A young adult psychological mystery about the complicated nature of friendship, secrets, and moving on.
This latest read is brought to us by an author of quite a few books I have every intention of reading.. eventually. I’ve heard only amazing things about Lauren Oliver, author of the ‘Delirium‘ series(TBR), but I’m left undecided..
‘The Magicians‘ meets ‘Pretty Little Liars‘ (and a little bit of ‘Scooby Doo’) as Lauren Oliver brings us a journey of friendship, our darkest secrets, and discovering who we are when confronted with the worst in people.
Warning!
There are spoilers.. There are always spoilers. Sorry!
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Broken Things by Lauren Oliver
Three friends. A book. And a murder.
With the entire town convinced of their guilt, two girls will desperately search for answers about who really killed their friend. They didn’t do it. And if it wasn’t them? Then a killer is still out there and the mystery of their story.. of Lovelorn.. is still unfolding.
“Before we were the Monsters of Brickhouse Lane—before everyone from Connecticut to California knew us by that tagline, and blogs ran pictures of our faces, and searching our names led to sites that crashed from all the traffic—we were just girls, and there were only two of us.”
― Lauren Oliver, Broken Things
About the book:
When the charismatic Summer Marks comes to town, she befriends a shy Mia and outspoken Brynn, and the unlikely group soon become inseparable.
Summer’s unhealthy obsession with a strange book solidifies her hold over the others as the friends quickly lose themselves in the magic of ‘Lovelorn’. Lovelorn, a fantastical place of wonder only accessible to the three of them together. As the mystery begins to touch their real lives in dark ways, the girls will soon find themselves in the center of a different story, one that will effect the lives of everyone in the community.
A young girl is dead, murdered, and half a decade later the tragic case remains unsolved.
“The problem with fairy tales isn’t that they don’t exist. It’s that they do exist, but only for some people.”
― Lauren Oliver, Broken Things
Victims of circumstance, Mia and Brynn continue to face the suspicion and hostility from the towns people. But when Mia discovers a clue that could shine a light on what happened that fateful day, and as others join them on the hunt for justice(and redemption), the unimpressive team of woefully unsupervised teens find themselves questioning everything. Even eachother.
Rising tension comes to a boil when the group’s secrets and lies are slowly revealed, threatening a shaky truce, and forcing them all to question one another.. And if they ever knew Summer at all.
“That’s the thing about hearts. They don’t get put back together, not really. They just get patched. But the damage is still there.”
― Lauren Oliver, Broken Things
Three and Half Stars
⭐⭐⭐
Characters: Were young and not fully developed, it is a young adult, so that’s easily brushed aside.. They’re really just confused and angry teenagers recklessly solving the riddle of ‘who done it’. I found myself attached to them in a way you become close with another person’s child.. entertained and cautious. They have, very obviously, been through a lot and it’s shown through their actions and personalities.
Liked: I’m always compelled to give the stories featuring magical books or tomes a try. I appreciated the realistic development of the group dynamics and relationships. The mystery is rather predictable but.. it’s done in a way that still holds your interest. I liked how the author took an old idea and gave it just enough originality that you never felt disappointed. It’s almost believable, the actions and responses of the characters are convincing, it puts you right in the story.
Disliked: It ran pretty slow at times. I would’ve liked more back story for Summer.. There are only hints and small tidbits about her past, her mother, and Lovelorn. It was predictable and, unfortunately, that was distracting. It was an issue for me to become attached to them, perhaps it was just the chaos of youth but.. I would just like to feel more depth from them.
In the vein of ‘We Were Liars,’ I would recommend this book to anyone interested in young adult light mysteries. I can’t wait to see what else this author has to offer!
>Read My Review for ‘We Were Liars’ Here<
Are you familiar with Lauren Oliver’s books?
What would you recommend?
Intriguing story. Great review – totally piqued my interest. But why 3.5 stars?
It wasn’t bad. I did feel compelled to finish it.
I just couldn’t get in to the story.. or attached to any of the characters. 😅
Great review! I am curious about this book. I was a big fan of Delirium back in the day but after that my attempts to read Lauren failed.
Thank you! ☺
I had added ‘Before I Fall’ to my tbr and.. then this was recommended by a friend.
I’ll be checking out her other stuff, I’m interested in seeing if her other books have stronger writing.
I’d say her writing is more poetic and emotional. I really liked it back in the days, I wonder if I still would 🤔
Now that you’ve said it.. I can really see what you mean and agree! I’m so curious to see if her other books read the same way. 🧐
Have a beautiful day!🌻
The Magicians meets PLL? Well that’s a combination I can’t miss! Thanks for the honest review though and your thoughts on the characters!
You’re very welcome, I hope you like it!
Interesting review, Sheri. Thanks for the thoughtful review. I’ll probably skip this one, but I might look into Delirium. 😀
Thank you.. and I hope this wasn’t on the tbr. 🤭
Let me know what you think if you read Delirium! I’ll get to them eventually but I’m still curious.
My TBR pile is a monster, so I’m pretty careful about adding new books if I haven’t read the author before. But a good review can go a long way to convincing me. 🙂
I don’t even know what to do with my tbr. I feel like it’s alive..
And that’s probably the better way to do it! I’m still pretty new at this so all the amazing reviews just make me want to read everything! 😆
Ha ha ha. Happy Reading!
You too, thank you!
I’ve downloaded this novel but still thinking if I need to start reading this now…. because before, I’ve read her novel and got disappointed… thankyou for the review… 😊😍
I still think I’ll give her other books a chance and hope that maybe it was just this one that didn’t click for me? You’re very welcome though.. I hope I didn’t ruin it for you! 😅💕
Great review! I totally forgot about this book, but I did read it and liked it. You know you’ve read a lot of books when you have to look them up to see if you’ve read them or not. Oops. I tend to do that a lot lately.
Lol, that is so true! I find myself doing the same thing occasionally. Thank you for reading! I liked the story.. it just didn’t grip me, if that makes sense?
It makes a lot of sense. You’re welcome!
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