Book Review
Title: Broken Dolls by Kitty Thomas (The Pleasure House Book 2)
Genre: Romance, Erotica
Rating: 5 Stars
Broken Dolls is following Brian and Mina, and while I was sceptical at first about how Thomas was going to make me not just like but love Brian, she definitely did in the end. Mina has been seeing Dr. Lindsay due to her abusive past partners who called themselves “Masters” who abused her to the point she has permanent scarring from them. Lindsay has been working with her to try and work through some of the trauma she has so that she can have normal relationships again but nothing seems to be working.
Lindsay eventually explains a little bit about the training facility and gets Mina to agree to see Anton. However, Anton doesn’t spend long with her at all and doesn’t feel she is suitable for the house because of the baggage she has but Lindsay convinces Anton to take a chance on Mina. In the end, Mina does choose to go to the house but it soon comes to light that she isn’t adjusting well since she is always waiting for the pain she has become familiar with. After it becomes clear that Brian has a connection with Mina, despite the fact he terrifies her, Lindsay pushes for her auction to be held within the next couple of days.
Brian is present and ends up buying Mina because he has a connection to her through the similar trauma they have gone through and Lindsay allows it even though he knows it will absolutely terrify Mina. While Mina is terrified at first, she soon recognises that Brian is like her and has been treated badly in the past and is also beaten and scarred. Brian was abused by his stepmother, to the point, where he has an ager directed at women which he keeps under control by punishing the girls in the house. While Mina submits to the abuse she was under, Brian uses violence as an outlet for his emotions but he allows himself to be vulnerable with Mina because she understands him better than anyone else.
Mina does have several moments of panic because of Brian’s anger and witnessing the punishments he doles out but he sticks to the arrangement of the contract without incident, this includes the no pain and no penetration rules. However, eventually Mina’s anxiety reaches a point where she wants to leave the house and is allowed to leave with Michael and Vivi. However, she is soon kidnapped by the man who originally wanted to buy her and Brian goes to hunt him down knowing that Mina isn’t safe with him. Brian has killed before including Mina’s previous boyfriend, Jason, responsibly for some of her scars. Once he finds her, he does end up killing everyone including the other slaves in the house in order to protect Mina because they can’t be trusted.
Here Mina realises that Brian will do anything to protect her not matter the cost while never raising his hand to her. She ends up going back to the house with him where Cate is punishing for leaking information to the other buyer and Mina finds a strength within herself that Brian saw from the moment he met her. Mina realises she has the same anger inside her that Brian does but they deal with it differently but seeing them together being soft and wholesome was adorable in ways I can’t even explain.
I am aware there are spin off books following Mina and Brian and I will definitely be picking them up in the future. I was surprised that unlike book one there is very little sexual interaction in this book as it focuses on the trauma the characters have suffered and working through it together in a way that is safe for the both of them. Honestly, I hated Brian in the first book but learning his past and seeing him soften around Mina really changed my opinion on him. Brian is definitely a softy at heart despite his anger issues, a solid five stars and I can’t wait to get into Gabe’s book next as he was my favourite character in book one.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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