Souls Unfractured by Tillie Cole
Dark Contemporary Romance published August 10th, 2015
Author's Website | Goodreads | Buy the Book on Amazon
Synopsis from Goodreads:
"For fractured souls are like magnets.
Drawn to collide into an impossible bliss…"
Labeled a ‘Cursed’ woman of Eve from birth, Maddie has endured nothing but pain and repression at the hands of The Order’s most abusive elder, Moses. Now living with her sister in The Hangmen’s secluded compound, finally, Maddie, is free. Free from the suffocating faith she no longer believes in. Free from endless years of physical and mental torment.
Just… free…
At age twenty-one, the timid and shy Maddie is content to live within the confines of her new home—safe from the outside world, safe from harm and, strangely, protected by the Hangmen’s most volatile member; the heavily pierced and tattooed, Flame.
Flame.
The man who ceaselessly watches over her with his midnight dark and searing eyes. The man who protects her with a breath-taking intensity. And the man who stirs something deep within her numbed heart.
But when circumstances conspire for Flame to need HER help, Maddie bravely risks it all for the broken man who has captivated her fragile soul.
The Hangmen’s most infamous member, Flame, is ruled by one thing—anger. Plagued by haunting demons from his past, an all-consuming rage, and isolated by an abhorrent hatred of being touched, Flame's days are filled with suffocating darkness, pierced only by a single ray of light—Maddie. The shy, beautiful woman he cannot purge from his thoughts. The woman he has an overwhelming need to possess…
... the only person who has ever been able to touch him.
Flame’s mission in life is to protect Maddie, to keep her safe. Until a trigger from his troubled past sends him spiraling into madness, trapping him in the deepest recesses of his disturbed mind.
His Hangmen brothers fear that Flame is beyond saving.
His only hope of salvation: Maddie and her healing light.
**Dark Contemporary Romance. Contains explicit sexual situations, violence, disturbingly sensitive and taboo subjects, offensive language, and very mature topics. Recommended for age 18 years and over.**
What I Think...
Let me just go ahead and fan girl for a moment, because Souls Unfractured is FINALLY HERE!!!! ♥♥♥
I feel like........my heart was ripped in half, dropped on the floor and left to bleed out, then suddenly was sewn back together with all of the tenderness in the world. That's how moved I was after reading this novel. The journey that Flame and Maddie embark on is a ferocious one, filled with disturbing past experiences and current frozen fears. They overcome so much on this journey, from the very first time their pinkies touch, to the first time they ever make love. It was beautiful and I cried through like half the novel. Seriously, Cole does such an amazing job with this love story. It was absolutely breathtaking.
Now, I was first introduced to the Hades Hangmen series in February of this year, when I went on a motorcycle book-buying frenzy. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but I liked the covers of the Hades Hangmen, so I bought them! Little did I know then how obsessed I'd become...Now after reading Souls Unfractured, I thank my lucky stars for Tillie Cole. This book is probably the most powerful, most heartfelt, most insanely awesome book I've read all year. I loved it THAT MUCH!
Maddie only has one rule when it comes to men: don't touch her. Due to a past of severe abuse, she can't stand to be touched by the male sex. She forces herself to tolerate this condition, until she meets Flame. He is her candle in the storm, her savior, her protector, and the only man she's ever even thought of wanting to touch.....but that will never happen. Flame isn't like the rest of the brothers, he doesn't talk much, and pretty much keeps to himself, unless he's on a job for the club. What she doesn't know is that Flame, too, has danced with the Devil and came out alive on the other side. Maddie doesn't know much about Flame, but she wants to. She may never want him in a way a women wants a man, but she knows she wants him with her always.
"This close, I realized I had missed him with a devastating intensity. I realized, that not once, had I felt safe since he had been gone." {Maddie}
Flame is a hot mess. Literally. Since he was a young child, Flame had been told he was "possessed" and that the flames of hell ran through his veins. Believing these lies, Flame cannot handle anyone to touch him, lest he infects them. That all changes when in a moment of gratitude, sweet Maddie gives him a hug....his first hug in a very long time. After that, he's obsessed. Maddie becomes his one light through the dark times; his one saving grace. She is the angel he never had. Nothing will ever hurt her again, as long as he is around. He doesn't know if he can ever have a normal relationship with her, but he will always be there to protect her.
"I still don't know why, but something happened that day. She'd done something to me. Somehow she got into my f*cking mind. But since then, the thought of being touched had got worse. Because now I wanted her to touch me." {Flame}
This novel is all about rediscovery and healing. Flame and Maddie both are so broken, but they refuse to give up. When Flame looses control and his life is on the line, Maddie is there to calm and rehabilitate him. When Maddie is threatened and needs Flame the most, he is there as her ever gallant protector. They are just SO open and honest with each other, which is beyond refreshing. They are direct and to the point with what they think and feel, which is the key element in their healing process. Because of this, we see a powerful bond emerge from the wreckage. Cole proves that true love doesn't have to start sexual or even be sexual for it to be real love. All they needed was each other.
"He had midnight eyes. Was pieced. Tattooed. Strong. And filled with pure rage. But he was mine. And when he was mine, he was gentle, caring, and just as broken as I. And I adored that it was me who got to witness that side of him, and me alone." {Maddie}
"Dropping her hand, I turned in my seat. My skin felt on fire. My soul felt on fire. But this time, I wanted the heat to stay. Because it was burning off the bad memories in my head, and it was filling me with Maddie's light." {Flame}
In closing, we are given two beaten and broken individuals, filled with regret and sorrow, and we witness their transformations. We see them struggle together, we see grow together, and we see them ignite together. It is a beautiful process. I cannot recommend this novel enough. It is going on my "read a million times" bookshelf.
(The reviewer was given an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion)
