"You have to fool yourself into thinking you already are the thing you want to become. That's what my father says."

I couldn't put #brokencountry down, I'm giving it four stars, and these characters do stay with you. HOWEVER, I found some plot points to be a bit contrived (what late 50s parent, Catholic, gives her daughter a diaphragm?). I get that Beth's parents may have been a little forward-thinking but still. And we don't get to really know them, either. They are paragons of goodness and virtue, whereas Gabriel's mother (never meet the father) is anything but - polar opposites. Beth's husband, Frank, is also a paragon of virtue, whose actions prove over and over again he's not realistic. I also get that Beth's desires form a good bit of the conflict, but how selfish? how self-centered? how many lives ruined? And how much tragedy can one couple endure?

So my four stars are conflicted. Easy to read, compelling but a little over the top. Felt manipulative.

P.S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

Beth and Frank live a quiet life in rural England. One day Frank's brother Jimmy has to shoot a dog that is killing their flock of lambs. When the owner of the dog appears, it is Beth's first love, Gabriel, and his son. Beth is thrown back into memories of her and Gabriel's summer together and how their relationship fell apart. As Beth and Gabriel become close again as she cares for his son after school, she is reminded of the son she and Frank tragically lost and of her reignited feels for Gabriel. This timeline is interspersed with a murder trial in which the details become clearer as the book progresses.

This literary fiction novel is part romance and part mystery. I could have done without the very graphic love scenes and all the yearning. This was also a somewhat quiet book, filled with grief. It did remind me a little of Where the Crawdads Sing in tone but was completely different in regard to plot and characters. I liked this book overall, but not as much as many of the overhyped reviews. It did feel well crafted, which added to my appreciation of it, but it was not necessarily to my taste.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

What a tragic, love triangle of a story. Clare Leslie Hall wraps you into this family drama, feeling for the various types of heartbreak that these characters endure. The reader goes through all of the emotions as they watch these characters love, lose and try to heal from all the tragedy that they endure. It is going to be a favorite of 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC!

“The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.”

BROKEN COUNTRY is a bit different than my usual fare - historical fiction that incorporates romantic and crime fiction elements. I found a lot to like here, and will definitely be interested in whatever Clare Leslie Hall writes next.

I think the pacing in particular is what didn't quite work for me. It felt like the story was drawn out to fit the length of the book - I wanted more happening or it all to happen more quickly.

I do think this genre mashup will make a great book club pick.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

I think my whole issue with this book is Beth. I am not usually too judgmental of characters, but I HATED the way she treated her husband, Frank. He did not deserve what he got. Which is probably why this book is getting so many five stars. It is emotional, it is tricky and it is full of secrets!

What makes this whole book is the ending. And it does have quite a bit to wade through to get there. But, it is worth it. There is a twist, and yes, I figured it out but then changed my mind. And it gives you another reason to love Frank!

Need a novel which will make you mad, sad, and curious all in the same paragraph…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest opinion.

“Lives should be measured in intensity.”

Great choice for your monthly book club selection Reese’s Book club‼️

A debut?!! What the WHAT?! Ughh my heart can’t take the emotion in this one. I felt it viscerally. The character development is superb.

I was absolutely not ready to say goodbye to these characters when this book ended. Not even close. This novel touches upon a vast array of emotions and is simultaneously a thriller, a murder mystery, a family drama, and a romance. 100/10 highly recommend. I could see this being optioned for film rights and I would for SURE be watching it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and the author for the ARC.

I've read Broken Country in a span of 2 days. I couldn't put it down. I knew it was a love triangle story which made me hesitant to accept the widget I was sent. After seeing the early glowing reviews I decided to give it a go.

Calling this book just a tragic love triangle story would be doing it a disservice. Hall's use of murder trial scenes and intentionally obscuring the identities of the suspect and the victim until the second half of the book added the story a mystery element. In addition to all that there are some twists and turns that were somewhat predictable but overall I found this book highly readable. I would have preferred a little less melodrama at the end but that might be just a me thing:)

The rest of this review might be a bit spoilery for anyone who hasn't read the book yet. Proceed with caution...


Broken Country was not a happy book. Beth and Frank are reeling from a devastating loss. From the start the reader knows heartbreak is imminent. It is clear that Beth is going to break her commitment to her husband. She knows and she still does it. It was hard to empathize with Beth for me. Beth and Arthur's second chance felt more like an unresolved longing, more lust than love. It felt like Beth was trying to relive her days as the carefree young woman she was before all that heartbreak altered her. That being said I wanted more depth from their summer of love from years ago. A more drawn out story that will convince me of their bond. I wasn't convinced that one would risk so much for "the one that got away" but having said that I acknowledge Beth was deeply scarred. Arthur and his son sort of became her happy "borrowed" family.

his book is a genre bending mash up - it has a love triangle, a court trial, a murder mystery (we don’t know who was killed just that there was a murder from the beginning), coming of age, family, love, second chances…there’s so much here!

I loved my reading experience and there were twists and turns that I didn’t know I needed or expected throughout! This story had me turning the pages and I loved it!

Broken Country is a suspenseful, twisty, and well paced story that keeps you guessing until the end.

Frank is what all men should strive to be, and I’ll never get over how this man loves Beth and their family.

3 stars

Beth and her husband are happily married, but that happiness relies on the past saying the past. So when Beth’s brother in law shoots Gabriel Wolfe’s dog as it is actively attacking their sheep, it creates a dramatic ripple affect that changes the course of their lives.

I went into this book blind and highly recommend that approach. This is an atmospheric family saga love story mystery that I could not put down! I was emotionally invested with all the characters from the start and was in tears by the end. Hall did a fantastic job of ramping up the intrigue and tension and introduced some twists and turns I did not see the coming. Highly recommend this one and it will most likely be in my top list this year.

When Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a stray dog, she never expects it to crack open her past. The dog belongs to Gabriel Wolfe—the man who once broke her heart. Now he’s back in the village with his young son, a painful reminder of the child Beth lost.

As old emotions resurface and village tensions rise, long-buried secrets threaten to destroy the life Beth has built.

I would highly recommend this gripping novel of love, regret, and the dangerous pull of the past.

Thank you NetGalley for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

What more can I possibly say about this bookstagram favorite that hasn’t already been said? It deserves all of the hype that it’s been receiving and then some. I think it will appeal to many readers because it has a little bit of everything: historical fiction, romance, mystery, and suspense. If you love genre-mashups, then BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall is definitely for you.

The plot is steady and exciting, the characters are flawed and complex, and the drama is plentiful. You will definitely be entertained! It’s a very juicy story full of secrets, lies, betrayal, infidelity, tragedy, and so many jaw-dropping twists and turns. There’s also an on-going hint of mystery that will keep you on your toes.

I must say that this novel threw me for a massive loop. I went in completely blind, and didn’t even skim the synopsis. From the cover alone, I was expecting a wholesome family drama set in the 1800s. It gave me Little House on the Prairie vibes. Ha! Boy, was I ever wrong. Don’t let this simple and traditional cover deceive you!

READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:

- Shocking twists and turns
- Marriage and motherhood
- Family drama and dynamics
- Alternating timelines
- Complex and flawed characters
- Genre mash-ups
- Young/first love
- Second chance romance
- Love triangles
- Reflections on loss and grief
- Murder trials
- Murder mysteries/whodunnits
- Fast-paced and exciting plots
- Emotional reads

I didn’t give this one a full five stars, and I honestly cannot pinpoint what or why exactly, but something was holding me back. Something about the writing style just didn’t sit right with me. It felt choppy and perhaps a little dry at times. I base my ratings and reviews on a gut feeling, and this one just didn’t give me those “five star feels” like I had hoped. Still a damn good novel, though.

4.5/5 stars for BROKEN COUNTRY! It’s out now!

#SimonBooksBuddy

Broken Country captivated me from the first page. This book will definitely be one of my favorite books of the year!

The story is told between alternating timelines - before 1955 and the present, 1968. The seamless nature of this story was flawless. The chapters were short, enticing the reader to keep turning the pages of this memorizing story. This is a story of lost, new and renewed love. It also weaves a story of what one will endure to protect the ones we care about. These characters lives intersect at a life-altering junction.

Thank you, Simon & Schuster

Liked this, didn't love. Excellent story telling and a moving plot but found myself disinterested and skipping over in the end

Broken Country is a coming of age story, romance, and mystery all wrapped up in one. Beth and Frank have married for a decade when Beth’s first love, Gabriel, unexpectedly comes back into her life. In that decade Beth and Frank have run their farm, raised a son and tragically lost that son. Jimmy, Frank’s younger brother, has never gotten over their mother’s sudden, tragic death. He deals with this trauma by self-medicating with alcohol. Old flames are rekindled and tragedy befalls the Johnson family once again.

This story is broken up into five parts where we learn about the different people in Beth’s life, her history and her present: Gabriel, Bobby, Jimmy, Frank and Grace. Within each part we get snippets of the trial in addition to bread crumbs leading us closer to the full story of what happened. The chapters are short, which helps the story move along at a perfect pace. The twists were nicely unpredictable. The romance and the drama were a little Lifetime-esque. Some of the characters were more caricature than real people to me.

Overall Broken Country is an engaging, quick read, I highly recommend.

What a heartbreak of a novel, and I mean this as a compliment. A love triangle spread across decades, we follow Beth in the present day (late 1960s) during a murder trial, 1968 as her husband Frank and she continue to reckon with the death of their son, Bobby; 1950s as Beth falls in love with Gabriel, the son of a rich family in their rural town, and dreams of going to Oxford to become a writer. Prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster of a book and be forewarned that there is both animal & child death.

This is not the type of novel that I usually find myself drawn to - it's a mystery, love triangle, historical fiction all in one - and I really enjoyed it. The writing is so excellent and puts you firmly in Beth's head as she falls in love, deals with the heartbreak of losing her son, and follows the murder trial that further changes her life. Absolutely add this to your TBR as soon as possible.

Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster and to NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy.

“Broken Country” by Clare Leslie Hall is a story set in England in the 1960s and 1970s. I generally don’t enjoy a multiple time-lined story, but in this case, it works well. The book opens when a farmer shoots a neighbor’s dog when it kills his newborn sheep. The neighbor, it turns out, is Beth’s first love from when she was a teenager. Gabriel has moved back to his family’s beautiful home with his ten-year-old son. A friendship begins and the reader learns that what happened in the past is not so easily forgotten.

I enjoyed this book a lot, although I felt at times Beth’s husband Frank was way more saintly than a man would generally be when faced these circumstances. Perhaps he is the “perfect” man which really doesn’t exist. Many thanks to Net Galley and to the publisher for an ARC of this book. My opinions are my own.

Wow! What a great book. This will be a huge hit. It literally has everything you could want in a story. Definitely recommend.

This book wrecked me in the best way. I was so eager to read this story, I found myself wanting to read the next page before I’d even finished the last.

This story follows two distinct timelines, present time and before. The transition between was seamless and carried the story flawlessly. I was emotionally invested from the very first page. I adored Beth, and couldn’t help but feel for her as she battled internally between her husband, Frank, and her old flame, Gabriel. I’m so grateful to netgalley for this ARC and can’t wait to recommend it to all of my friends!

A heartbreaking, complicated story. It pulled me in right from the start and was full of real emotions and enthralling situations.

I admit that at first I felt very frustrated at the miscommunications and thoughtlessness of the characters throughout the book. However, what makes this book so beautiful is that it tells a story of flawed people making flawed decisions just as we see every day in real life. People do miscommunicate and make reckless decisions all the time and terrible things come from those decisions. This story felt so real, which made it all the more terrible.

It had potential to be a five star read for me but the pacing was off and I felt disconnected from the story at times. But it was also so captivating and heartbreaking that I can predict it will be a popular book this year.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.