Review: Beautifully Broken Control by Catherine Cowles (Sutter Lake #4)

Title: Beautifully Broken Control

Author: Catherine Cowles

Series: Sutter Lake, Book 4

Rating: 4/5 ⭐
Spice Level: 2.5/5 🌶️

“She smiled, and it felt like a physical blow. I thought I’d seen her smile before, at Jensen or Lizzie or Anna, but I hadn’t. Nothing like this. It was full and unabashed and so damn beautiful it almost hurt to look at her”

Beautifully Broken Control is the fourth book in Catherine Cowles first series Sutter Lake and it follows Kennedy and Cain. It can be read as a standalone but I think you should start at the first book in the series Beautifully Broken Pieces.

When we first meet Kennedy in the other books it is clear that she is hiding something. She is 22 years old and first came to Sutter Lake to disappear and live a quiet life, with her dog Chuck. After getting the perfect job in a cute tea shop along with an apartment in the small apartment above the shop, she finally feels good about her new life. She finds a place to volunteer in town, teaches children ballet classes and becomes friends with the shop's owner Jensen who soon pulls her into the fold of her family and friends. 

We also first meet Cain in the previous books where he is mentioned as the last member of the Walker and Tucker trio, who lives in the big city with a successful company and a chip on his shoulder. We soon find out that the trauma and painful past runs much deeper than you first think and when the pain suddenly feels a bit too close to home Cain decides to move to Sutter Lake to be near his best friends and to get some space from the pain that he can’t seem to escape. Cain is paranoid and easily distrustful, which leads to a less than ideal first impression when it comes to Kennedy, the girl with the mysterious past. But he also finds himself drawn to her, and feels the need to protect her.

Cain and Kennedy soon realise that they are both keeping secrets from each other, which could tear them apart. But the pull is still too strong for either of them to stay away. 

“It was as if her soul called to mine in a song only the two of us could recognize. A broken siren’s song. And it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.”

Catherine’s books are for the people who love a romance filled with angst and beautiful love, friendships and found family mixed with high stakes, kidnappings, and murder mystery. 
Catherine has an ability to make you care so much about the characters and is just an incredible story teller. 

This was definitely my most anticipated book in this series and it did not disappoint. She writes such real characters with real flaws and insecurities where the arguments don’t feel like they are made to drive them apart but is a real showing of the characters deepest fear that we sometimes as humans don't deal with in the right way. There is something so beautiful about a book that has that fictional feeling while still feeling so real in a way. 

I love Cain and Kennedy's story and while it doesn't have as much of the found family feelings as I would have liked, I still think it was an amazing and emotional read. 

Also I just love when Cain thinks about her in the most beautiful way. 

“When I tried to picture a life without Kennedy, it was empty and dull, a gray-scape. She painted my existence with the most vivid splashes of color. I’d lived too long with the gray. I wanted the color”

Catherine Cowles is one of my favorite authors and I can't wait to read her next release. 

Trope Checklist

Small town 
Suspense
Forced proximity 
Billionaire romance 
Age gap 
Grumpy-Sunshine 
Dual POV 
He falls first 
Stubborn FMC 

Content and Trigger Warnings
Abuse
Rape 
Murder 
Suicide 
Kidnapping 
Betrayal

I hope you enjoyed my review, follow for more!

Love Sofie