A tearful story that sweeps you away in deluge of emotions, yet ends on a hopeful tone.
Shanora touches your heart with beautifully penned story about grief and healing through love. It's irrevocable journey through pain process of losing loved one that triggers Davina Klein-Roberts into downward spiral of depressive anguish. Her salvation comes in form of Golden Oil Company, her creation. It's cathartic and immersive, an escape from her travails.

"Can you imagine half of 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."

Deke Bishop, a strapping NBA player is chosen to endorse her products and thus begins the side-by-side March of broken people who inadvertently become co-travellers on the trip out of pain.
The character development, the depth of their personalities, the intricately nuanced sentiments, is where shanora excels over her peers. This particular book stems from her own personal loss and it makes it even more poignant and relatable. None of us are immune to bereavement and struggles to cope with it. Some never recover from the black hole of depression, while others pick themselves up with difficulty, yet manage to carry on. Both are real possibilities.

"Grief is a bitch, and she likes to hit you where it hurts. I swear she’s Karma’s two-faced sister. "

This story let me ponder and consider my own place in the universe and the people who I'll leave behind when it's my time
Thank you shanora for writing a moving testimony and homage to your brother. He seems like a spectacular big brother. Hope you recover everyday.
5 stars for breathing in love, everyday

This was such a beautiful cover, it lured me in, the story was fast and fantastic, it had lots of spice and kept me turning the pages and reading way past my bedtime. I love her writing .

This book was emotional and a tough one to get through! I loved the journey that both Deke and Davina went through to their forever!

Davina and Deke both know loss. Deke saw something in Davina that spoke to him and he knew he had to have her but Davina fought the attraction at every turn because love only strikes once and for her it has happened. As these two journeyed through life together, they found a friendship but when the passion they had couldn’t be held back that passion lead to something Davina wasn’t sure she was ready for!

I loved the tenacity and strength of Davina. Shanora weaved a tale that put you right there with her. You could feel the emotions through the pages and wanted nothing more than to hold her and show her she wasn’t alone. I loved this story and the healing that these two found in each other!

I absolutely love this author and everything she writes. This book....I devoured like all of her others. Thank you so much for the ARC!

I haven’t read a book from Shanora Williams in years, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I ended up enjoying this emotional romance for the most part. The writing style just wasn’t my favorite.

Thank you to #netgalley for this #arc
I usually like Shanora William's books, but the writing on this one was kind of stereo typical in my opinion.
Davina's husband passed away, and she is trying to find a way to move on.
She throws herself into work trying to stay busy and get over her grief.
Soooo of course when she has a handsome basketball player endorse her brand we already know where things are headed. She feels guilty for falling for him, once she realizes that he is actually smarter than she thought he would be. I'm just not a fan of these predictable books.

Wow. I’m speechless… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was an absolutely amazing read. I’m absolutely stunned at how well this was written and love that you could truly feel the emotions the author was portraying.
It’s heartbreaking losing someone and sometimes we forget we need to keep going after. Reading Davina’s journey through loss and new found love really puts it into perspective.

I really loved the characters. Each one I feel like had just enough depth and pretty wonderful personalities. Especially Davina!

I wasn’t expecting this book to have any spice and was pleasantly surprised when it did. Would rate it a 🌶️🌶️/5 on the spice scale. I feel as the balance in the spicy scenes was perfect. Especially for readers who tend to like them on the shorter side but with enough detail to truly picture the event.

If you’re thinking about picking this one up, just do it!

Thank you NetGalley and Shanora Williams for giving me the opportunity to read this. I cannot wait to dig into more books by this author!

I DNF at 49%. Why the 3 stars then? The writing was solid and the characters both had a good support system of friends/family in their corner. The premise was good and I was think the grief of the FMC was handled well and respectfully. I did not finish the book because I don’t love the “athlete playboy” trope all that much. The MMC was a more layered character than first impressions implied, but he was too dismissive of the FMC’s boundaries.
I think there are a lot of people who will enjoy this book, but it wasn’t for me.

This is a love story that is emotional, heart breaking and beautifully written and crafted. I really enjoyed reading it for the themes of healing after a hard loss. The author was incredibly authentic in writing this and made it feel like it was real. Sometimes authors make it more dramatic than it really is and it is such a turn off but the author really handled it well. I also enjoyed the characters having really supportive relationships with their families and friends. This whole book felt realistic to me and it was completely refreshing.


Thank you to NetGalley, author Shanora Williams and publisher Montclair for an advanced reader copy for my honest review of this book that will be releasing on December 3, 2024

What a beautiful and dynamic story! I haven't been able to get Davina & Deke out of my head for weeks.

I have been a fan of Shanora's for years so I jumped at the chance to read this early and she has completely blown me away. I went in expecting one thing and I got even more.

Beautiful Broken Love is deep, touching, emotional, tragic and healing. You can tell this came from such a real and vulnerable place. Shanora's words and message shines through in the most incredible ways, you'll really want to sit with this story but devour each word at the same time.

Poignant, sexy, smart and breathtaking BBL is a new favorite for me!

This was a beautiful written story about loss, grief, love and coming out the other side of it. Shanita did an amazing job writing the real side of losing a partner and the internal battles that go along with grief and moving on in Davinas side. Than Deke with his struggles with his family dynamic as well as his grief over his loss of his brother at a young age so tragically. I found myself rooting for Davina and deke from the beginning, deke never gave up on her while she worked through all her internal struggles. I loved that Davina got to help deke work through some of his inner demons and come out the other side stronger together with his family. I was so happy with the ending and reading shanoras ending notes too. Would recommend this book to any readers who like romance and sport reads. Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the arc for my honest review! I hope to see another book in this series for Octavia and Javier!

Thank you to Montlake, Shanora Williams, and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for a review.
This book is about a strong, independent woman named Davina who recently lost her husband Lewis. To distract herself from her grief, she throws herself into her company, Golden Oil Co. She ends up looking for a brand deal with major NBA player Deke Bishop.
Davina and Deke's story is more than just a romance. This story deals with grief, trauma, and character development is beautiful. This book is so much more than a romance, and it truly touched my heart. Also, if you love spice, this is definitely the book for you. I love how Shanora writes her spicy scenes. They are romantic and sexy, never cringey.
I already knew I loved Shanora Williams writing, but I think this book is for sure my favorite. Shanora is a jack of all trades she writes so many genres, including romance, fantasy, and thriller, and all her books have such deep meanings, and her writing is so beautiful.
I highly recommend everyone check out this beautiful written love story.

Beautiful Broken Love by S. Williams is the most heartwrenchingly beautiful love story I read in 24.
Devina and Deke don't have much in common at first sight, the creative and the sports star meet and sparks fly. But both carry heavy baggage. Both are still grieving, grieving in very different ways.
I insta connected with the main characters, I read sitting on the edge of my seat because I just had to know asap what happens to them, to the story, to the wonderful secondary characters too. I recommend this gem of a story.

This book is a great romance read, but also deals with a lot of hard topics such a grief, abuse and suicide, so I am glad it comes with an authors note (trigger warning) at the start.
It's an incredibly spicy book, very adult and absolutely does not hold back! There was a bit too much spice for me, but for you hot romance readers out there you will absolutely love this
I found some of Deke's chapters at the beginning to be slightly cringey in the way they portrayed how he spoke/thought, although I did get a good picture of him in my mind when reading because of this.
It was descriptive in a really good way, in was well written and I had a perfect picture in my head of the different characters.
I felt some parts could have been dragged out and built on further. There could have been a bit more with Giselle, and more depth with Deke falling for Davina - I get it was supposed to be a "love at first sight" vibe but I just felt that he seemed to fall too fast.
This is a great friends to lovers book, but also heartbreaking in parts. Perfect for a romance reader!


Publish date: 3 Dec 2024

I enjoyed this book very much! The characters were well developed and the storyline kept me engaged the whole way through. I’d definitely recommend this book to others.

Anything Shanora writes I’m most definitely going to read! This was a great read from beginning to end! Shanora never disappoints.

Beautiful Broken Love was an absolutely amazing book. I devoured this book and loved every page of it. Deke and Davina's story is one that deals with learning to open your heart again to love after losing a partner, accepting that it's okay to move on and knowing that loving someone else doesn't diminish what you shared with a previous spouse. There were definitely some heartfelt moments, especially when it came to Deke and his family. The characters in this story deal heavy subject matters, but these characters also have supportive friends and family that I loved. I was rooting for Deke and Davina from the very beginning, and up to the end of the book because they both deserved to be happy and loved. They had some rough patches, and Davina's mother-in-law and Deke's ex Giselle only added to the drama. However, Deke was consistent in showing Davina how much he wanted, cared for and eventually loved her. Davina eventually got herself together and showed Deke how much she wanted him, but it just took her a little longer. The ending was everything and I finished this book with a smile on my face. I would definitely recommend this book to romance/sports lovers. This is a story I can read over and over, and I definitely wouldn't mind if the author gives us a book with Octavia, Javier and Aleesa.

📖 Beautiful Broken Love
✍️ Shanora Williams
🗓️ Dec 03 2024
📝 Montlake

What a book! The author crafted such a beautiful and heartbreaking tale about grief and healing. It explores new beginnings and what it takes to move on.

The author gave us such a close look into Davinas grief and feelings. It was very believable and well done, absolutely fantastic. It was not also the sad moments but also the moments of happiness, healing and guilt. Very dimensional.

Overall the characters were very well thought out and written to perfection.

What I liked about lot was how realistic and natural the relationship was.

I flew through this book and finished in no time. The only regret was that there was not more of this . 😱🤭


⭐️Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own, I was under no obligation to review.

Months after losing her husband, Lew, Davina Klein-Roberts tries to move forward through attending to her skin care line, Golden Oil, Co. Upon striving to work to be successful, she had the opportunity to partner with Declan, Bishop, a NBA star as her endorser where they started to know each other. In the process of solely meeting for work, they somehow built a friendship along the emotional journey of handling grief and healing.

This novel is a page-turner in a sense that stories the characters both held on to are heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time. The romance between Davina and Declan felt effortless and natural as they start to find solace in each one as they conquer their baggages.

Beautiful Broken Love was a story that tugged my heartstrings and taught things on how to cope with mental struggles. More so, it is a dual perspective novel which allowed me to peek into both of the characters’ hearts. I felt all the sparks in this book; It was simply an enjoyable read, I couldn’t put the book down because I wanted to answer the questions in my head.

You also may want to read the acknowledgments. I found it sincere and love-filled.

It was my first time reading a craft of Shanora William’s and I am very satisfied.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Montlake, and the author Shanora Williams for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Beautiful Broken Love follows Davina who is mourning the loss of her husband. She isn’t sure how to move forward in life without him but she puts everything she has into her skincare line. To make her skincare line a viral success she meets an NBA star known as Deke Bishop. Deke is very attracted to Davina and wants to help her business be as successful as possible. Deke carries his own grief but Davina struggles to move on as she feels so much guilt.

I am giving this 3.5 stars rounded up to a 4. After reading the authors note I appreciate the story more. This dealt with grief well and the emotions felt realistic. The story itself was fine and the chemistry between Davina and Deke was done well. Overall I would recommend this especially if you are looking for a black romance that deals with grief and emotion well.