Beauty in the Broken 

By: Charmaine Pauls

Genre: Contemporary, Dark Romance

Release Date: May. 14, 2019

Blurb

Six years ago, Harold Dalton framed me for theft and sent me to jail to steal my diamond discovery. He gave his daughter to Jack Clarke in exchange for the excavation rights. Today, I’m walking free, and I’m coming for him with a vengeance.

Six years of cruelty make beasts out of men. I’m going to take back what he stole from me, and more. I’m not interested in his properties or shares. I don’t want his small change. I want his biggest asset. Beautiful, mentally unstable, Angelina Dalton-Clarke.

Worth billions, she’s the wealthiest widow in the country, and also the craziest. Her self-harming tendencies had Jack declare her incompetent before he put a gun to his head and blew out his brains. Lina isn’t allowed to touch a cent of her riches. Her father manages her finances. He has all the signing power.

As her husband, that ‘chore’ will fall to me. But if she thinks I only want her for her money, she’s sadly mistaken.

Add Beauty in the Broken to your TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43920557-beauty-in-the-broken

REVIEW

Beauty in the Broken by Charmaine Pauls is a standalone, contemporary dark romance. Told in dual POV from an extremely possessive anti-hero and a heroine who is a true survivor, this book was absolutely phenomenal!  The plot was great, the writing was excellent, truly a GREAT read! Charmaine Pauls is a new-to-me author and I must say I am blown away, where has she been hiding?! Oh and the best part, NO cliffhanger!

Six years ago a twenty-two-year-old boy walked into a dinner party with an idea and hope. That same night he met a young girl that he would never forget, she was kind to him when no one else was. But that night was also the catalyst to his downfall. That young girl’s father, along with his high-dollar friends, set him up.

Damian Hart just spent six years in prison for a crime that he didn’t commit. Now he’s out and he wants revenge on the man that put him there and anyone else who was involved.

Harold Dalton, had Damian arrested for a theft that he didn’t commit. Damian plans on taking everything that Harold holds dear, including his mentally unstable daughter.

“I’m not the twenty-two-year-old man who walked through this door in a threadbare shirt. I’m a man in an eighty-thousand-rand suit, a man with a vendetta.”

Angelina Dalton is left a widow when the man her father traded her off to for mineral rights dies suddenly. Angelina inherits Jack Clarke’s money but she can’t touch a single dime of it because she’s been declared mentally unstable. With Lina’s money and all access to it as her husband, Damian will be able to get back his diamond mine AND end Harold for good.

Lina remembers that boy from all those years ago, but the man before her today isn’t that same boy. Now he’s cold, ruthless, and unreachable. But what Damian doesn’t know is a lot has happened in those six years while he was away, and he’s not the only one who’s changed.

The only problem is, the more Damian gets to know Angelina, the more torn he becomes.  His feelings for her are getting in the way of his need to punish her for the sins that he feels her family committed against him.

“You married me for money and sex. If you have both, why not let me go? What more could you possibly want?” “For you to need me like food and water.”

Damian is the guy you will love to hate. He’s dark, dangerous, and extremely possessive of Lina. My favorite kind of anti-hero 😉 Damian does enjoy BDMS play and he does “punish” her using these methods. At times it may seem he goes a little overboard but I think he was well aware of her limits and even though he may have pushed them, he didn’t cross them more than once.

Lina, God that girl is a survivor, her determination is something worth mentioning for sure, she will and would do absolutely anything for that one single piece of information. It broke my heart reading about all the suffering and abuse that she’s been through, the one good thing is that even though we KNOW about it, it’s mostly in the past tense.

There was some OW/OM drama, both of whom were lusting after Damian but he wanted no parts of either of them..  yea it’s definitely an interesting story and the way it plays out… WOW!

That ending, I most definitely shed a few tears, especially right after the rooftop scene…

I absolutely loved this book, I would totally give it more than 5-stars and I rarely ever say that! Again, this is my first read from Charmaine Pauls and I was blown away, I have no idea how I’ve been missing her but I plan to rectify that ASAP!

If you are looking for a dark, angsty, slow burn romance with a totally possessive anti-hero hell-bent on getting vengeance and a heroine who’s a strong as hell survivor, then PLEASE check out Beauty in the Broken!

I HIGHLY recommend!!!

Purchase Links:

US: https://amzn.to/2EfeR55

UK: https://amzn.to/2Eefax6

CA: https://amzn.to/2EefmfO

AU: https://amzn.to/2DMjhyZ

B&N: http://bit.ly/2tpaUo4

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2GuNeHx

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2EdA7Ih

Paperback: https://amzn.to/2PX3sLj

 

Still not convinced? Take a sneak peek at Chapter One!

https://charmainepauls.com/beauty-int-the-broken-exclusive-preview

 

Don’t forget to check out the release GIVEAWAY for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card!

About The Author

Charmaine Paul

Charmaine Pauls was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. She obtained a degree in Communication at the University of Potchefstroom and followed a diverse career path in journalism, public relations, advertising, communications, photography, graphic design, and brand marketing. Her writing has always been an integral part of her professions.

After relocating to Chile with her French husband, she fulfilled her passion to write creatively full-time. Charmaine has published nine novels since 2011, as well as several short stories and articles. Two of her shorts have been selected by the International Literary Society for an anthology from across the African continent.

When she is not writing, she likes to travel, read, and rescue cats. Charmaine currently lives in France with her husband and children. Their household is a linguistic mélange of Afrikaans, English, French, and Spanish.

Website|Facebook|Facebook Group|Instagram|Twitter|Goodreads|BookBub|Amazon