Broken Juliet (The Starcrossed Series Book 2)

Review originally posted at The Book Enthusiast: http://thebookenthusiast.net/broken-juliet-starcrossed-2-by-leisa-rayven-review.Broken Juliet by Leisa Rayven was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. After reading Bad Romeo I had one of those “Where have you been all my life?!” moments about Rayven. I have been calling her the Queen of Angst for a while now, and I knew if the conclusion of Cassie and Ethan’s story was anything like the beginning I would need the wine and Xanax handy. Broken Juliet was easily one of the best books I have read this year. Rayven did a masterful job of creating an emotionally charged and memorable story that stole my heart. The series as a whole has definitely been added to my all-time favorites list.While Bad Romeo focused on the fact that Ethan broke Cassie’s heart, Broken Juliet actually showed us how he broke it. The story starts exactly where it left off with Cassie seriously contemplating giving Ethan one more chance. Once again the scenes alternate between the present and the past. Rayven does a fantastic job of ending each chapter at just the right place, leaving the reader frantically flipping through the pages to find out what happened next. The chapters work together seamlessly to give us a full picture of what happened between Cassie and Ethan and what the future has in store for them.The Cassie we see in this book has some serious doubts to overcome. Her heart wanted Ethan, but as the title of the book suggests he had broken her. As we learned more details about their past, my heart was aching for her. Ethan didn’t simply hurt her. He crushed her. How do you learn to trust someone who has done that to you? Her struggle felt real and honest. I will admit that a part of me wanted to see her scream at him and maybe punch him in the face. Not terribly mature, but he would have deserved it. Cassie was such an intelligent and strong woman, and it was easy to empathize with her. Should she listen to her head or her heart?Ethan. Oh, Ethan. Let me start by saying that I have always liked Ethan. I haven’t always liked his behavior, but as our hero I am a fan. In the present day scenes of Broken Juliet we saw a much different Ethan. He was remorseful and devastated over how he had hurt Cassie. Ethan was determined to win her back at all costs. I appreciated that he understood it would take time. His patience and genuine adoration for Cassie won me over. There was no doubt in my mind that she was his heart and soul. Once he truly let his feelings shine through, there was no stopping him. Some of those journal entries simply gutted me.I cannot stress enough how perfectly Rayven married the past and the present in this story. Seeing what Cassie went through because of Ethan’s self-doubt was a difficult pill to swallow. The push and pull between them was exhausting at times. Their love was such an emotional rollercoaster, but somewhere in my heart I just knew that they belonged together. Not only did Cassie and Ethan have crazy chemistry (I thought my Kindle was going to catch on fire in some parts!), but they also had such a fun way of bantering and interacting with each other that was incredibly endearing. The connection between them was undeniable.Rayven deserves a standing ovation for this book and the series as a whole. Her writing style is wonderful. Cassie and Ethan’s story drew me in from the very beginning and never let go. I enjoyed watching how they changed and grew from the first book to this one, especially Ethan. Love is never easy, and Cassie and Ethan are certainly proof of that. Broken Juliet was a delicious mix of angst, steam, and raw emotion that I felt on every single page. I can’t wait for Elissa’s book, and I hope we will see a little of Cassie and Ethan in there. Kudos to Rayven on another incredible story. This is one series you absolutely don’t want to miss.*An advance copy of this book was received in exchange for an honest review.*

5 glorious stars, one of the best series EVERI am emotionally drained in the best possible way. Ethan and Cassie's journey has been so intense, so real, so heartbreaking and finally so healing. (Also HOTTTT). This book didn't just mention/gloss over Cassie's heartache, it made me, the reader, go back with Cassie and experience all the ugly hurt in order to move forward. It wasn't pretty and I didn't expect to feel the devastation, the helplessness, the sadness...all of it so deeply. Seriously, I need you to hold me as I type this review. But all that made me feel the depth of their love and passion (yes, Erika!) and how they were meant to be together. The plot (as you can read in the synopsis) was once again simple, yet the way Ms. Rayven wrote it made it so rich and layered and colorful, yet still delicate and intricate. She is such a gifted author and I will read EVERYTHING she writes. Hold on because I'm about to bring flailing reviews to a whole new level.Ethan..is a whole new Ethan. I know, right? Whaaa? But don't worry, we still meet old Ethan in the flashbacks and it's tough. It's pretty bad and I get why Cassie is the way she is now with him. But this new Ethan, I kind of totally loved him too because I knew what emotional turmoil he'd been through. Angst loving friends, this is like your bible.Cassie was so strong. Unbelievably strong, even when she was broken. My heart went out to her when Ethan broke hers, but she was amazing. I loved her the entire time, never wavering once. I have a huge girl crush on her and she goes down as one of my most favorite heroines ever.The romance was amazing. I could feel the cracks, I understood them, and I understood that they both hated how they felt and I really don't know if either of them could have done anything differently because that is *just* who they were. The sexual tension was always crazy, was always fresh, was always intense and undeniable. I swear I know exactly how these two react to each other as well as they do.The secondary characters were more in the background this time. We did see Ruby and she was OK. We also had Tristan who was also ok. I think my favorite is Josh from book 3, Wicked Heart (yes, I read them out of order). While Cassie's friends were good, Josh was a riot and I found myself laughing out loud at him.The ending was glorious. It was long and gave me a chance to really believe Cassie and Ethan got their HEA and the rug wasn't going to be pulled out from under me again.Rec it? omggggg YES! If you love angst, and I'm talking seriously emotional, gut wrenching, how much more can my heart take angst....this is a must for your TBR. If you also love passion, you will find this book hits the jackpot. This series makes it to my all time favorites list, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.Happy reading!

NB. Reiew covers Broken Juliet & Bad Romeo - minor spoilers.Originally written as Twilight Fan Fiction, these contemporary books tell the stories of Cassie Taylor and Ethan Holt, who meet at a performing arts college in New York State.“Cassie was the good-girl actress. He was the bad boy on campus. But the fated casting choices for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing on stage, Cassie and Ethan’s destinies seemed entwined. It was an epic romance. Until it ended in tragedy when he shattered her heart.”Told from Cassie’s point of view, the stories perfectly combine college era and a present day narratives when Cassie and Ethan meet once again as the stars of a Broadway show. Ethan broke Cassie’s heart twice during college. Cassie’s never managed to move on. But Ethan’s determined to convince her he’s changed, that she can trust him again.The narratives are ambitious, flitting between past and present, but Leisa has made them work very well. Present day Cassie and Ethan starkly contrast their college era personalities. Additionally, in ‘Bad Romeo’ we have glimpses of Cassie’s diary entries whilst in ‘Broken Juliet’ we have glimpses of both their diaries. The excerpts from Ethan’s diaries give insight into the insecurities that led him to break Cassie’s heart. And, if that weren’t enough, Leisa has also intertwined elements of the story of those world-famous star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Leisa’s skilfully woven all these elements together to create two of the most emotionally gripping novels I’ve ever read.The books were a delicious sumptuous and sensual delight, suspending disbelief so completely for me that I’ve had to read them again with a more critical eye for this review instead of being swept along in a heart-wrenching storm. Leisa hasn’t wasted time with anything more than brief sketches of place and setting; everything is about the poignant emotional and physical connection between Cassie and Ethan but without being irritatingly angst-ridden. The sexual attraction and tension between them was simply perfect, creating precisely the scenario every woman wants physically from a real-life relationship. Leisa also wrote possibly the most realistic losing-your-virginity scene that I’ve ever encountered, managing to make it simultaneously sexy and sweet.Thankfully, there are no ill-timed poisons or handy daggers for these star-crossed lovers but the parallels are clear; Ethan’s low self-esteem was the death-knell of their relationship in college and Cassie’s trust issues could prevent their present-day happy ever after. Sometimes your own worst enemy is yourself. Both juxtapositions lead to plenty of tumultuous highs and lows. The characters were well-drawn and plausible, with clear growth. Ethan was satisfyingly and believably male even though his story is primarily told through Cassie’s eyes. I felt every moment of their anger, happiness and sadness as though it were happening to me.Aside from the breath-taking attraction and turbulent feelings, there are also sporadic, but utterly memorable, hilarious one-liners that made me actually laugh out loud. Most of them are from Cassie; there are more in ‘Bad Romeo’ when Cassie hadn’t been broken by Ethan. They provide many relatable moments and much needed light relief from the rest of the story.Leisa is a new author for me and caught my eye on a blogger’s post on Twitter. I’m so glad that I succumbed to their cover appeal and bought these books as they are definite contenders for my Shelf of Inspiration (the ultimate accolade). There are few books where every word fits, every sentence is justified and the whole is just so right that you can only marvel. I was utterly gripped and read both books in one weekend.I can’t wait for Ethan’s sister’s story, Wicked Heart, which is released in May 2016 in the UK.

Broken Juliet is the continuation of Bad Romeo. You need to of read Bad Romeo before this book as the story continues straight after book 1's cliffhanger.I LOVED Bad Romeo. It was one of the best books I'd ever read. I have been desperate to read Broken Juliet since finishing book 1 as the first book left so many questions. The author built the book up and up and up in book 1 until bang....it ended! You were left with no answers, no idea how things were going to go in the present or how things ended in the past and I for one wanted answers and couldn't wait to get them.When I first received Broken Juliet on my Kindle, part of me wanted to get straight in to the book, but part of me was apprehensive. I didn't want the story to end so I found myself putting myself off reading it. Finally when I stopped messing around and realised what I was doing, I started reading the book and I was hooked straight back in to the messed up world of Ethan and Cassie.Broken Juliet was layed out the same as Bad Romeo. The story was going back and forth to past and present all the time.The past in Broken Juliet was telling you all about how they finally came to break up after the cliffhanger, how Ethan and Cassie both coped on a daily basis seeing each other and having the pull between them all the time and them always trying to fight it.The present was now us reading about how broken Cassie is because of what Ethan did to her, how the games effected her emotional over the years and how that even though she didn't want to, she never stopped loving Ethan.Ethan also has a complete personality transplant in this book. He's gone away for the 3 years and got the help he desperatly needed. He's come back a changed man desprete to win Cassie back no matter what. He can't and won't except there is no future for them. He is willing to do anything to show her he's changed and the biggest thing he does is give her access to all his journals that he kept from when they were together, before they got together and him after he got help.I found this the most interesting, revealing and emotional parts of the book. Reading parts of Ethan's journals Were sad. We got to see deep inside him and understand him so much better. He was so moody, jealous, uptight and self destructive in book 1 that we got to look deep in his heart and read how much he has always loved Cassie even though he didn't no how to show it to her or us as a reader.I loved how the author incorrperated the journal enteries in to the story flawlessly and mixed the story up with her own dialogue and then the journal effortlessly. I never once felt the story was disjointed at all even though we were going back and forth and to journal enteries.Ethan really has become a changed man in the book and the title in both books is spot on. Ethan always said he would break Cassie and he did.It takes along time throughout the book though to find out exactly how he broke her and I wished we had found this out sooner rather as late as we did. I loved finding out about their past but we had already learnt so much about it in book 1, that I thought we would have maybe half the book going back and forth in this book and then the story would concerntrate on the present and Ethan and Cassie trying to sort through their issues and find their way back to one another. This wasn't the case though and so much of Broken Juliet was wrote about their past. I was slightly disappointed with this as the balance was off in my opinion. We had already had the moody,game playing stages in book 1 with Ethan, I understood we needed that in book 2 with Cassie but at 70% through were still in the past and no clearer on anything other than the couple going back and forth like in book 1. Nothing different happened, except the roles had changed. The author needed to put something in the story to shake it up, put in a twist and make the story more different than to book 1.Saying that though I found myself still gripped to the book. I dont no if it was because the story reminded me so much of book 1 or because of another reason altogether. I'm still slightly confused on that myself.I found that the questions I had from the end of book 1 were answered and were answered quite quickly. I also found I still loved Ethan and Cassie even with their roles now reversed. You could never deny the pull or attraction between the couple. They were meant to be together right from the get go, it just took them a lot of wasted Time and years to finally get their acts together.This truely was a epic love story and one that I won't forget in a hurry. Moody, irritated, self hater Ethan who had the heart of Gold and had everything he could ever want or needed ever stood in front of him, will be a character I won't be forgetting in a hurry.He really was the perfect Romeo and Cassie was his incredibly strong Juliet even when she didn't know it.The End!4.5 Stars

After the end of book one you're left with so many questions, I felt exactly what Cassie was feeling but Ethan really bares everything for her in this book to try and prove they're worth everything that has happened and NOW is were they're supposed to be together. Stronger and more mature.OF course I loved it, all the angst, the humour, the way in which it was woven around the classic love story of Romeo and Juliet. More please Leisa Rayven, more!

broken Juliet was emotionally amazing ! From beginning to end every emotion was heartfelt,passion,love,regret,heartbreak,book passed my expectations & more well done leisa raven on beautifully heartfelt written love story thank you so much bringing sex on a stick Ethan into my life lol can't wait for elissa & liams book !

Broken Juliet or as I like to call it "God, Ethan, get your sh*t together!!" was amazing and just as good, if not better than the first book. With it's brilliant writing, Leisa Rayven has now basically ensured that I will read anything and everything she writes.