Breaking The Silence by Katie Allen

After enduring a horrific childhood, William Jackson lives a solitary existence working as a computer programmer from his Minnesota home. His safe routine is blown to pieces when the daily sight of an unknown woman walking her dog sends his heart into a tailspin.Jenny Fitzgerald's love life is at a definite low. Her only potential date in sight is her annoying and creepy coworker, Evan — until a stunning man appears before her like a gift from some kindly sex god. Who is she to turn down what's offered to her on a hunky blond platter?Will and Jenny's friendship develops as their hunger grows into love. Meanwhile, a jealous Evan watches, his rage building until it explodes in a brutal act of violence that tears Jenny's life apart. Will struggles to help her rebuild her courage and sense of self as his own demons and fragile memories threaten their chance at happiness — but perhaps they can learn to heal each other.


I completely, 100% blame Katie(babs) for the fact that I am up at this ridiculous hour. The other day she'd posted her review for this book. I thought it sounded interesting and bought it from Ellora's Cave. I just finished it and had to put my thoughts into words ASAP.

How do I begin? As Katie stated, this book is different than a lot of erotica. The hero, Will, is a virgin. Yep, you heard me right. And this is erotica. Whoo-hoo! Something different.

His childhood wasn't the best and after a traumatic experience, he hid himself away from the rest of the world, immersing himself in his job as a computer programmer. His only "connection" with the real world is from the window overlooking the path outside his house. For the last couple of weeks, he's been watching a woman walk her dog. Of course, he's also pleasuring himself, but that's a totally different story. Not! LOL!

Anyhoodles, he finally gets up enough nerve to go out and meet her. It's a relatively awkward first introduction, but the attraction is there and it is instant. And it is smokin', and I do mean smokin', hot. Jenny, the heroine hasn't been laid in well over two years, relatively content with her pretty boring life. When she meets Will, her first thought is "whoa" and then "Whoa!" :)

Watching the two of them interact as they got to know each other was just plain heart warming. Will is just so...sweet as he realizes almost immediately that she is the right woman for him. But, due to his lack of experience and the fact that he is extremely shy, he's so unsure of himself around her. It's cute and it just made me want to cuddle him. *sniffle*

I do have to warn you though, there is a very, very brutal attempted rape in this book. The scenes leading up to, going thru, and afterwards are just...heart-breaking. You feel for both Jenny & Will as they struggle to put their lives back together.

However, Ms. Allen handles this situation with brutal honesty. It's not all pretty and happy. The ramifications are there. You see how Jenny struggles, not just with the after effects of the attempt, but also in regaining herself. Will's struggle to be gentle with her and yet his almost overwhelming need to keep her safe. Wow!

I've gone over the basics, but wanted to do a good and bad as well. There were definitely more good, but there's a bad that's been bugging me since I read it. Here goes.


The Good:


Jenny. What an awesome heroine! Strong, feminine, totally gaga over her man and willing to be what Will needs her to be. *sigh*

Will. I just loved him. So strong and yet so innocent in so many ways. His character just made me turn into jelly.

Christian & Carrie: Finally! A gay male who isn't a charicature of a gay man. He came across just like my gay friends. A miracle! And Carrie...not as fun, but a great secondary character.

The villain. Ew! Just, ew! What a creep! And he gets his comeuppance! Whoot!

The over-all storyline. Great story.

The sex. As I stated at the beginning, it's smokin'.


Now onto...The Bad: *****SPOILERISH*****


And this is the only bad, but it was almost a deal-breaker. There's a scene where Will and Jenny are making love. Will is going down on her and begins to lick her "dark passage." Okay, for me, the butt is just not someplace a tongue should go. But that's not the part that grossed me out (much). It's the fact that A. he then goes back to her clit (germs much), but B. he kisses her...ON THE MOUTH!!!! Ack! I kid you not, I think I threw up a little. I almost stopped reading the book at that point, because all I kept thinking was he's kissing her! And he just licked her anal passage. Dude! *ack ack ack*


So, how did I feel about this book? Other than the above "bad" I loved this book. It was so sweet and well-done. I can't recommend it enough (though if you're not into the butt-licking, skim that part).


Rating: A- (for the "bad" part) Otherwise it would've been a higher grade.