Break Your Heart: Rhonda Helms

Blurb:

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.

Review: 3.5 Stars

Clearly, I am a sucker for student-professor stories.  The consensual, yet forbidden dynamic draws me in.  Break Your Heart was right in the pocket of traditional student-professor stories and from that perspective, I quite enjoyed the read.  I also really enjoyed the moments where Megan and Nick were together, with lust building between them.  Nick has some great, sexy lines.  I really liked the way Nick said Megan's name in his sentences.  Maybe in person it would sound strange, but in writing, it helped to make his words seem more personal.

I have to say, though, that there was something missing in this book for me.  Whenever I read a book and find it lacking in some way, I try to nail down exactly what the issue is.  I don't like to give negative opinions without clear feedback, since I hate receiving negative, but useless, feedback myself.  I think my main issue with this book is that it didn't go far enough in its storyline.  I think there is a fair amount of "wasted space" describing minutia (e.g., serving inconsequential customers, having basic interactions with friends) that do not contribute to the story while glossing over aspects of the story that would be more interesting.

Some places where the story could be expanded were:

- The relationship between Megan's parents
- Some sort of exploration as to why Megan's reaction was often to feel guilty (about her mom, about her friends, about Nick) -- was this just a character weakness or did something happen to give her a guilty conscience?
- Why Dallas behaved the way he did (on the date, throughout the semester, with regards to Nick)?
- What happened during Nick's last described class? Why did he walk in and then leave in that moment (what was the straw that broke the camel's back)?

I'm not saying that all of these points should be elaborated.  But, I think there could have been greater depths to this novel that would have enhanced the reading experience, for me.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.