jmc_bks

I keep seeing Broken by Dar Tomlinson in the romance stacks at the library and on display in the bookstore. Everytime I walk by, I pick it up. I love the cover -- a view of a man's lower legs, standing among yellow flowers strewn on a hardwood floor, like a vase has just been dashed to the ground.

But then I read the back and return it to the shelf.

Zac Abriendo had it all: a wife, a son and a job he loved. All that changed the day Carron Fitzpatrick walked into his life.... From their first meeting, Zac's thoughts are consumed by the flame-haired beauty.... Thus begins an affair that will leave his marriage broken, his business in ruins and his soul on the auction block.

See, not even the note that the author is the winner of the Hemingway First Novel Award is enough to get me past the backblurb. Maybe the publisher didn't intend for this book to be marketed as a genre romance, but that is where the book is being placed. And reading about a man's inability to be faithful and willingness to destroy his life for the love/sex of another woman? Eh, maybe if I was feeling tragic (a la Anna Karenina) but generally speaking, no, not my cuppa.

ETA: well, the publisher is Indigo, whose description uses both "love stories" and "romance", so I'm not entire sure whether Broken was intended to be a genre romance or not. I've only read a few other Indigo books, all of which fell squarely within the genre domain.