Bruised but Not Broken Audiobook By Nicole Dykes cover art

Bruised but Not Broken

A Spark of Hope Standalone

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Bruised but Not Broken

By: Nicole Dykes
Narrated by: Stephen Dexter, Michael Dean
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Ben

Spark of Hope: A bi-weekly trauma support group. This is my nightmare. When I think of a support group, I think of sad people sitting around talking about their feelings and nothing changing.

And yet, when my brother and his best friend, who happens to be a therapist, presented the idea of holding the meetings at my gym, I caved.

Because I, Benjamin Price, have always tried to rescue the people in my life. But I can’t. I’ve usually failed them.

Now, I’m hosting a trauma support group and desperately trying not to fall into my old habits—of attempting to save everyone.

And then, he walks in. Bruised. But not broken. No matter how exhausted he may feel, a strength in him calls to me.

And there’s no way I can ignore the need deep inside me to at least try.

Colby

I’m tired. I’m afraid. And I don’t want to go back. Not to the abusive relationship I told myself I was okay with for years.

But what am I supposed to do?

I have no real life skills. All my life, I’ve been told I’m pretty and that’s it. Then I walk into a gym, looking for a job, but I find so much more.

I don’t want to trust Ben. I don’t believe his help doesn’t come with a price. But what choice do I really have?

One thing’s for sure: neither of us are getting out of this intact. What we lose though, that’s anyone’s guess.

Bruised But Not Broken is set around a trauma support group and will, therefore, touch on extremely sensitive subjects. The author handles these topics with care and healing, but please heed this trigger warning should it apply to you.

©2022 Nicole Dykes (P)2022 Podium Audio Contemporary Contemporary Romance Romance Physical Exercise Feel-Good
Engaging Plot • Heartfelt Storytelling • Excellent Narration • Emotional Depth • Supportive Group Setting
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My initial reaction to Ben/Summer was that she made no sense. The rest of the story fills that in. Spoilers: Ben and Summer break up. It’s a gay romance after all.

Colby is a survivor of domestic abuse and he’s like many who can’t seem to break the cycle. Abusers know how to keep their victims coming back. Colby is taking his first steps toward freedom.

Ben is also a survivor of abuse but it’s significant enough that it shouldn’t be spoiled here. His history makes him want to help people. Colby walks into Ben’s gym bruised and with a split lip looking for a job. Ben figures things out pretty quickly. He gives him a job and a studio apartment that for some reason the gym has. And Ben hands over the keys to a stranger who now has access to anything he wants. What’s to steal in the gym? Probably not much and it’s not clear as to whether or not he can go into and out of the main entrance.

Colby feels things right away. After all, he’d been fleeing a man who regularly beat him and there was this hunky guy who wanted to take care of him. A protector, I get that. For Ben it’s different. They keep saying he’s a protector but some comments related to an employee suggest that plenty of things aren’t on his radar.

It’s a fairly short story so the romance progressed quickly. Part of me wants to argue that it’s unlikely but my personal history says otherwise.

What we do see is that Colby grows in strength over the course of the story while Ben finds less need to save people (if that were actually his thing beyond what we’re told). They were left in a happy place which was nice.

Ben and Colby are sweet

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Hurt/comfort book with likable characters and excellent narration by both. Mention of past abuse and trauma. Highly recommend!

Not a Light Listen but Definitely a Good One

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What starts as a premise with potential follows a most predictable path. A 34 year old man in a loveless marriage, and has only been with one woman discovers he is a gay-for-you guy who falls for a 25 year old victim of an abusive relationship. This book tries as hard to lay the groundwork for the next book as is does trying to keep this story moving along. Sure, there are a few sweet moments, but Dykes reuses actions over and over, one example? This gym/counseling center has two guys who get so lost in their thoughts they have to be called out on it. Over and over and over again. "Colby, where did you go?" "Ben, are you there?" Spoiler - it happens in the second book too,

The narration takes a hit with the presence of Stephen Dexter, a talent with a pleasant enough voice but who whines his breathy way through every book he reads. I nearly stopped listening to Sarina Bowen's The Roommate because he was so frustratingly whiny. Michael Dean is very capable, but in the first two books is cast as the brothers who are described as big, hot tempered, muscle heads. Dexter has the lower, richer voice and is instead cast as the younger, smaller guys leaving the higher tone Dean sounding very miscast. While Dexter is only at a 5 out of 10 on his whimper/whine scale, it is still a lot. He is sort of the Eeyore the donkey of the narration world. Big production fail that didn't help this book.

While I really find the gay for you premise the worst of the tropes, had Dykes pushed the story a bit, I could have overlooked it. I mean, Ben seems struck the moment he lays eyes on Colby, he could have begun to realize his broader sexuality, but nope, clings to straight. She does try to build a dark undercurrent with the brothers backstory, and it was a good start, it would have helped the story if it had been developed, instead of being a "you've been thought a lot too!". The story all goes out the window as she tries to balance all the side plots and character introductions. We have met the focus of books 2 and 3 in the first book - as well as 1/2 of book 5, and in the second book we meet the other half of book 5. How about we focus on the actual book at hand? I have read so many reviews where there is very serious criticism of the book but they still give it a five star rating. How can every book deserve five stars? You want to read smartly crafted series? Jaclyn Quinn has you covered with tight, smart, heartfelt stories. And even all of those aren't 5 star books. I feel generous giving this one a three.

I don't get into spoilers, so I have to refrain from the end of the book. What I found most frustrating is Dykes has many opportunities to really give this book some heft, instead there is a lot of "I don't want to push, I just want him, he is so young".

Recommendations? The first three titles were part of a sale and for $3 each, they're worth the read. I wouldn't use a credit for the others. And if there was another sale, I don't care enough even at $3.

Doesn't try very hard, and Dexter doesn't help.

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I just feel like been should have been Micheal Dean. Deep and growly. Would be 5 stars if the narrators were swapped!

switch the narrators and this would be 5 stars!

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Let start with the narrators, I've listened to many MM stories narrated by Michael Dean so I already knew he was so going to do a great job bring Ben to Life. The big suprise for me was how good Stephen Dexter was. He was a new to me narrator and I've listened to over 200 books. He was a fantastic narrator and I'll definitely be looking into his other work.
I already knew I was going to enjoy this book. I had read it on the day it was released. Nicole Dykes is a one click author for me, so when I saw BBNB dropped on Audible I went running. I'm a huge audiobook fan so I love when my favorite authors are picked up for audiobook deals, especially self published authors who I think deserve more credit than they get.
I don't want to say much about the story because I have a tendency to overshair and spoil things, but I'll just say a little or I'll try because like I said I have a a tendency to overshair 😆
This series takes place around a support group. The characters in this series are dealing with some type of trauma. You will hear from the MCs plus side characters in the group tell pieces of their story.
This book is about dealing with physical and verbal abuse from a previous relationship and having to get over hearing that voice in your head that makes you feel like it was your fault.. that you deserved to get hit, that you aren't good enough. Hearing all the ugly words over and over. Then finding love in the mist of all that pain. Finding the person who can quiet those voices. Even though this series deals with trauma, it was a really cute love story.
This was the first book that I read that took place around a support group.

4 🌟
3 🌶
4.5 🌟 for narration not a full 5 stars because I do think the roles should have been reverse. When Colby mentions Ben voice he talks about how deep Ben's voice is. Stephen Dexter should have been the voice for Ben and Michael Dean would have been the perfect Colby. This still doesn't take away from how good they narratored their character. So great job to both Stephen and Michael 👏

Love Nicole Dykes

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I was worried about starting this because I didn't want to be sad and annoyed by too much angst. Fortunately, this was not. There was good storytelling and strong vocal performances. My only nitpick is that I think the two MC voices were switched. However, each did a great job in their role.

Emotional nut not draining

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I'd read the book but was waiting for the audiobook to revisit the story that I already knew I liked. And the narrators are really great!

Great srory and narrators

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I wasn't blown away by "Bruised but Not Broken"... but I felt it was a solid read. I think my issue is that although I have enjoyed listening to both Stephen Dexter and Michael Dean in other works...their voices didn't quite fit the characters of Ben and Colby to me so I had a difficult time of really connecting with them....but I did still feel enough of a spark of interest to possibly try other titles in the series.

3 stars - I won't listen again

Good debut in the Spark of Hope series

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The story was great with a beautiful relationship between MC’s. The only thing that threw me off a little was I felt like the narrators should have switched characters. There was a bit of an age gap and the narrator that voiced the younger character sounded older than the one that voiced the older character. Both authors were great, but at times I was confused thinking it was the wrong character speaking because I thought they sounded like they should be the other character if that makes sense.

Wonderful characters

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Awesome story. Very well written. A lot goes on in this story. We meet some really good men who have some issues. Im hoping we getbto know more in future books. The narration is outstanding. Great team Michael Dean and Stephen Dexter they really brought this story and all of the charectors to life. Cant waitbto hear Roman's story.

Bruised but not broken

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