free. I’m my little brother’s temporary mother since our mom doesn’t give a crap about either of us. And I’m that temporary girl all the guys want to get with because I give it up so easily. According to the rumors, at least.

But now I’m the temporary girlfriend of Drew Callahan, college football legend and all around golden guy. He’s beautiful, sweet—and he’s hiding way more secrets than I am. He’s brought me into this fake life where everyone seems to hate me. And everyone seems to want something from him. The only thing he seems to want though is…Me.

I don’t know what to believe anymore. All I know is, I think Drew needs me. And I want to be there for him.

SECOND CHANCE BOYFRIEND (book 2)
Add to Goodreads Buy Amazon/B&N
Kim's 4.5 star review

Lost. That one single word best describes my life at this very moment. I lost the last games of the season and both my team and my coach blame me. I lost the last two months because I drowned in my own despair like a complete loser. And I lost the only girl who ever mattered because I was afraid being with me would destroy her.

But now I realize how truly lost I am without her. She has become my story…and even though she acts like she’s moved on, I know she still thinks about me just as much as I think about her. She’s beautiful, sweet—and so damn vulnerable, all I want to do is help her. Be there for her.Love her…

If only I could convince Fable to give me a second chance. Then I wouldn’t feel so lost anymore, and neither would she. We could be found together. Forever.

Upcoming titles:

DREW + FABLE FOREVER (book 3.5)
Add to Goodreads

Pre-Order Links (99 cents!): AMAZON/B&N/iTUNES
Expected January 14, 2014

Monica Murphy returns with her most beloved characters, Drew and Fable, in this eBook original short story that brings her bestselling New Adult series full circle.

Fantasy. How I ended up with NFL player Drew Callahan, the guy every woman wants, is beyond my wildest dreams. All I know is that once he chose me as his one and only, I sure wasn’t looking back. I had past wounds and he showed patience and concern—even accepting responsibility for my messed-up kid brother. Now, yet again, he's found a way to blow my mind: an exotic wedding and honeymoon miles and miles away from home. What else could a girl ever ask for?

Reality. Except now the honeymoon’s over. Drew's football schedule takes him on the road constantly, while I need to stay put and look after my brother until he finishes high school—because God knows our sorry excuse for a mother won’t. I know Drew loves me with all his heart, and I’ll always be over the moon about him. This just isn’t how I imagined life as newlyweds . . . dealing with the distance, missing him constantly. But we’ve gone through hard times before. We can get through this, too, right? We’re Drew and Fable, together forever. At least I hope so. . . .

FOUR YEARS LATER (book 4)

Add to Goodreads
Pre-order Amazon/B&N

Expected February 25, 2014
Owen's story

New Adult bestselling author Monica Murphy winds up her sensational series with this sexy story of two college kids with nothing in common but a bunch of baggage and a burning attraction.

Over. That about sums up everything in my life. Suspended from my college football team and forced to cut back my hours at The District bar because of my crappy grades, I can’t keep turning to my sister, Fable, and her pro-football playing husband, Drew, to bail me out. I just can’t seem to find my own way. Weed and sex are irresistible temptations—and it’s messed up that I secretly hand over money to our junkie mom. A tutor is the last thing I want right now—until I get a look at her.

Chelsea is not my type at all. She’s smart and totally shy. I’m pretty sure she’s even a virgin. But when she gives me the once over with those piercing blue eyes, I’m really over. But in a different way. I won’t deny her ass is killer, but it’s her brain and the way she seems to crave love—like no one’s ever given her any—that make me want her more than any girl I’ve ever met. But what would someone as seemingly together as her ever see in a screwed up guy like me?

Monica Murphy
Website/Blog/Facebook /Twitter/Goodreads

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Monica Murphy is a native Californian who lives in the foothills below Yosemite. A wife and mother of three, she writes New Adult and contemporary romance for Bantam and Avon. She is the author of One Week Girlfriend and Second Chance Boyfriend.