Broken Pieces

The Patchwork Series – Book 2

Genre: Paranormal

By Toni Aleo

Release Date: January 24, 2017

Buy: Amazon  US

Synopsis

The rules of The Works have remained unchanged for centuries. There is to be no romantic mixing between any of the five supernatural clans.

But from the moment Oceanus von Stein, second-in-command to the Patchwork family, caught sight of Taegan Conner, daughter of the leader of the Wolves, he knew he would never love anyone else.

Only now, Taegan has been promised in marriage to another, an arrangement to strengthen her family’s alliances—and she gets no say in the matter.

Neither does Oceanus.

While they both know they have their places and responsibilities in their clans, their love is too strong. How can they let go of what they have? Though it is forbidden, Oceanus and Taegan won’t stop until they can have each other. The only problem is that the world is against them, and Oceanus has a threat to his sister’s life to vanquish.

Can they find a way to be together, or will they both always be two Broken Pieces?

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Excerpt

As I watch my father sit, he doesn’t do so smoothly. His movements are jerky before he folds his old, leathery hands together and his eyes scan the room. The scars are very prominent on his face and hands. All the experiments he did on himself are visible, along with the scar tissue that is ancient and freakish on him. While his eyes are bright, from the new pair he just obtained, he looks like death. And tired. Very tired.
Clearing his throat, he lets his gaze fall on me, and I meet it head on.
“I had a meeting with Kurt Conner.”
Kurt Conner.
The pack leader of the wolves.
My love’s father.
Clearing my throat, I sit up straighter as my forearms lay against the cool top of the old oak table. Before I can comment, though, he is going on. “He needed a loan for the wedding of Taegan.”
What?
My world stops.
I feel all eyes on me. My father is staring at me, waiting for a response, but I don’t have one.
Because what the actual fuck is going on?
Did I hear him wrong?
“A wedding?”
“Yeah, she is marrying some other pack leader’s son—you know how those wolves are. Wanting to unite families with arranged marriage and all that wolfish nonsense, I don’t know. But I didn’t give him the money until—”
“Until?” I gasp, my heart in my throat, my stomach on the ground, and every piece of me feeling as if I am falling into the fiery depths of hell because surely I am hearing my father wrong.
Taegan is to marry me.
“He offered up some information on Frank Kelley—”
“He hasn’t died yet?” Jonas asks, and I know it’s to give me time. To let me think, to let me process, but I can’t. Taegan is to marry someone else? She didn’t even tell me. We were together last night! Had she known? Was she playing me? Damn it, what the hell? How could she allow me to find out this way? I mean, I knew my time was running out, but hell, did she keep this from me? I’ve never experienced heartache or true heartbreak, but I’m pretty sure this feeling of my chest caving in and blowing up is just that.
She’s marrying someone else?
She isn’t waiting for me?
Gasping for breath as I try to push the bile back down my throat, I watch as my father shakes his head. “Not yet. And apparently, they are wanting to attack us in one more attempt to get the formula for him. They think they can kidnap Rebekah and use her as leverage.”
I feel Rebekah move as she squeaks. “Me?”
“You. So we are on high alert. Keep your eyes open, and, Rebekah, I don’t want you working at the bar until this is taken care of. I have a meeting with Frank Kelley on Friday.”
“Father, I’m fine at the bar. It’s owned by our family, most of our family is there, along with JJ. The Kelleys don’t even come that much.”
“Yes, but other families come to the bar, and that makes me uncomfortable.”
“I’m fine, I can take care of myself.”
He leans on his desk, and I don’t care about their melodrama. I can’t. Even though I know I should intervene, calm both sides—because my father is right, we need to keep Rebekah underground while this goes on—I can’t help but think of the fact that my love is marrying another. Someone other than me. How in the world is this fair? Why didn’t she fight them? She told me she was mine, and I was hers. Why didn’t she wait for me?
And then it’s like I’m being slapped back into reality.
She didn’t wait for me because we can’t.
We can’t be selfish and love each other because we have commitments to our families. Yes, we love each other. Yes, she is my world, and I’ll love only her. But just like I have to, she has to protect her family. I’m sure there is something more to this, and while I wish she had told me, I know I can’t be upset. I have to respect the process of our families.
Being the eldest, we have no choice.
We don’t get to be greedy.
Wow, I don’t even believe I’m trying to convince myself.
How could she?

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Michel’s Review

Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night?  Are monsters really real?  In our world deep within the darkness is another world where monsters exist in their own world known as The Works.  A society full of different species of monsters and things that really go bump in the night.  The Works consist of shifters, wolves, vampires, witches, and pieced together immortals known as the Patchworks.  The creator of the Patchworks, the Von Stein family ( decedents of Dr. Frankenstein), are the absolute rulers of The Works.  They hold the secret to immortality.  Obey their rules or experience death.  There isn’t any room for compromise or shades of gray.  The rules are in place for a reason, for the survival of all the species within The Works.  Intermarriage and intermixing of genetics is strictly forbidden.

Oceanus von Stein is next in line to rule The Works.  He is vying his time to take over his father’s supreme rule.  He has plans to bring the Works out of the last century into a more progressive society.  The archaic laws are no longer working in today’s world.  His biggest motivation is his love for Taegan Conner, the first princess of The Wolves Clan.  Their love is forbidden and he has plans to change that.  Taegan will be his queen.  His father has different plans for Oceanus, which do not include Taegan Conner.

Taegan has been promised in marriage to the son of another prominent wolf clan.  She is being forced to marry a man she doesn’t love.  She is begging Oceanus to run away with her but Oceanus is too dedicated to his family and the legacy he will inherit.  He is trying to buy them time but the clock is running out.

While Oceanus and Taegan are trying to find a way to have a life together other things are going on in the Works.  The shifters are up to no good.  An imposter has infiltrated the Works.  His sister Rebekah is in grave danger.  She has secrets that cannot be exposed to the Works.  Other Patchwork clans are negotiating unreasonable alliances which could not only change Rebekah’s life but Oceanus’s life as well.  His father refuses to relinquish his position and The Works is in very real trouble.  The burden is on Oceanus’s shoulders.  He may have to sacrifice the only thing that matters in his life.  He may have to sacrifice his love.  In a world full of monsters, the scariest one is his father, the man who gave him life.

Broken Pieces runs parallel to the first book, Pieces.  I would strongly recommend reading that book first.  It is the same story but from a different perspective and point of view.  Another new forbidden romance is added to the mix. There are new situations and factors that are added to the overall story that could affect every single person within the Works.  By the time the book reaches the last quarter Toni begins to take the overall story in a different direction which ends on a massive CLIFFHANGER.

Toni Aleo has written an authentic paranormal series with an original plot that has left me reeling.

The complex world of the Works was intriguing, frightening, and interesting. The characters were strong and dynamic in their own individual ways. I am looking forward to what happens next in this unique paranormal series.  The monsters are on the prowl and the von Steins days may be numbered.

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PIECES

Pieces

The Patchwork Series – Book 1

***

In New York City, an underground society of supernatural beings exists, hidden among everyday humans. They don’t know of our activities or any of our secrets.

The districts of the Works are made up of vampires, wolves, shifters, witches, and I’m in the fifth and arguably most important district, the Patchwork. My father is the leader of our group, and he oversees all of the other factions.

As his only daughter, that makes me the princess of it all. Cool, right? Actually…no. Sure, I live in a mansion and money isn’t an object, but that doesn’t matter because I can’t leave. I have a guard who follows me around 24/7. My father and three older brothers treat me like I’m a fragile piece of glass, never allowed to take an independent step or make any decisions on my own.

It’s beyond frustrating—especially since my father essentially runs my life. He says what I do, when I do it, how I do it, and all that jazz. He tests his formulas and new techniques on me. I’m a walking science experiment.

I hate it.

I hate my life here.

But then he comes along: Killian.

He’s just some vampire…or so I thought.

But you’ll have to read my story to find out what I mean. To know my secrets. Until then, though, allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Rebecca von Stein.

And I’m a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein.

Welcome to the Works.

*****

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ITUNES

KOBO

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My name is Toni Aleo and I’m a total dork.
I am a wife, mother of two and a bulldog, and also a hopeless romantic.
I am the biggest Shea Weber fan ever, and can be found during hockey season with my nose pressed against the Bridgestone Arena’s glass, watching my Nashville Predators play!
When my nose isn’t pressed against the glass, I enjoy going to my husband and son’s hockey games, my daughter’s dance competition, hanging with my best friends, taking pictures, scrapbooking, and reading the latest romance novel.
I have a slight Disney and Harry Potter obsession, I love things that sparkle, I love the color pink, I might have been a Disney Princess in a past life… probably Belle.
… and did I mention I love hockey?

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