Whenever I begin reading a series in the middle – or any time after the first book - I wonder if it will make sense or if there will be things that don’t make sense because I don’t know the story. With Made to Be Broken, I never felt that I was missing anything. I was able to jump right into Nadia’s world. Oh, I could definitely tell there were things that I would have liked to know more about, but that didn’t detract from this story.

As with all of Armstrong’s work, relationships are subplots but also completely relative to the main storyline. This one is no different. Nadia is an innkeeper – and a hired assassin. Hitman, as she likes to call herself. When one of her staff goes missing, Nadia takes it upon herself to find out what happened since no one else seems to care. What she uncovers is much more than a case of a missing girl and her baby. Along with that, Nadia explores her feelings for two very different men in her life: Jack, her mentor, and Quinn, a colleague. She doesn’t know how she feels about either. Nor does she know how those feelings will impact her life, both as a hitman and as an innkeeper.

Armstrong is not a new writer, but this is a new genre for her and only the second book of the series. In a couple of places, it seems that she overcompensates to be sure a new reader won’t feel lost; I got annoyed with the references to things she had already explained. Occasionally she goes just a bit overboard on making Jack seem aloof and a Total Bad Ass. Other than that, I enjoyed Made to Be Broken and will definitely check out the first of the series, Exit Strategy, as well as any upcoming books.