Review: Damaged by H.M. Ward

Damaged by H.M. Ward
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars



To sum it up: Life sucks. And, as soon as Sidney picks up the pieces something always knocks her back onto her butt. It's never pretty, but this time is different. This time pretty isn't even the right word.

Peter is the personification of perfection. It's like he fell off his angel perch in purgatory, because let's face it--any guy that hot has got to be naughty. He was probably sent here to ruin her life.

Peter is beyond beautiful with his sexy blue eyes, dark hair, and toned body. Add in his charming wit and Peter is everything Sidney ever wanted in a man, but when things get hot and heavy Peter shows her the door. Sidney takes the walk of shame and leaves. It's the end of the worst blind date ever. Her life couldn't possibly reach higher levels of suckage, but it does.

The next morning everything comes crashing down. The insanely hot guy from last night, the one that saw her half naked, is teaching at the front of the class room...

★★★ 3.5 Stars! ★★★

First things first... The damn book ended on a cliffhanger! Thank God I already had the second book loaded on my Kindle app, otherwise I would have been in total bitch mode once I finished. With that being said, I enjoyed this book a lot actually. Was it the best book I've ever read? No. However, it had me sucked in from start to finish which I would definitely consider a good thing.

So this story is about the heroine Sidney, who has run away from her family after a betrayal that ruined her life. She enrolled in a new college as far away from her past as possible, with her family having no knowledge of where she's gone or whats become of her. Her painful memories of the past she wished she could forget however, really affects the woman she's become. She doesn't like to date and she also doesn't like anyone touching her- She feels damaged and longs for something that will enable her to let go of her past- That something has yet to come along since starting her life over... That is, until we meet the hero Peter...

Peter has his own personal demons he's running away from, but by an amusing twist of fate he meets Sidney and they hit it off. Attraction becomes lust but eventually comes to a crashing halt when Sidney is unexpectedly thrown out of Peter's apartment. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal as it was, aside from hurt feelings and extreme humiliation... That is, until she walks into class the next day only to discover that he's her new boss and her professor...

I won't say much else about the story because it's definitely one you'll want to read for yourself without the added spoilers- I will say this though: The author did a fabulous job introducing the lead characters, Sidney and Peter to each other. It's what honestly made my hopes high that the book was only going to get even better the further along I read. Unfortunately though, there ended up being "insta-love" involved and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fan of that theme. In fact, I despise it. I prefer more relationship/emotional development between my hero and heroine instead of rushed feelings. It was almost as if these two characters fell in love in a matter of days, which only lessened the feel of a truly believable emotional attachment between the two. I needed more development... More interaction... More depth then what was involved for me to really believe and understand that these two really were in fact in love.

The whole predictability issue that a lot of people seemed to have with this novel didn't bother me much at all- I'm a sucker for a good student/teacher theme which is done pretty often these days... I guess that's why I expected things to play out like all the other similar books we've all read before. For me though, there was still some unpredictability involved that made this story stand out. I will say this: I did tend to find quite a bit of this story to be a little cheesy... Something I could have done without. Cheesiness brings out light and fluffy- Those kind of romance novels I tend to avoid like the plague. ...And while this one definitely had some dark and mysterious elements, it also brought out a very light and immature feel as well.

I initially really loved the heroine Sidney, but the more I continued to read on in the story the more irritating she became. Her attitude and actions at times were so juvenile which made it hard to believe that she was in college, rather than a freshman in high school. I definitely don't think I would have been able to continue on had I not fell head-over-heels in love with the hero Peter though- His personality was off-the-charts sexy and I couldn't get enough of his character. I would have preferred him to be a little more Alpha and bad-ass, but I think the second book will leave us with a bit of a surprise if the ending is anything to go by...

I wouldn't say this book is strictly surrounded by the whole "forbidden romance" element, so if you're going into this story expecting to read about the whole teacher/student theme, it's possible you may feel a pang of disappointment. While that theme does surround Peter and Sidney, I'd say this is more of a story about two people who are both emotionally damaged and try to make a relationship work despite their heavy pasts.

Over-all though, with some twists and turns along with hot and heavy tension this is definitely a sweet story involving two people with a lot of scars and emotional issues who try to develop a relationship that eventually blooms into something completely unexpected. I was a little bummed that there wasn't any sex involved, although that's not really a deal breaker for me. There were a few scenes that almost set me on fire- The sexual tension is definitely scorching but not much becomes of it. All I can say is that I only hope for a little more naughty between these two in the second book...


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