Title: Broken Soldier
Author: Jamie Lynn Miller
Genre: M/M Romance
Release Date: March 5, 2016
Sergeant Connor Finley and Sergeant Shawn Weller are dedicated soldiers working covert ops for Shadow Unit -- a joint UK/US anti-terrorism task force.
Partners in the field and out, they had been through hell together for the last four years and made it through standing side by side. But when their latest undercover op to bring down an arms dealer plunges them into a world of drugs, sex and violence, Shawn must literally get in bed with the enemy in order to complete the mission. And Connor is forced to watch, helpless, as his partner is broken into pieces. Will love be enough to put them both back together or will this be their final mission? WARNING: Contains scenes of drug use, graphic sex and realistic situations.
This was quite a hard book to read, mainly due to what Shawn went through while on the undercover mission. You also really felt for Connor who had to sit and watch what was happening, but knowing he could do nothing about it. You realise the two men love each other, but neither has actually said that to the other. They both come across as the strong silent types.
Shawn and Connor were partners within the Shadow Unit, but also partners in life – although nobody they worked with knew. They know each other so well, and seem to have a special close bond between them. However, things change on their latest undercover op, as Shawn has to get up close and personal with the main target of their mission. Shawn has to put all his feelings for Connor aside, to enable him to be bedded by his target, but he is also having to take drugs during this time, and although he doesn’t like it has to do it to keep his cover.
To me, it was hard to read Shawn taking the drugs, but you could understand why he was doing so but you also knew that he hated every minute of this operation. You would also take visits down memory lane with Shawn when he was being bedded by the main target, so he could think of Connor and not react and push the man away. To me, it came across as Shawn thinking he was now dirty to Connor, but thinking of Connor was the only thing to keep him going.
Connor is watching from the side-lines, and hates what he sees happening to Shawn, but he cannot intervene as they are so close to completing the mission. Connor and Shawn spend a night together when they think it will be safe, but someone working for the target sees them and then it is a race against time for Connor and the rest of the team, to get in to save Shawn who has been outed.
Can Connor manage to arrive in time to save Shawn? Does Shawn actually want Connor to save him, or is he so unstable now that he feels death would be the better release? Can the love that Connor feels for Shawn survive what has happened?
Although I have said it was a hard book to read, I must say that I couldn't put it down. I just had to keep reading to find out what happened to Connor and Shawn.
Shawn and Connor were partners within the Shadow Unit, but also partners in life – although nobody they worked with knew. They know each other so well, and seem to have a special close bond between them. However, things change on their latest undercover op, as Shawn has to get up close and personal with the main target of their mission. Shawn has to put all his feelings for Connor aside, to enable him to be bedded by his target, but he is also having to take drugs during this time, and although he doesn’t like it has to do it to keep his cover.
To me, it was hard to read Shawn taking the drugs, but you could understand why he was doing so but you also knew that he hated every minute of this operation. You would also take visits down memory lane with Shawn when he was being bedded by the main target, so he could think of Connor and not react and push the man away. To me, it came across as Shawn thinking he was now dirty to Connor, but thinking of Connor was the only thing to keep him going.
Connor is watching from the side-lines, and hates what he sees happening to Shawn, but he cannot intervene as they are so close to completing the mission. Connor and Shawn spend a night together when they think it will be safe, but someone working for the target sees them and then it is a race against time for Connor and the rest of the team, to get in to save Shawn who has been outed.
Can Connor manage to arrive in time to save Shawn? Does Shawn actually want Connor to save him, or is he so unstable now that he feels death would be the better release? Can the love that Connor feels for Shawn survive what has happened?
Although I have said it was a hard book to read, I must say that I couldn't put it down. I just had to keep reading to find out what happened to Connor and Shawn.
Connor cut himself off as Shawn let out an angry yell and swung a wild punch at him. Connor was forced to release Shawn’s wrist to avoid his partner’s fist, which would have caught him right in the face. He stumbled back a step, hitting the refrigerator, nearly losing his footing on the items strewn about on the floor. Just as he straightened up, Shawn grabbed a coffee mug off the counter and hurled it at Connor’s head. Connor dropped to a crouch and the mug smashed into the refrigerator.
Keeping low, Connor went at Shawn like an American football player, ducking under his partner’s arms and catching him around his middle. Shawn’s back hit the edge of the counter and both of them slid to the floor. Shawn’s fists began pummeling at Connor’s arms and chest as Connor got Shawn first onto his back then flipped over onto his stomach, straddling his waist. Shawn tried to buck him off, yelling angrily and Connor was amazed at the strength the desperate craving for the heroin gave him.
“Please, Connor, please,” Shawn pleaded with him, breathing hard. “I just need a little bit. Just a little and I’ll be fine…”
Connor quickly pulled the syringe out of his pocket and used his mouth to pull off the cap, which he spit out onto the floor.
He swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry, mate,” he said, voice rough, then injected Shawn with the sedative.
“I need it, Connor, I need it…” Shawn mumbled as his eyes closed moments later, succumbing to the effects of the sedative.
Connor slid off of Shawn’s body then, slumping against the counter next to him, his face in his hands, gutted to the core by what had just transpired. A lump formed in his throat as he lifted his head and looked at his partner, lying there unconscious. Shawn’s face was drawn, flushed and wet with sweat, battered and bruised with dark circles under his eyes that had looked at him with such pain and desperation.
Shawn was the strongest, bravest man Connor had ever known, now reduced to this broken soldier before him.
All because of duty and loyalty to his unit and his mission. For the first time Connor feared that Shawn had been shattered into too many pieces to ever be put back together again.
His chest constricted at the thought, the grief and anger inside him suddenly too much to contain any longer. He grabbed for Shawn’s hand and held on tight as he broke down, the first sob tearing through him. He cried for Shawn, who was fighting a battle he might not be able to win and he cried for the two of them, wondering how they’d survive if Shawn didn’t.
He cried until there was nothing left inside him, until his eyes ran dry and his throat burned. He gathered Shawn into his arms then and held him tight, wishing he could take his place, but instead willing every ounce of strength he had into him, the only thing he could do.
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Jamie Lynn Miller has been writing fiction since childhood and decided to take the plunge and go pro in 2008, finding to her amazement that people truly enjoyed her love stories. She’s a romantic at heart, and her tales reflect the desire we all have to find “the one,” persevering through trials and heartache for that happy ending.
Jamie has a degree in fine arts and has spent the last twenty years working as a graphic designer, though she’d much rather be writing. She was born in Chicago and still lives there today with her husband and their two furry, four-footed children, er… cats.
If she’s not brainstorming story ideas, you can find Jamie at a sci-fi convention, in front of a furnace doing glass blowing, or on a mat twisted into a yoga pose.
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Tempeste O’Riley is an out and proud pansexual genderfluid whose best friend growing up had the courage to do what they couldn’t—defy the hate and come out. He has been their hero ever since.