Broken Blade by J. C. Daniels

Love, love, love this series! J. C. Daniels (a.k.a. Shiloh Walker) writes beautifully broken characters and Kit is definitely at her worst in the third book in the Colbana Files. She was utterly destroyed by Jude in the previous book (my thoughts here) and BROKEN BLADE focuses on her recovery. Part of Kit's process? Facing down an ancient being with crazy powers because that's just the kick in the pants that Kit needed to stop hiding and grieving. But the meat of BROKEN BLADE is all about Kit and her journey back to herself. It's a very emotional story and one that I loved, even though there are difficult moments in the story. Kit really was on her way to having it all when Jude kidnapped her and she has a long way to go to get over what happened. As she says, Jude made her into a thing who was trying to kill herself to escape him so there are many steps on her journey, especially when some of the abilities that made Kit who she was are completely gone (at least in Kit's eyes).

The case in BROKEN BLADE was quite interesting. It starts off as something simple and becomes significantly more complex, as is typical of Kit's life. It begins with a pregnant girl who can't get in touch with her baby's father and spirals into something with the potential to rock the foundations of the Non-Human world. The threat is big enough that Kit has to engage with everyone, including Damon, and the scenes between the two of them will tear your heart to pieces. We also get a lot of insight into Doyle and his abilities. In fact, we learn just why he was able to track Kit when no one else could find her -- and the answer was quite a surprise! It's going to be an interesting ride for sure when Daniels develops this plot thread.

It's really hard to talk about BROKEN BLADE without spoiling the journey that Kit experiences so I think I'll close this post here. Daniels has crafted a gripping and emotion-twisting story for Kit and her healing is no less painful to read that her experiences with Jude were in NIGHT BLADE. And as always, I was left wanting more when I hit the final page of this story because Daniels has created a masterpiece series in the Colbana Files -- how can you not want more when the storytelling is this fantastic?

Read an excerpt