Review – Broken Blade by JC Daniels – The Book Pushers | Book Reviews

Publisher: Self
Publish Date: January 6th
How I got this book: NetGalley

Kit Colbana: assassin, thief, investigator extraordinaire. Now broken. She always expected her past to catch up with her but never like this. Haunted by nightmares and stripped of her identity, she’s retreated to Wolf Haven, the no-man’s land where she found refuge years before. But while she might want to hide away from the rest of the world, the rest of the world isn’t taking the hint.

Dragged kicking and screaming back into life, Kit is thrust head-first into an investigation surrounding the theft of an ancient relic…one that she wants nothing to do with. Her instincts tell her it’s a bad idea to just leave the relic lying about, but finding it might be just as bad.
Forced to face her nightmares, she uncovers hidden strength and comes face to face with one of the world’s original monsters.

If she survives the job, she won’t be the same…and neither will those closest to her.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

When we last left Kit, her whole world had been broken. She was rescued from her kidnapper, but not until after she had been beaten down to a shell of nothing. Now, she is being forced back into the land of the living, and she is not very happy about it. Staying in her cocoon at Wolf Haven, Kit isn’t taking any cases, she isn’t seeing any of her shifter friends, and she is barely getting through each day.

But a case drops into her lap, and Kit finds herself chasing down leads and slowly getting back into the groove of doing what she does best. But her friends play a big part of her case, and although Kit is finding a way to move on in life, not all of her friends will be so lucky.

This book killed me. I can’t even begin to tell you how gutted I was at the end of the last book. After everything Kit had to go through, and then losing her ability to trust Damon and anyone else, absolutely brought me to tears. I was devastated, and this book picks up in the midst of that devastation. Kit is still broken, she can’t call her sword, she can’t sleep without horrific nightmares, and she can’t even walk out into the bar where she has always been safe without giving herself a pep talk. Seeing her this beaten down was so emotional, and Daniels didn’t pull any emotional punches. I spent much of the first part of this book in tears.

I don’t want to give anything away about the case that Kit works on, especially since it has such a huge impact on her group of friends and way of life, but I can say it was incredible. The little nuggets of information that Kit follows is twisty and kept me guessing as I turned each page. I love the way she had to slowly make her way out into the world all while doing what she does best, working to solve a puzzle.

One of the things that Daniels does best is create such incredible secondary characters. Between TJ and Goliath and Justin, Kit has an amazing support system that she is able to fall back on in her time of need. With Doyle and Chang and Damon and the other cats, she has a new family ready to help her get back to the strong and confident woman she is. I love each and every character in this book, so whenever Daniels puts them through the ringer, she kills me a little more each time.

The relationship between Kit and Damon is also such a strong driving factor in why I love this series so much. Damon and Kit have gone through a lot in their relationship. They have been to hell and back and they are still in the middle of a disaster. Damon wants Kit to come back, and she just isn’t ready for more. Despite the fact that I wanted nothing more than Kit to fall into his open arms and make up, I loved the way their relationship progressed, and didn’t progress in this book. They both have a lot to think about and work through before they can even think about getting back into a healthy relationship, and I loved that they both recognized that and respected it. I can’t wait to see how exactly Kit and Damon move on from here, but I know it’s going to be epic.

This book is definitely one that readers will want to pick up at the first book. Although someone could probably understand what is going on, there will be so much missed with just picking this book up on its own. However, that being said, this series has quickly become one of my favorite urban fantasy series ever. I love Kit. I love Damon. I love the fact that their relationship is complicated and hard and that they are trying to work at it, slowly but surely. Fans of urban fantasy and romance alike should absolutely pick up this series!

All in all I thought this was an incredible third installment of the Colbana Files series. There are so many different aspects of the world that Daniels has given sneak peaks into, and I can’t wait to find out more about Kit’s family, what crazy case she’ll take next, and how her relationship with Damon will progress. There are so many wonderful and incredible aspects to this series, I can’t even tell you how anxious I am for more.
I give Broken Blade an A+