Break Your Heart by Rhonda Helms

Always on the lookout for something new and different, this new adult novel from Rhonda Helms brings a bit of the unexpected to this power-play romance title. Please read on for my review of

Break Your Heart

A multi-racial new adult story with an African-American heroine, Megan, a mathematics major with an Asian-American Cryptology professer, Nick. Ok, so off the top I have serious issues with the whole teacher / student trope, but I held onto hope that this would give me more than just the illicit and slightly naughty moments.

What Helms does manage to do well is show the dichotomy in Megan: trying to be an adult while acting very much like a girl with an all-consuming crush, fantasies of a romance with a questionable connection, her own issues and secrets surrounding her mother, her major choice and even the whole clandestine “I know I shouldn’t want you but I do” moments. Fortunately for me, what stood out is Megan’s series of choices, some bad without reason, or even just because she is young, but her ability to sit back in quiet moments and truly reflect on what it is that she wants out of her life.

No, Nick never did it for me, and if Helms has played more with the issues: racial, family, coming of age and choices over the constant back and forth into a relationship that felt forced at best, this could have been a better story. Instead, it stayed in the mostly tolerable range as I finished it and shortly forgot nearly all of the story but for some deft characterization of Megan.

Title: Break Your Heart
Author: Rhonda Helms
Genre: African-American, Contemporary New Adult Romance, Multi-Cultural, New Adult - Coming of Age
Published by: Kensington
ISBN: 1617731226
Published on: 28 July, 2015
Format:eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Pages: 240
Get Your Copy: Amazon ♦ Barnes&Noble ♦ iTunes ♦ Kobo ♦ IndieBound ♦ Google

About the Book:

Fearless and flirtatious, Megan Porter isn't your typical math major. On the fast track to graduating with honors, a spot in her school's masters program is nearly guaranteed. But her senior year is quickly turned upside-down by her new thesis advisor, cryptography professor Dr. Nick Muramoto. Young, effortlessly good-looking, and intellectual, he's far more intriguing than the immature jocks Megan usually goes for. And as she decodes the hidden messages he leaves in the margins of her assignments and in their emails, she realizes this might be more than a schoolgirl crush--especially after they share a passionate kiss...

Soon Nick and Megan grow closer, and their different worlds begin to merge. But if their relationship is discovered, Nick's career could be over. With Megan's parents close to campus on business, hiding their love becomes an even greater challenge. Yet keeping secrets will lead Megan to discover hers is just one piece in a much larger puzzle--next to her mother's stash of painkillers--that may put her carefully laid plans for the future in jeopardy.

A copy of this title was provided via Publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

About Rhonda Helms

Rhonda Helms started writing several years ago. She has a Master's degree in English and a Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing. She also edits for Carina Press (an imprint of Harlequin Publishing) and freelance edits.

When she isn't writing, she likes to do amateur photography, dig her toes into the sand, read for hours at a time, and eat scads of cheese. WAY too much cheese.

Rhonda lives in Northeast Ohio with her family.

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