Review: Broken

Broken by Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld #6)

Published by Bantam Spectra
Released in May 2006
EBook, 480 pages
Genre:  Urban Fantasy

From Goodreads:

Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough – only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers – unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs.

Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they’re looking for – which, for some unknown reason, is Elena…

Once again, Kelley Armstrong has returned to Elena for another great story. I say great due to the fact of Elena’s pregnancy and how she deals with it, not the crazy story and plot. I found the Jack the Ripper and the From Hell letter a little too bizarre to really enjoy. However, I did appreciate Elena’s continuing struggle on being the only female werewolf.

Besides being the only female werewolf, Elena now has to contend with being the only female and pregnant werewolf. Ms. Armstrong describes Elena’s fears and insecurities with great effect. Elena hasn’t a difficult time reconciling her dual natures, wolf and human. She constantly fears that her wolf will hurt her unborn child. At times, she refuses to Change based on that fear. Due to Ms. Armstrong’s intense storytelling, I found that I could truly empathize with Elena’s struggles.

Because she is the first pregnant female werewolf, the male werewolves in her pack are extremely protective. Clayton and Jeremy are constantly watching her every move. At times, she feels very claustrophobic with all the added attention. You think human men are protective of their pregnant wives/girlfriends, try being married to a werewolf.

Another aspect of the book I really enjoyed were how Elena and Clayton’s feelings toward parenthood conflicted with each other. Elena is very uptight on whether she will make a good mother while Clayton seems to be more comfortable with the parenting concept. I think that comes from Clayton being more wolf than human in his instincts and values while Elena still tries to embrace her full humanity.

An additional tidbit I really liked from this book is Jaime Vegas’ crush on Jeremy. It is a great lead-in to the next book, No Humans Involved. As you probably can tell, I didn’t talk about the overall plot. Mainly, because I thought the most important of the book was Elena’s journey through her pregnancy and her acceptance of who she is. The ending was very touching with Paige making a small appearance. Kelley Armstrong can weave a great, emotional story.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars (due to the funky plot)