I posted the blurb for Broken
Then I got to thinking…is that such a good thing? Just because I’ve always found the cover copy to be somewhat of a chore, albeit a challenging chore, does that mean it’s really great that I don’t have to write it for my Spice releases? I’ll still be writing it for my books from Amber Quill Press, I’ll still be challenged to write the perfect words to draw someone to my book. By not writing my own cover copy, does that distance me from the responsibility of making my books intriguing enough for someone to choose?
Not that there’s anything wrong with the copy that’s on the cover of Broken. Not at all. But I know that it’s had some people question what the book’s “about.” Because many readers, particularly readers of romance, don’t want to pick up a book, won’t even bother with a book, that features infidelity.
Is Broken about infidelity?
Good question.
The heroine, Sadie, is married. Her husband is the man to whom she returns every single night. Joe is the man she meets on a park bench, once a month, to listen to his tales of lust and passion. Joe and Sadie just talk. Joe and Sadie are not having an affair.
And yet they are having a relationship.
Sadie has her reasons for meeting Joe. Her husband might not understand them. She doesn’t understand them, herself. Joe probably would understand them, if Sadie told him the truth about her marriage and the struggles she faces with her husband…but Sadie doesn’t tell Joe stories.
She only listens to his.
So, is Broken about infidelity?
I say, no. I say it’s about love. The power of love to leave us helpless, or to fill us with strength. The power of love to make us, to break us, to lift us up and knock us down. It’s about loving someone who’s not perfect. Loving someone no matter how hard they try to make you stop.
Broken is about love and the challenges it creates.
This is the tag line I’ve been using for Broken. It doesn’t say much, but it says it all.
Once a month he tells her a story…and once a month, she listens.
If you want to see a little teaser I made for it, check out here:
February 25th, 2007 at 6:30 pm · Link
I was just trying to explain this in my comments at my blog earlier this week. It’s not about infidelity, not really or I’d hate it. It’s about lines and relationships and aching loneliness and loss. It’s also about love and there’s no question Sadie loves her husband, not at all.
Anyway, I always find myself struggling to describe Broken because it’s so deeply emotional. I hope people give it a chance because it’s so much more than it appears from that blurb.
February 25th, 2007 at 7:06 pm · Link
Yes…but to not mention that she’s married in the blurb would feel like a trick and I don’t want that, either!
February 25th, 2007 at 8:46 pm · Link
I think one of the things that really gets to me is that she is so completely trapped by circumstances beyond her control and is doing the very best she can to do more than just survive – she’s struggling to retain her love and to hold her life together despite guilt, despite hostilities, despite the sheer tragedy of her and her husband’s situation. The stories are the one gift/escape that she allows herself, really no different than escaping thru an erotic novel if you think about it. Is that being unfaithful? If you read erotica and put yourself in the place of the heroine?
I’m still piecing together all my thoughts on this book and the wonderful parallels and intricacies that you’ve put into play in it.
I think you said it yourself in the story, it’s about more than love, it’s about hope… when it seems impossible for it to exist.
February 25th, 2007 at 9:49 pm · Link
I don’t think it’s being unfaithful when you read a story and put yourself into the place of the heroine…or when you imagine you’re making love to your favorite tv star (or even a crush you won’t admit to!) — I don’t think there has to be a physical interaction to create infidelity, but I also don’t believe being unfaithful is a black and white issue. There have to be, in my mind, a lot of things that cause people to be unfaithful to their spouse or lover, not just one reason. Sometimes it’s as simple as making a mistake. Others it’s far more complicated.
Do I think being unfaithful is wrong? Yes. Do I think sometimes it happens for good reason?….Um…yes. But that doesn’t make it right.
Anyway, in Sadie’s case, she acknowledges her situation and I’d say she’s harder on herself than anyone else might be…including Adam.
M
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 pm · Link
the first time i saw the book broken it intrigued me from the cover ( i know i know, never judge a book by it’s cover) but i loved the artwork on it so i flipped it around to see what it was about and i fell in love with it, and i at first thought it was about infidelity and i thought that taboo made me want to read it more, as i finish now and reading your blog i do agree with you.. i think this is one of my favorite books of yours and it was the first book i discoverd of yours.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:31 am · Link
Thanks, Rachel!
January 26th, 2008 at 5:23 pm · Link
I have read all three of your books. Dirty, Broken and I just finished Tempted today. I have truly enjoyed each one. But I can read Broken over and over again. I don’t think the book is about infidelity. Sadie never cheats on Adam. I have to agree with rhian. She simply allows herself the indulgence of Joe’s stories to escape her situation at home. I would love to hear this story from Joe’s point of view. Was he in love with Sadie from the beginning and sought out love with other woman through sex because he couldn’t be intimate with Sadie? Or was he searching for love from anyone? What about the ending? Do they pursue a relationship beyond the last meeting you leave the book? I want more of their story!