Beautiful Broken Love

by Shanora Williams

Though Beautiful Broken Love is an angsty, emotional sports romance, I realize some people may go into reading it expecting lots of fluff, and while there is some in there, I want to mention that this story goes much deeper than that. It’s about finding yourself after loss, dealing with grief, trusting your heart, and healing along the way.

GOC

The name of Davina's company. What is GOC an acronym for?

Golden Oil.”

Ohhh GOV = Golden Oil Company I wonder was it mentioned earlier in the book and I already forgot lol 😆 I do wonder if the name has sentimental value like a back story. Or a name to signify the exquisite qualities of the oil like a precious metal? Also I wonder did Davina own the company prior to her husband's passing. I'm thinking likely yes since she started after graduation. Also how did her husband pass.

tried very hard to ignore that warm, fuzzy feeling inside me.

UT oh. That's usually the feeling before a man destroys a well established and beautiful woman's life. And he is a basketball player I heard through the grapevine that they are nothing nice.

loaded.

It does seem loaded. Just saying.

themselves.”

So... it seems like Deke was right. Perhaps the up sides are coming...

right

Thats right Davina say what's on your mind. But back to Davina's response about the downsides of being the oldest sibling. And her non verbal cues, and of course from the Author's trigger warning in the beginning of the book, I feel there is some deep trauma growing up. I feel like I need to brace myself. I want to be wrong actually.

this?”

This man is very "confident" or cocky lol. I mean he assumes just because he thinks she's married that is the only reason she won't fall for him. Jokes on him she isn't married lol. Although he is making her very interested. But still. lol. Men!

finger?”

BOLD Deke. Omg

you

I have to give it to him. He is perceptive.

those.”

I agree he is doing too much

Why did he have to look at me like that? Like he owned every part of me, down to my blood cells. This man oozed sex appeal, and he knew it.

Yeah.”

I would have been like, "thanks I really appreciate it. But if I don't pay this would feel like a date and not a business dinner. Plus I want to be a honest business woman when I write this dinner off. And... I need all the LEGAL tax incentives to pay for my newly inquired popular spokesman." But that's just me and my no dating hard stance lol. Davina handles herself well.

making me feel things I shouldn’t have felt.

He was smiling like a schoolboy with a crush.

be. If I weren’t at the party, I’d have been at my condo, curled up in bed with all the lights out.

Interesting. This gives me a very different perspective of Deke. That is not at all what I imagined a popular and attractive basketball player would be doing on a non game night. Hmmm

When his wife died, though, the word serious may as well have become his last name.

Oh wow so sad for Javier and his daughter. RIP mama.

At the sight of it, my heartbeat quickened.

Awww.

I didn’t know what the hell it was about that woman, but she made my body do weird shit. I mean, she was so simple, and perhaps that’s what it was that I was attracted to. The simplicity.

female

Oh no not one of those males that call women females

If she didn’t have those rings on her finger, she would’ve already been mine.

Serious eye roll. 🙄 But then again he is a handsome ball player and likely rarely experiencing a woman telling him no.

I tapped the photo, and her username popped up: thatvinachick. I gave it a tap and a follow, then did something I never did with any other female. I started a message.

Something about Deke just seems toxic. Idk how to put my finger on it. Again I would not being wrong about this. Davina does not need any relationship drama she is doing so well with her business and still grieving. Deke please don't be toxic.

Despite knowing she was taken, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. It was frustrating as hell. To her, that dinner was probably nothing more than a business transaction, but I’d felt a connection there. I wasn’t tripping. I’d been sure she could feel it, too . . . but she had a man, so that was that.

I went through more of Davina’s pictures at the stoplights. I couldn’t help myself.

Wow! He is really into Davina. This would be endearing if I didn't feel like some nonsense is on the horizon. Also that is not safe driving lol.

original photographer had ended up getting into a car accident on the way to the studio we booked.

Ummm Davina I can only imagine how anxious and a high stressed situation this may be. And how you want it to go without any issues. But you sound hella insensitive. This man was in a car accident on the way to the photoshoot. Hopefully he is ok but still. Omg.

It

Well damn Davina lol. She holds no punches.

tulips?”

Why do I feel he is going to send her an insane amount of Tulips to her job?

lap.

They are like 2 love struck teens. I'm here for it and it is super cute. I going to try to quiet my doomsday clock.

Famous and rich men alike did this sort of thing. Flirted. Lied. Cheated.

Seriously

“Oh, yeah. Solid Spines.” I nodded, hoping my throat

Ohhh that's how Lew died. So sad.

If you wanna catch a few waters at a bar, hit me up.”

Cute

“You were the prettiest woman I’d ever seen, Davina,” he said after a sharp exhale. “I remember thinking that I wanted to marry you right on the spot. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s like all these moments flashed before me when I looked into your eyes that day. I could see you walking down the aisle to marry me, us buying a house together and me kissing you at the threshold while I held you in my arms. Making love . . . having kids . . .”

Tears

His body was my home, and I loved being there. No one wanted their home to crumble—to deteriorate and vanish. It was unfair.

please!”

Omg I have heard many stories of people knowing when they will pass. Sometimes they say final words or get a burst of energy. Lew seems solid. He wanted to comfort and encourage Davina to live her life to the fullest in his absence.

Can you imagine half your heart being ripped out of your chest? The other half keeps beating, but it’s damaged beyond repair, and not a damn thing can mend it. You’re hopeless this way. You fold into yourself and are left with no choice but to feel every wave of emotion, every clench of the belly, every halted breath as you slowly wish for the oxygen to leave your lungs, because what’s the point of breathing anymore? It feels like you’ll never survive such agony—like you’ll never recover . . . like you’re dying too.

There are no words to truly define grief, but if I had to imagine them, I’d say grief is a beast who likes to stomp, claw, and bite until you’re stripped of everything. Then, when you finally gain some balance, it returns for another round, and the cycle continues, until you’re nothing but a hollow shell waving a white flag.

“Yeah, but I’m telling you, Vina. Three-year-olds are emotional terrorists.”

could,

Lol. I feel the sister love.

The CEO—that Davina chick—decided to take a week off for mental health reasons. Apparently, her dead husband’s birthday is around the same date as the party was, and she changed her mind. Talk about a mood killer.” He chuckled. “I told them it was no big deal and that we could discuss a date that worked for you later.”

How did the information get out about Davina's dearly departed husband? It does not seem like Davina would have disclosed that. It seems like she would have cited mental health reasons and left it there. She consciously rationalized with herself that she was not going to share this with Deke. And she mentioned she only talked about Lew to her sister and Tish. So why would her or her team divulge this info so carelessly. Not saying that it is a secret either. It just does not add up. Like why wouldn't the person just tell Arnold the party is being postponed and leave it there. Especially since his passing is understandably still raw and she was using her ring as shield in a way. Not just to repell Deke, but to protect herself from falling too far into depression. I hope this is not the beginning of "reasons" the plot has been pretty solid thus far.

guy.”

Ha! Uno reverse with the "big guy"

Native

Shout out to Target and Native.

again.

I am so good at predicting Deke's behavior lol. Or maybe it is just because it was obvious but not in a lazy expected way.

Roberts

Awwww this is throw back of the 80s and 90s to writing letters to your boo. How my heart would flutter when I would get that note on college ruled notebook paper. Of course now this is the 21st century so there is email in place of the notebook paper. I have to say this is super cute.

Okay

Right Deke. Although factual still cocky af. Idk why men are so interested in a woman doing well (or as well as she can) for herself ans want to mess it all up. Especially when they show disinterest. It is like they say challenge accepted. Go in blow stuff up, throw up the peace fingers, then leave.

“What’s

Dogs are so perceptive

I scrolled through my photos until I found my Favorites folder, then tapped on one of the last pictures taken of me and my brother, Damon. I was fourteen, and he was seventeen. Everyone always said we looked alike. A tightness hit my chest as I stared at it.

I had a thought Deke loss someone close to him too. really good at this lol. Ok I'm following in the footsteps of our beloved Deke.

People claim grief is a process—like it’ll end one day and never be thought of again—

but that’s far from the truth. Grief is an ongoing cycle and is totally reliant on your mood and vulnerability.

with. You can go about your day, accept it for what it is, and move along. But when you’re down and reminded of your loss—when you’re alone at night with no one to talk to and nobody to hold—grief is like a colossal wave. It rises higher and higher, and no matter how sturdy your ship is, it’ll smash into it and wreck it, leaving you to drown. To put it simply, Gr...

Okay, good. That’s exactly what I’d wanted him to say . . . so why the hell was I so disappointed with that?

Because emotions are complex especially when dealing with grief and the early stages of liking someoneromantically. Plus even when knowing what's practically best doesn't mean that will be the actions we take or even want.