Title: Fragile (Rafferty #1)
Author: Shiloh Walker
Published: 2009
Title: Broken (Rafferty #2)
Author: Shiloh Walker
Published: 2010
As an introduction to the world of Shiloh Walker, I could not have picked better books. Fragile and Broken are the stories of twin brothers, Luke and Quinn Rafferty. Fragile starts off with a short background into the brothers as children. They were separated at birth and had two very different childhoods. Luke had a relatively happy childhold living with his father. Quinn, on the other hand, was abused by their mother. The brothers were reunited at the age of 11 when their mother dies. As adults, both Luke and Quinn join the military and move up the ranks to become Rangers. Luke is forced to go on medical discharge while Quinn spends another couple of years.
Fragile is the story of Luke and Devon Manning. Like Quinn, Devon grew up as an abused child both physically and sexually. She becomes a social worker is able to confide in Luke because, as a resident at the hospital, he also sees some of the cases she works on. Over the course of the book, Luke works to break down the walls that Devon had sheltered herself with and together they fight off a stalker that is trying to get his revenge.
In Broken, Quinn is a "broken and battered" soul. After his mother's death, things began to improve until the night the women he loved and his Army brother were killed. It was his fault, or so he believed, and he left the Army. Living in a small basement apartment and working as a bounty hunter, Quinn meets Sara Davis. For the first time, Quinn starts to let his guard down and truly falls for Sara. Until her secret comes out and Quinn is forced to make a decision: finally trust someone that is not his brother or let go of the only women he's loved.
I really enjoyed both books. The author takes her time setting with the character and background build-up. We're not suddenly thrown into the middle of the story without an inkling of what is going on. In both Fragile and Broken, the past is woven into the storyline with ease in flashbacks of all four characters. Walker also breaks her characters down to their core before they are able to fight. What I appreciated the most was that the suspense aspects of the books were not in your face. You almost don't know what clues have to do with the suspense and which clues were just bad luck for the characters. With Devon, for example, there are small events that happen to her in the beginning that were subtle and made me wonder if that was her stalker or just a bad blub. In the end, of course the little clues make more sense. I have to be honest and say that there is a part in Fragile that really freaked me out. I had to read it a couple times before grasping what the heck happened.
If you enjoy romantic suspense, then I think you'll enjoy Fragile and Broken.
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