Review: Breaking Jess by H.B. Moore

Breaking Jess by H.B. Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I purchased the ebook version of this and have had it on my shelves for a while, but the author provided me a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. This is narrated by Steve West and Karissa Vacker who do an outstanding job narrating as Logan and Jess.  Steve West is one of my favorite narrators for audiobooks, so when I saw he was one of the voices I jumped on the chance to review this.  Karissa Vacker is quickly becoming a favorite, she's narrated some recent releases I've listened to and I really like her.  I really like Heather's books, she writes cleaner fiction and she writes in several different genres.  Her books are more plot and character focused without being graphic, graphic descriptions of stuff and language don't bother me, but sometimes I want something that isn't vulgar and a little more wholesome.

The thriller part of the story is pretty good, I didn't want to stop listening as it unfolded but I could have done without the romance. It was completely unnecessary in my opinion, and the end dragged a bit for me as the "thriller" was over and we switch over to mainly romance. I really enjoyed the medical/psychological thriller part of the book and would have prefered that it just end there, but that's just my opinion. There will be plenty of others that enjoy the romantic element to the story. As for the romance, I'm pretty happy with the way that ended up given the circumstances. I also really liked the way Jess developed from beginning to end. The ending really showed her character development and how far she's come as a person and how much she's overcome her ordeal.

On to the story itself, this follows Logan a psychiatrist who begins treating Charles for blackouts. Charles asks Logan to also begin treating his sister Jessica, who has been in a phyiciatric facility for the last 9 years for killing their parents. Jessica doesn't remember committing the crime and Charles has been her guardian, which may or may not be contributing to his blackouts as he seems pretty stressed out by overseeing Jessica's care. As Logan gets to know the brother and sister, he notices that something is not right between the two of them. At the same time his former flame Gwen happens to be looking into the case as some of the details just don't check out. Gwen doesn't do everything according to the book, which is why things didn't work out with Logan, however her unconventional ways have them looking into details of the case that might have been missed. This gets Logan asking Jessica questions about her memories which are coming back as she has decided to stop taking her meds and take back some control in her life. Her super controlling brother isn't very happy, and his own mental state begins to spiral out of control. As Logan and Jessica spend more time together and go through some traumatic events, something more than just a doctor patient relationship begins to develop between them. You have to actually read the book to find out what happens because I won't spoil it for you.

I really enjoyed the broad cast of characters and watching them develop as the story unfolds. If you've ever read H.B Moore's books before you will know that they are fairly clean with respect to violence, language and sexual situations. Things will be implied or mildly explained, but nothing graphic.

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