More Than Anything

The Broken Pieces, Book 1

By: Natasha Anders

Narrated by: Ingeborg Riedmaier

Two lovers strive to trade a grim past for a bright future in this story of bittersweet yearning.

Tina Jenson belongs to the same social stratum as Harris Chapman, but he’s out of her league - at least that’s what she thinks before they jump in bed together. It’s the perfect night, but when she overhears crude, hurtful comments the next morning, she can’t get away fast enough.

Ten years later, Tina’s life is a mess. That night with Harris didn’t just hurt her feelings; it started a cascade of disappointment and heartbreak. Every time she bumps into Harris, her heart twists inside out. She still wants him, but she’s harboring a painful secret from their night together that she’s not ready to reveal.

Crossed signals, high-society whispers, and shame have kept Tina and Harris apart for years, but deep down, they’re hungry for each other and eager to write their own rules. Can they let go of the past and find their way back to each other, or are the barriers between them too high and too strong?

©2019 by Natasha Anders. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Hot romance!

Loved the romance between Tina and Harrison. A secret and a tragedy in their past. Excellent love story and beautiful narration done by Ingeborg Riedmaier👌

just couldn't listen anymore

the narrator's voice for the male lead sounded like a serial killer, no inflection

Not quite there

The story line was nice but the narrator “mail” voices were awful - especially Harris’s voice. The narrator made him sound breathy and it was so unbelievable and annoying.

Queen of the grovel!

Damn. Anders writes grudges and grovelling soooo well. The prologue to this book is *chef’s kiss*. This is one of my favourite romance novels of all time. But I bet it’s pretty tedious for many. Readers that are used to extroverted, Barbie doll, prozac-level-happy, female protagonists need not apply. This story is about a difficult woman, the mfc (Tina). She isn't the flirty catch-me-if-you-can kind of difficult. Or the 'self righteous social warrior' kind of difficult. Or the 'I’m gonna make this guy wait on principle' kind of difficult. I think Tina has a personality type that’s pretty much unacknowledged in romantic literature: the secretive, skeptical, cautious, aloof, walking wounded. This is a woman of average strength, with no deep friendships, no real accomplishments, and no big goals. Small mistakes/failures make her withdraw and spiral (this is how you write an introvert). Tina has family, yes, but not a supportive one. She has a bff, yes, but keeps her on a pedestal so ends up giving WAY more than she gets. She has money (inheritance), yes, but what is wealth without a plan? Nothing but a non-renewable resource. And to top it all off Tina’s personality is ruled by a single defining tragedy. I've never read a character like Tina in this genre. I’ve read all kinds of broken women: hard-knock-life broken, catatonic broken, straight jacket broken. I've read criminally broken. I've read abused broken. But never read this kind of nuanced 'normal' broken. This mfc moves through the world tight as a fist, taking hit after hit after hit. Her emotional discord is her WHOLE personality, but she hides it so well. No one knows her.

I really got off on how justifiably mean Tina was to the mmc (Harrison) for half the book. It was all so raw and honest. But also kind of melancholy. And I loved how deeply (persistently) apologetic the mmc was.

This book reads better the second time around because of its timing. It's driven by a BIG SECRET, which you can kind of guess, but the amount of time it remains unspoken really starts to irritate. I deducted one star for the last 30min which was painful. The mfc never broke type. She remained hesitant and cautious with her lover. She let him OVER grovel, when the man had paid his dues and then some! I wanted to see her truly optimistic for the first time. I wanted a big confident declaration of love, some spontaneous affection, and - dare I ask - a little playfulness. But this book is subdued to the very last sentence.

The narrator voice not believable

For the Male voice, they should had use a man. the profanity was unreal in the female voice trying to sound like a male.