YA Review: Broken by C.J. Lyons

Title: Broken

Author: C.J. Lyons

# of Pages: 336 

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: November 5th 2013

Source: BEA

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons makes her YA debut with a fast-paced thriller sure to keep readers guessing to the very last page

The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now... or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.

My Verdict

I think it's going to be hard to judge this book for what it is rather than how it was marketed. The back of the book calls Broken a "riveting suspense and taut drama" a lot of reviews I read previously also talked about it as if it were a fast-paced thriller. This is not the case at all. It was basically your average contemporary romance with a slight mystery that doesn't turn suspenseful until the last few chapters. Had I just been expecting a contemproary romance going into it, I may have enjoyed it more than I did. Unfortunely, I was expecting an edge of your seat medical thriller that wasn't there.

The main character, Scarlet, has been diagnosed with Long QT disease, which means her heart beats irregularly and could kill her at any moment. After spending most of her life in the hospital, Scarlet decides she wants to take the time she does have left and go to high school like a normal kid. Her parents are dead set against it, but they decide to let her go on a trial basis.

Scarlet immedietly makes friends with Jordan, Nessa, Celina and Tony. The "wrong" crowd according to Scarlets mother. Ugh, her mother drove me nuts! She made all of Scarlet's decisions for her and did things like feed her vitamins in front of all her friends in the middle of the school cafeteria. Seriously?! I can't think of any teenager that would put up with that.

The book is divided into five sections set over the course of one school week (Monday - Friday). A lot of the time I was bored with the little details of Scarlet's school day, but I guess we were supposed to be overwhelmed by the experience as much as she was.

I was appaled by the bullying that went on at the school and that the students so easily got away with it. I was home schooled, so thankfully I never had to deal with bullying first hand or see it happening to those around me, but I know it's a big issue that is overlooked all too much!


With the ending came a big twist and a few fast-paced pages, but it was pretty short lived for a so-called "riveting suspense." If you're a contemporary lover looking for a romance with a little something different I'd check this one out. If you're looking for a fast paced medical thriller, keep looking. 

YA Review: If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin

Title: If He Had Been With Me

Author: Laura Nowlin

# of Pages: 330

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: April 1st 2013

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

If he had been with me, he wouldn't have died.

Throughout their whole childhood, Finn and Autumn were inseparable—they finished each other's sentences, they knew just what to say when the other person was hurting. But one incident in middle school puts them in separate social worlds come high school, and Autumn has been happily dating James for the last 2 years. But she's always wondered what if...

The night she's about to get the answer is also one of terrible tragedy.

My Verdict

It's funny how we have certain expectations for a book when we've done nothing but see the cover and read the back cover. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting from this book, but I can say it ended up being nothing like how I imagined. 

The story focuses on best friends, Finny & Autumn, who have known each other since before birth. Seriously, their moms are also best friends and would sit with their pregnant bellies together so the babys could kick each other. Now in highschool, we get to watch as Autumn and Finny's relationship changes, they drift apart and back together again. 

The timeline of this book was very strange. It spans all four years of highschool and also contains many memories of middle school and earlier. So much so that I felt I had know Autumn & Finny their whole lives. 

While the story is about both Finny & Autumn, the focus is more on Autumn and is told from her point of view. She was extremely frustrating, always doing thing's she didn't want to do or saying things she didn't mean. I really disliked her! Finny on the other hand, I loved! I mean how awesome is the name Phineas? Okay I may be biased because of my love for Phineas & Ferb but it just really stood out to me. 

Even though you know how it's going to end from the very first page, it still hits hard when it happens. 

While I didn't care much for the book overall,  I will say that it was very emotional, and quite powerful. I found myself thinking about it for a few nights after I finished, tortured by what had happened and how easily it could have been different had the characters just communicated with one another!