Book Review of Broken Bonds by J. Bree with Bookstagrammer Megan

In this book podcast episode, I sit down with a passionate bookstagrammer @bookish_megeen to discuss our latest read Broken Bonds by J. Bree. We dive deep into the book's themes, characters, and overall impressions. We share our favorite moments and insights, giving listeners a unique perspective on the novel. Whether you're a fan of the book or just love talking about great reads, this podcast is sure to offer valuable insights and inspiration.

WARNING: This podcast does have spoilers

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0:00

To start out. Thank you. Coming on today. I really appreciate it. A big background for us is that you were my first bookstagrammer friend. I'll never get over that. I have a very shy person. You just reached out to me, and I was like, oh, okay. 1s People in

0:19

my bread and butter.

0:21

So you're bookish Megan on bookstagram. You been on there for quite a while. So tell me a little bit about how long you've been on here and a little bit about yourself. Honestly,

0:32

it was only a year in February. It feels like it was a lot longer. Only a year.

0:36

I started around the same time.

0:39

And my name is Bookish_.

0:43

Okay. Yeah. Don't ask why I did that. I think there was already a bookish Megan. Okay. So I just did that

0:55

wanting to talk about what I do outside Instagram. So I am a virtual assistant. So I work from home. I work for therapist, basically mental health professional. Okay. So that's what I do.

1:08

That's cool. So if anybody's wondering, I'm going to put her instagram handle and her information out in the show notes. So if anybody wants to follow her, go ahead. She's very friendly. So reach out to her, follow her, connect with her. She's amazing. That's very nice of you. Now I'm blushing. 2s You can't see it. 3s Yeah. So

1:35

community for me, especially since I work from home now, it's really crazy. I was very only child, so very extrovert. And then as I've gotten older, 2020, working from home, very introverted. Now I go through, like, spurts of energy of being extroverted, and then I'm like, oh, no, my battery is really low. I got to go. I got to go. 1s Bookstagram was really awesome because it got me talking to people, all different people from all over the world. I could kind of step in and step out as I felt comfortable, and I loved it.

2:10

I've used to meet cool people like you,

2:11

Charity.

2:14

Yeah, I agree with the step it in, step it out, because I was extroverted myself as a kid as I worked from home, I started just isolating a lot, just didn't have anybody to talk to about books because it just never been anybody's hobby growing up. I think I just decided to try it. It was scared as crud and then met you. So I think that kind of really infiltrated me into this environment because I'm like people love to talk about this, love to talk about books, and that just was so heartwarming for me. And I think we did a buddy read that put me in a book slump. But it was great to do that because I never done that. You were like my first for everything

2:54

hang. 1s I didn't do very many buddy reads by the time that you and I had. Done one. I think I'd only done like one or two. So that's why I was like, I'm kind of open to whatever works for you. I don't know how to deal with them. I didn't

3:08

either, but yeah, you sounded like a pro 3s years. I could tell

3:16

talk a

3:16

lot. I think that was the thing when I first started, I was just so excited to find people that I could talk to about books because I do have friends 2s in real life. In person. It feels like it feels like a whole new

3:32

world that do have a passion for books but not always the same kind of book. Yeah. This is a lot of fun.

3:42

I agree. Especially since I think you've been getting into a lot of monster romance

3:47

lately. Oh, yeah. It's so funny. Okay. My friend got me started on fantasy romance. Honestly, I did a lot of oh, no, I do a lot of nonfiction. 2s I did do fiction, obviously. Like throwing up the Twilight the Hunger Games the

4:06

Ugly the OGS Yeah, I did read those little high for anyone out there that reads Rogue High. 1s But I went through kind of like an audiobook nonfiction phase, especially when I was doing things with my hands. But my friend introduced me to Chloe, to Spicy and then I just dived in. I went straight for like let's just do it to the point where she's like, all right, Megan, I haven't gone there yet. Been reading this genre a lot longer than you, but I love it. Monster romance. What? Mafia dark romance. Right. There's not a subgenre of romance that I don't like their favorites and least favorites.

4:52

But if it's got a dash of romance in it, I don't like Closed Door. I do read them, but I don't like closed door as much. There's a

5:01

sense of closure when you actually read it happening. It's sad, but

5:06

if I'm prepared for it, it's a little different. But if I just picked up a book and I didn't know, then I'm like crushed 2s just the smallest, smallest amount. It could be just small, it

5:17

could be vague details

5:19

to stop the chapter and then go into the next. I'm like that's jarring for me. 2s Everyone has their levels. Yeah, exactly. When I do rate books, I don't hold it again, closed door because it's for someone

5:36

hop into it now just to go over the book, talk about the book. Because some people just wants to know about the book without having to read it. Especially since this one already prefaced to say in the summary that there is trigger warnings in here. Yeah. Reread Broken Bonds by J Brie

5:56

J. Brie. Yeah,

5:58

we've been seeing her a lot. Bookstagram. She's been around for a while, but I think just recently she started becoming bookstagram famous.

6:06

I think her newer book, the last one in the series, is the one that I started seeing everywhere first. That was, like, my first introduction to her. Right.

6:15

Read over the synopsis. After the death of my mother and her bonded, I was relieved to find my own bonds. I was sure everything would be okay if I had them. It wasn't the fate of of people in my hands. And I know we better off that I'm alone. After five years on the run, I caught and dragged back the face of the men I ran away from. I thought it was doing the right thing. Now I'm not so sure. North, knox griffin Atlas. And Gay was never forgive me. But one thing is for sure, I will never forgive myself. Trigger warning she uses in this one particularly is language in sexual situations. And it's 18 plus. Okay. It's so

6:49

interesting to me that that's the only trigger warning.

6:53

Yeah. Now that I'm thinking about it. Definitely sexual situations.

6:58

Yeah. Well, there's, like, dubious consent.

7:01

Dubious? Yes. Kind

7:03

of like situation there. I know that in this book, they don't quite address it in one way or another for her, but that was dubious consent, bro. Yeah, that was

7:15

definitely trading the gray area.

7:17

Yeah. We

7:18

have our main character, who at first we only know her by

7:23

fallows. They do mention her as Oleander from one of the bad guys. You don't register.

7:30

Yeah. Skipped over that part quickly. Yeah. Well, also, I think we were used to hearing her. We were introduced to her as Fellows. So when they said Oleander, it just didn't snap in my head. Right. Fellows is her last name. Oleander is her first name. I would think the best description of this book for me, very entertaining in a way, but it's a need to know basis, information. Kind of a book. They don't give you the world building like you normally used to with fantasy books, and they just reveal the details as you're going. So it's like, oh, she went to a school. Oh, the bonded is kind of normal. Oh, this is a school for bonded. Oh, there's other ones like her. Oh, there's a central bond. And, oh, by the way, to complete these bonds, you have to commit the action.

8:16

I thought the book itself is under the fancy.

8:19

No, and what's crazy is that I've read I mentioned this to you, the Zodiac Academy kind of reminds me a lot of it. Even though it's set in college, it has that kind of high school feel to it. Almost

8:31

didn't read Zodiac Academy.

8:33

Personally, I think that's okay. 1s Zodiac Academy is personally like with crossing my limits. The writing wasn't the best, in my opinion, but I felt like this one, even though it was same level, it was written better, if that makes any sense.

8:48

I have Zodiac Academy. I'll read them eventually, and I've kind of been forewarned about the bullying, but I started with the prequel, so I'm still in the prequel. Okay, this reminded me a lot. Of the prequels, except I agree with you. I do think that this is written better. And when I say that, I feel like the prequels drag, and then all of a sudden, it gets really interesting, whereas this one, you are sort of still invested in finding out about these relationships, and then the plot does all of a sudden just turn around, and you're like, oh, we're in an action scene here. 3s Yes, I definitely agree with you. It makes sense for the writing to feel a little bit more juvenile because she's 19, and she basically ran away at

9:39

14. So she's got a

9:40

14 level education because she didn't go back to school. Right,

9:44

right. So it does

9:46

make sense to me, and it only helps me be in that mindset. It's just not my favorite. It's not bad. It's just not my favorite, and it kind of annoys me, especially when they use the B word to her. Bond.

10:00

Yeah. She just kind of rolls over and takes it a little bit.

10:03

It's frustrating. It's like, yeah. And they're very condescending. They're very mean because they're angry. There's five of them. And actually, for me, I thought there was just four until Atlas showed up. And I'm like, Wait, hold on. What five? And he's like, I don't care that you ran away. Which one's your favorite?

10:23

I actually like, between the two. North or Griffin? Is that how you say his name? Griffin or Griffin? Griffin.

10:31

I think that's what it is. I listened to the audiobook. So it was north. Knox Griffin, gabe Atlas. But who even knows that they pronounced the right I will say Atlas. Okay, so I have read on, but I'm not going to I've taken that out of my head. I'm just doing Megan from her notes. Atlas,

10:48

I love. Right? I

10:49

was definitely like, Why is he

10:52

so good? As opposed to all these guys in the same world that have this mentality that she owes them something. But Alice is over here like, Nah, cool. Do you if you

11:05

with me, that's fine, but eventually you're going to want to be with me because I'm awesome.

11:12

I'm like, I'm surprised at this point she has it because he is the good character out of the whole book, the most understanding and the less demeaning out of all of them.

11:23

What? Like, Griffin would be neck? Right. And then it slowly becomes north. Yeah.

11:28

North is such a complicated character. He's a hot and cold kind of a guy.

11:32

Yeah. Part of the council. And that's what I kind of wish we had a little bit more information was like, why was the council feared so much? Was the council of the school, the world, the bonds, the magic people? It's like, you're not getting a lot of information, that world, and I guess it's not so imperative to the story. It's fast paced enough that you didn't care so much, but when you read epic fantasies, and all these other fantasies you're like, I should focus on it. But are. Not as much because I think it's well done enough that you just kind of don't care about those details. Griffin I feel like, yeah,

12:07

it sucked me in. My gosh. I was like, when you first read it, like in a few hours, I was like, how is there no way this is a 400 page book. There's no way you can do that. And then I read mine in like 6 hours and I was like, okay, I get

12:18

it. As long as you have nothing to do,

12:22

you don't need sleep. Just remember

12:24

that. I only sleep. To be able to read more,

12:28

you need to be

12:29

aware. But I don't know if they mentioned this, but they're actually pretty huge age gap from R, F and B to the majority of

12:40

these bids. Yeah. Some of them are in college. Yeah. And the professor,

12:45

how old are you? Professor, you're here flirting with girls in the front row. How old are you? 1s But I think what are they, like 24? I

12:55

think they're around that age, but they're not really clear. The only person is the female character. That's the only age that they're clear about.

13:03

North is the one that's the oldest because he's like some sort

13:06

of council member or something.

13:08

Yeah, but in my head, when I started this book, immediately it's not my favorite because kind of low key, threatening to rape her, these two men. Yeah, genius. But it's genius because I'm immediately on her side. Doesn't matter how old, she's like, oh, I don't like the situation for you. Right. And then we meet these men who basically feel like they're owed something, and we start to slowly realize the culture is if you leave us, this is like some huge slap in the face. And here's the thing. If you really sit and think about it, it starts to kind of fall apart because it's like, if she's such a pariah, why isn't Sages guy Riley a pariah? Because he's completely mean to his bonded and rejects her. But this 14 year old ran away because these older after her mom and dad died. And she's a paranoia. If you sit and think about it, 1s it doesn't make sense.

14:10

And I think in the second book, I think it gets more into the details about how these bonds work and everything. Like stage, for example.

14:18

It definitely does. Book one, Megan is over here. Like, what? Because

14:23

they're like doing, like they said, blood tests and they're matched as soon as they do that blood test. What

14:29

were they expecting in the best scenario? Was she going to go live with the older, like, 19 year old men or possibly 20, whatever he was? I

14:41

don't know. Probably at the time.

14:43

Yeah. I don't know how old they all are. In my head, the 14 year old is going to be expected to have a bond that make her want to fill the deal with these older men. Lessons kind of creepy. I mean, not kind of. That does seem creepy if you don't think about it. Too much, and you just go along with the way the author is telling the story. It's really genius, honestly. She gives you just a little bit of information and you're like, but I want more. Right? You have all these questions. She just sucks you in until the end when you're like, I have to read book two. Now, this

15:21

is the part where it spoils a lot as we're going forewarning for everybody, right? She this whole time was able to hide her gift the whole time. She was kind of called gift list this whole time. So she's basically trash to these people. That's really stuck. And then as times go by, she starts revealing like, I do have an ability. I'm just hiding it. I'm just showing that I don't have it. And then at the very end, she was forced in the situation to use her ability. She's not giftless anymore.

15:52

Yeah. Can we just talk about how awesome her power is? Seems

15:55

like at the end that she has a lot more underneath than what she's revealing. And you see a little bit more in the second book. And I'm just like, okay, I can understand a little bit why you don't want to bond, but you don't have enough information as to like, you always heard in the first book that when the central her bonds, the bonds are the ones that become more powerful. But till the second book, now it's saying that she could become more powerful once she bonds little tidbits details. It's just like it's addicted. I'm telling you.

16:27

It's so smart. I was sitting there during my second time going through it last night. I was like, this is now knowing certain things. I was like, this is such a smart way to hook. Right? Because I don't relate to this FMC. I kind of like my favorite and my least favorite my least favorite is I'm not like other women and women on women hate because of a man, right? Yeah, a lot of that women on women hate because of a man. So I'm like, automatically, this may not be the book for me, but the way that the author wrote it, I'm just like, yes. Tell me more. What is her power? Why is everyone so mad at her? And why aren't they mad at stages? Guys, I just had so many questions, and the way she spoon fed us answers just had me. So I like how you said spoon fed me. Yeah, true. And it was captivating enough and interesting enough for me to completely not care that maybe this particular story wasn't going to be written for me because I was here and I needed book two and I needed a book three. So it was really smart. I enjoyed it. I gave this book a high review. I did warn for all those people that don't like certain things, but I gave this, like, four and a half stars. I enjoyed it

17:49

because I think against the bully aspect. Like some people really love the toucher you die thing. And what else do I

17:58

like? That mini trigger warning. Yeah.

18:00

I think my good line is the really malicious bullying, like Zodiac Academy. I'm not here for that. And I think something that you don't normally come across in fantasy romances is that there's always a love triangle and she chooses only one person. This one. She's got a lot of people, and there's a possibility she could be with all of them just because of the magic and how the bonding system works. And I think that's a fresh take. See, I'm super accepting. I'm like, do you? Do you in your real life? But it helped me, my mood reader self, because I wasn't liking some of these dudes. The first book, I straight up did not like the majority of these men. But because we popped around, my mood reader self was able to enjoy all these different personalities and kind of like finding out why they are the way that they are and what powers do they have

18:53

all during this book? Just tell me everyone's powers. I want to know.

18:58

I think Griffin is the only one that you kind of get a hint, like, in the middle of the book about what he can do. And even then, you don't know the extent of his powers. Right? Yeah. I feel like Gabe is one that you kind of figure out what his powers are

19:13

always very like in the first book, really not get a ton of information. And it's really funny that I devoured it so much. Like, I devoured this one faster than book two and book three. And I think it was because of that, it was kind of like, I need to find out more. I need to find out more. Whereas in the second book, you start to learn a little bit more. Third book, you learn more, and it's more world delete at that

19:38

point ish 1s yeah, the Breeway.

19:43

But I don't know. I really liked it. I liked that you had the option to just have a nice guy in there and you could kind of take a breather from the bullying. And you had this north character that was kind of like an age gap and to provide for her almost sort of like light, dom, controlling. I mean, probably in the end, not

20:04

like there's almost every trope in this book.

20:08

They give you a little bit of everything, which is also really just waiting until this person comes back on or it gives me the break that I needed from mean our characters.

20:19

Yeah, that's for sure. I think people come to play when they come to play.

20:24

Yeah. Detail

20:25

about Knox. Knox. Okay. First, when you're reading book one, you hate his guts with the passion, especially when that scene of the sketchy consent, where she is definitely not wanting to bond, even though she was liking it. But he forced her into that situation. And they did address it a little bit, but it wasn't truly addressed. And I felt like the main character didn't really address it herself. I felt like the guys had more of an issue of it than she did. And I think at one point she said, like, well, I did like it, or something like that. And you're just like but you didn't want to at first, so it didn't matter that it was your bond that was forcing you into those feelings. But I think the guys had more of a problem than she did, and it was glossed over a little

21:13

bit. Yeah. I will say that I do feel like it's still not super addressed, even in book three. I could be wrong, but even in book three, it still hasn't been something that's been this happened. And her saying what it is for her in her dialogue, that she can't both stop him and stop the bond, but what's not clear is if she doesn't want it specifically because of the bond, but it doesn't matter because in the end, she doesn't want

21:39

it. Right. Very beginning. Yeah. And that's very clear in her internal dialogue if we're reading it. But I do like that I feel like it was realistic that she almost immediately didn't want to think about it, and she didn't want to define it, and she didn't want someone else to find it for her. I think that that's super realistic. It did feel glossed

22:03

over, and it still feels like it hasn't been addressed, but I don't hate the way it was handled. From her

22:09

perspective. Her initial reaction was very, like, okay, I feel like everyone would be different, but I think that that was realistic, that she was like, I don't know what just happened. Everyone's freaking out. I don't even want to think about it. And that's not what happened. Wasn't it? It was a very, like, boom, boom, boom, and then I don't want to deal with it. I found it really interesting that Nord didn't get more upset with his brother over the situation, especially since he's supposed to be the most powerful and kind of, like, the most controlling. I

22:43

did love Atlas in that situation, though.

22:46

Yeah. He called it what it is,

22:49

and he was very like, I'm not leaving her alone. You can't even protect her from your own brother. That was a good moment for Atlas for me. Yeah. I

22:58

kind of want more background on why they are where they are

23:03

still to this day. Not a fan of knocks. I do not like him.

23:07

I don't think I've warmed up the Knox so far. Even on the second book, I know he kind of showing his softer side, but I just don't care for it. My thing is, you're just doing it because, you know, she has power, and he's the meanest

23:24

about her self worth and everything. He is to me, the most devastating because there's a lot of negative self talk from her aunt's age in this. It gets better, but it's like him reinforcing that negative self talk and still, like,

23:41

question in all this is the resistance. I think that gets pretty introduced very late in the story, and she starts hinting that they are the ones that she was kind of running from she mentions during when she goes into the basement for, like. The fight or like the

24:01

trial that the last time she was underground was when she was held captive.

24:05

Right. I

24:07

don't know if she specifically says the Resistance or if she just says last time she was with the Resistance.

24:14

Yeah, I think she didn't mention the Resistance at all when she was in the basement, but she mentioned hints of the captivity and things like that. At that moment, I thought she was just referring when the first chapter opened up and she's getting that chip in her neck. I thought that was just what they were kind of referring to, but then I was like, at the same time as, like, they tortured her or they hurt her. So I was questioning it, and then I forgot about it because of the chain of events. You just forget, and you just get a little more information at the end, and you're just kind of like, the Resistance is someone that she's running from, and she was protecting the bonds from them, but don't know they're like capturing the gifted. There's no reason as to why they're doing it. And maybe we'll get more you probably know more than I do because you read ahead, but I'm, like, need to know basis information here. You don't know much about it. And my thought in that is, like, if they're catching gifted, why did none of them defend themselves? I don't know. The tactical team was able to defend themselves pretty easily and fight them, but none of the gifted people defended, and they were never using their powers.

25:27

Don't know. At which point, some of that might be answered, but I think maybe book two, you start to see a little bit more of the Resistance. I can't remember if it's 100% answered, but you do see a little bit more of the Resistance in book two, right?

25:44

Maybe it's one of those things that you get a little more information as you go. And like you said, it was kind of written enough that she just gives you just enough taste that you have to go back for more because there's just a lot of unanswered questions, and it's done in a way that you just want to keep coming back to get those questions. And sometimes when people do that, authors do that, it's like sometimes they're like, I don't like it because there's not enough answers. Yeah. And sometimes it'll actually upset me. It's like, well, you're being vague. This doesn't upset me for some. I don't know what it is about this or the way that the cliffhangers are, but it does not bother me. There are certain ones. I think it's because it feels like a complete story. So

26:25

at the end of book two, I'm not super mad that it ends in a tense moment. Right.

26:30

It's like it ended in a happy moment, but it's still a cliffhanger. Yeah.

26:34

And in terms of why does it frustrate, I have no idea. Because this should frustrate me, I guess, because there's enough questions inside the plot and inside the relationship, and we're getting enough information, and we trust that we're going to get that information. That it's just like, it's coming, it's coming, it needs to come. But I really like it. Okay,

26:58

I have to put this question out there. Because I think I know your answer, but obviously I'm going to answer. If she decided to bond with any of them, who would you choose? Always atlas. But I won't lie to you and say that I wasn't vicious 1s anne atlas. Because sage just all of a sudden sits with her, and I'm like, sage, what are you doing? I love sage. I was immediately suspicious because for someone who is very shy, you just sat down. I don't know. That seems like a big move for her, especially for someone who is the opposite of her situation. She's rejecting bond. Sage has been rejected. So I thought that was very interesting. And atlas, I didn't understand why he said he couldn't transfer, and then he just transferred.

27:43

He just showed up one day big.

27:45

It took him some time to finally get over there, even though he's like, I'm getting on the plane right now. And then it took him weeks to get

27:51

there. That whole thing was like, that seems a little too good to be true. But I don't care right now. He's here. She needs

27:57

niceness. He's here. She needs nice in her life. This might be a controversial opinion, but I think this is me, that if she bonds with north first, he might be the only one that can help control her power. If she goes out of control. Just a thought. So, in

28:13

book one, he is alluded to being some big shot. We just don't know. Right. Like, what or

28:19

how. And he is feared yeah. Other than counsel and how people react to him. And I think there might have been a moment, him sensing her powers, a couple of things which none of the other ones have been able to do, which leads me to believe he's more powerful. I could definitely see that if she goes out of control, whatever her power may be, because remember, there's like three different kinds of powers. There's,

28:43

like, your main one secondary.

28:45

Yeah. They have tears within their magic system even then, and it was just kind of briefly talked about a little bit, like, I want to know more, but the story is good enough that you just kind of keep going and you don't care as much. But at the same time, it's so important to the society and how things are ranked and done.

29:03

Is your favorite fantasy, like high fantasy?

29:07

Yeah, I love epic fantasy. I love high fantasy. Romantic. I like knowing why things are the way they are, so I can understand the motivations of the characters and how they react and do things. And if I don't get that world, it's hard for me to imagine why are the characters doing why would they do certain things and how this world operates? And I'm not really totally getting that from this book. Normally, I would just like, you got bad reading for me because I like to know. I like to understand this world that I'm in with this character, but we're not getting that. You're just getting bits and pieces as you're going. The first time, I would say I'm like, oh, I'm okay with that. It seemed like they give you the answers and pieces and it's digestible. Sometimes you can get that information overload. Like The House of Earth and Blood by Sergey Mass. That's an information overload. And a lot of people quit within the first hundred pages because it's just so much information she dumps on people here. It's like, no, she's telling the whole story and it looks like it's going to be within the whole six books. You may not get it all up front, but you're going to get it eventually. And that's what I like about it so much because you can almost use that as a palette cleanser almost because it's not hard. But it's well done too, and well creative. That's what I like about it's, creative. And I'm like, you know what? I'm good. The second book, it's kind of getting a little harder because she's settling in and they're fighting over her and she's fighting over them.

30:39

First book, I didn't really like the guy. Second book, I was like, Do I like this FMC. But I do. I do in the end. Just side note, have you ever read Bello Roth blood gray series? The one that I talk about a lot? Yeah. So blood. Mercy blood. Solid blood. Union blood. Sanctuary blood. Yeah, a lot of blood. Blood Mercy is the first one that was high fantasy or epic fantasy. Like really romantic. And I'm curious if you'd like that. Oh, I

31:10

have it on my want to read list. Yeah, it seems

31:13

like that would be something that is in your genre. Also follow up question. So are you saying that north is the one that you would want her to bond with if she was going to bond? Yeah,

31:25

maybe because I'm the good girl. So I like to go for the bad guy every once. The very gray character, he's one of those people that it's just coming across to me as not super good, but not super bad either. He's that for a reason. I want to know why. And he's very protective over Oleander, but you just don't know why because he also voiced his dislike and disdain for her actions as well. I'm one of those people. I just like those gray characters. I just think they're more complex, they're more interesting to me. They're not like, obviously I hate you, or obviously you're too good for me. 1s I like to go for the gray people. And I think I've been reading a few books like that lately. I'm enjoying it a lot more just because I just like complexity in people. Yeah, north

32:12

definitely fits that because don't get me wrong at the beginning, horrible. He doesn't feed her when he finds out she hasn't been fed for four days in the place that she's been kept. When she gets her period, he won't

32:23

stop. Oh yeah, I forgot about

32:25

that. Don't give her he's a jerk. 1s He also gives vibes that a he may dealing with some complicated stuff in the council with political rebellions. We don't really know all

32:40

of that yet. They have

32:41

like one dinner and that he does care for her, but he actively doesn't care for her because she doesn't actually want him to. You

32:51

know what I mean? Yeah. Complicated situation. It's they're rejecting her because they rejected them when she ran and they didn't understand. Why at the time, and it seems like the Resistance was around for a while now. They just didn't understand why she ran. And we don't understand why she ran. It was complete mystery. And I think I developed more of my opinion about north in the second book, maybe. And Griffin is kind of like the same guy as well, but in the second book now, he's kind of the really hot and cold character. Now it's like, do you hate her or you like her? I mean, come on. Now

33:24

each get their moment. And I feel like I think book two does give north more moment. But I will say, she was 14, she ran away. It doesn't matter if she doesn't want to be with these dudes. I don't understand why everyone hates her. But also, think about it. She was 14, she ran. How did she survive? She couldn't even work for a little while. She couldn't go to school. She went to the library. That's the one thing we know. It's very interesting how many questions we probably won't know about that. They do tell us that, I think, in book 31, other sort of thing that puts that in perspective. But we still don't get to learn about her time when she was on the run for five years.

34:08

As magical and as good as a teen they are, they couldn't find a 14 year old who's never been in hiding before.

34:15

She was 14. Where could she go if she didn't work? She couldn't get a hotel. We know she didn't sell herself because she says that what, she sleep on the street. And then also, I don't know, I just find it very hard to believe that this 14 year old couldn't be found. 1s But I guess she was found just by the wall. Yeah, she was there.

34:36

I guess it's one of those things that you kind of keep reading and find out. Yeah, that's what's making them avoidable. Yeah,

34:45

you need to know.

34:47

I guess in the average show, I would compare this to Zodiac Academy. If you like a Zodiac Academy, I think you would kind of like this just because it's kind of tending towards the more adult nature and it is more adult writing. I guess it's a little more mature in the writing. So that's what I would probably say about that. I personally would like it better than the Zodiac Academy. Hopefully no one hunts me down for that one. I haven't read the Zodiac

35:13

Academy yet, but I'm starting the prequels. Prequels drag a little bit for me, and this one doesn't drag. So this series so far still spoon feeding the information enough, and the characters and relationships are interesting that I'm so hooked. 2s I haven't read very many, but I think book or one or two in the prequels dragged a lot for me, so it's hard to keep my attention.

35:38

Guess we'll see how it rolls, because I'm very invested in this series, and it's all on Kendall Unlimited at the moment, so it's binge worthy. I would recommend it to a lot of people at this point. I

35:50

would definitely keep in mind, like you said, the trigger warnings, like dubious consent, bullying. What else?

35:56

Demeaning comments? Yeah, kind

35:58

of a lot of negative self talk from Internal, from the FMC and even from her friend Sage herself. A lot of negative self talk there, which does improve.

36:08

There is sort of a lot of death and violence. Kind of a lot more towards the end. Thank you for coming on with me. I love talking this with you. It's always it's fun to talk to someone about what you've read and what you're passionate about. And I think this is a great one to discuss, especially for people who are just getting into these books, want to know more about what happens and things like that. Thank you.

36:33

Yeah, my pleasure.

Booktrovert Reader Podcast

Book Review of Broken Bonds by J. Bree with Bookstagrammer Megan

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Booktrovert Reader Podcast

Book Review of Broken Bonds by J. Bree with Bookstagrammer Megan

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