Breaking Him (Love is War Book 1)

“Breaking him until he was as broken as me was the only thing that would ever be enough.”You know that moment when you begin a book you’ve been waiting for and you think to yourself, “OH DAMN! I’m not going to sleep tonight?” That was me after right after I read the first page in this book!“I wanted to score a hit before I ever even had to look at him. He’d had the nerve to come into my territory. I’d make him pay.”Scarlett and Dante’s story is not your typical second chance, friends to lovers romance. Their story is littered with land mines and slivers of shattered hearts that stretches back years. Having met at a very young age and becoming one another’s only true friend happened in the most unexpected way. Coming from two completely different worlds did nothing to hinder their ever changing bond. Inseparable from a young age, Scarlett and Dante have the kind of bond that is in severable; no matter how badly they hurt each other or who tries to pry them apart. Years have passed since they last seen each other, in a split second the frenzy of hate, rage and temptation reignites an inferno of consuming emotions and desire. The past betrayals are still seared on their tattered hearts, causing old heartbreak to rear its ugly, vengeful head and the memories rush over them once again. Brought back together under the worst possible circumstances seems to be both a blessing and a curse. Scarlett hasn’t changed much over the years; she’s still the angry and strong willed girl that Dante fell in love with as a young boy. She has trust and abandonment issues, due to her childhood, but they are warranted and I understood her on every level. She’s been abandoned, mistreated and tormented almost her entire life how could she not be bitter and jaded? Dante after all this time is very much affected by her, even when his world is crumbling around him and he suffers a crushing loss. Even then their passion refuses to be extinguished…“I look back on that pivotal encounter of ours often, and I always ending asking myself two questions. Like most things in my life, they are at odds with each other. Did that meeting save me? Or did it ruin my life?”When R.K. Lilley releases a new book, it goes on my kindle, no questions asked. I don’t even need to read the blurb. She is one of my all-time favorite authors for a reason, and Breaking Him is the newest reason on an endless list of whys. Her stories and writing style never fail to put me into an obsessive state. James and Bianca, Tristen and Danika, and now Scarlett and Dante, have wormed their way into my heart and will never leave. Erotic romance at its absolute best, Breaking Him will own you. It owned me from page one. I started it immediately after I purchased it and I didn’t put it down until I had read every last word at 1am this morning. It’s been a very long time, since I denied myself sleep for a book, and this one was worth every single second. I had no clue what time it was until I finished! Losing track of everything that was happening outside the pages… best kind of reading experience EVER!“I felt moved by two overwhelming urges in equal parts. I wanted to slap him silly and f*** him blind.”“Because I wanted to hurt him. As usual, I wanted to make him bleed.”Emotional to the extreme, funny, sexy beyond reason and impassioned, this book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions. I fell in love with Scarlett and Dante from the start. Scarlett is the best kind of heroine, she’s as hard as nails, no one’s push over and has a wall built around her heart that appears to be indestructible. Dante, (WHO IS MINE BTW) is irresistible in every possible way; he’s the hero, her hero, sexy, dominating, possessive and protective. I adored him! (New Book Boyfriend ladies right here)! The best of parts of Breaking Him are all of them, it’s impossible to pinpoint just one as the entire book is just irrefutable perfection. The writing, the story, the emotion, the secrets, the betrayals, the lies and omissions of truth, the chemistry and passion that sets you on fire, all of it, just perfection!“What happens when two people of terrible pride fall for each other? Terrible things. Destruction. Chaos. Pain. Sorrow. War.”R.K. Lilley brought her A game and then some with this book, I want to scream from the roof tops about how totally fabulous it is, it is your next top read for 2015! It’s now on my top reads for the year and my all-time favorites list and deservedly so. Breaking Him is the first book in a new series, Breaking Her is the sequel that will follow later this year and with that being said, don’t wait, go NOW and pick up this book! Massive Cliffhanger aside this needs to be your next read, it was just that damn fabulous! Love. Is. War.“He leaned close touching our foreheads together. “Not this. Not us. Neither of us have a choice in this. You and I being together is not a question, Scarlett, it’s a fact of life.”

This is an explosively charged friends-to-lovers-to-sworn-enemies-to-hopeful-lovers-again type of story. Dante and Scarlett have know each other since childhood and what seemed like an unlikely alliance turned into the most important friendship that either of them would ever have. Scarlett was born into poverty, unwanted and often bullied. Dante was wealthy and privileged, ignored by his parents and had important social ties that granted him access to anything. Together, Scarlett and Dante were unstoppable. They are both stubborn, independent and fighters at heart. The differences between them are that Scarlett is insecure, impulsive and distrustful. Dante is confident, protective and hot tempered.The story is told entirely in Scarlett's POV, which cycles back and forth between the present and the past. Scarlett has deep wounds to bear and refuses any sense of vulnerability, especially where Dante is concerned. Whatever he did has burned her so badly that she refuses to view him as anything but an untrustworthy and vile human being incapable of anything beyond deceit and calculation. I could feel the poison in Scarlett's blood towards Dante, to the point where I believed what she thought and said about him. Scarlett is so intense in her negativity towards him that she will do anything to recapture the upper hand over and over again, even if it will hurt them both in the process, all for the sake of pride and victory.When Dante enters the story, I expected my own personal reader judgment hackles to rise against him. He's definitely a worth opponent for Scarlett's fire, as he is not one to back down or take her verbal assault without launching back his own. It truly is a twisted and heated game between them, sparked with combustible chemistry. However, I quickly realized that Dante is not to blame entirely. What Scarlett sees and tells herself is a bit different than what I interpreted. She is so hardened with a thick wall of armor that she is ready for battle at a second's notice, never letting her guard down. All she can think about is her next move for conquering the war in his presence.While I have no doubt that Dante betrayed Scarlett in the worst way, he has also been hurt in the process because of Scarlett's counterattacks. Whatever they did to destroy themselves appears irreparable and the only choice remaining is to gut the other. The emotions and electricity between these two are so palpable that I would need to stand back if I were in the same room as them. Reunited by tragedy, they are in the same city for a few days. Although not all the details are known, it's obvious that Dante and Scarlett find it easier to fuel themselves with hate and anger but no matter what, I felt like I could tell that Dante cared immensely for Scarlett's well being in spite of everything. Dante can also read Scarlett like a book and while he is fighting against her, I couldn't help but think a part of him was fighting for her, too, that if he won the war, she wouldn't be collateral damage to toss aside.This may be RK Lilley's best writing yet, even though I have enjoyed all of her books. I can't wait to read Breaking Her because I need to know more about the history between these 2 and I suspect there's additional pivotal information that Dante is not sharing or that there's some behind-the-scenes manipulation at work. Can these two people find a way to forgive one another, does love really conquer all or is love just an illusion made to weaken people?

Part 1 of a duet that is out as this ends on a cliff hanger. The cost of the books are a bit too high for a duet though. That apart, this book was a bit disappointing since I really enjoyed Arranged. The reason it was disappointing though is because of the heroine mainly - she’s so mean to the hero, bitter and so woe-is-me types. And I actually liked the hero even though we don’t really hear his perspective until the very last page. Perhaps the 2nd part will explain why she’s so nasty but since you never get why in this part, it’s very hard to get into her corner. Basically it just becomes one big whiney story where she’s insecure because of her upbringing - seemingly gets that into a relationship where the hero worships her and tells her often - just to perhaps mess around with his best friend and try to get revenge with his half brother. When she’s not being nasty though, the chemistry between the hero and heroine is great - though I can’t understand how she’s suddenly got a change of mind after what seems like 10 yrs of being nasty to him.

I have to admit I very much enjoyed this book (or both books in the Love is War duopoly). I loved the banter and war games between this couple. I am not sure any relationship could survive what they went through in retrospect though...(?). Fiction...I write this already having also finished Breaking Her (Love is War Book 2) and I cannot help feeling that these two books combined into one stand alone read (with some waffly and unnecessary chapters removed) could have been a stupendous 6 out of 5(!!) read rather than the 4-star per book rating I give it as a 2-part/book read...

This book rally draws you in, it's a tragic tale of 2 lovers who keep being divided. Scarlett's is portrayed as this very strong character, for me this is only skin deep, she vulnerable underneath! She is a girl from humble and difficult beginnings who has a deep history with Dante the troubled rich kid, they formed a friendship which lead to love that was shattered. Years later they meet again and she's out for revenge although it doesn't turn out how they both planned!Good book, I wanted it to be great but I felt that it just missed the mark. I will read the next book, writing this review reminded me to buy it lol

I have read many reviews about this book so I decided to give it a go. It is basically about a woman, Scarlett, who has been hurt by her ex, Dante. The anger from Dante is paramount throughout but she just can't help herself when she is around him. She makes out that she is getting him back by hurting him but she just can't let him go.You know that he has hurt her and it refers to this throughout the book but you don't actually find out what actually happens and when it does go into the past and how she was hurt then it's the end of the book. I will be reading breaking her next. We shall see.....

Be warned this book ends abruptly, almost midsentence and there are lots of loose ends to tie up. I am eager to read the next book. I really enjoyed reading about Scarlett and Dante. They have a lot of history, so the story alternates chapters between the past and the present. It flows really well and I struggled to put the book down. I would recommend.