Date Release: April 24, 2012
Author: Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Goodreads Rating: (3.94/5)
Heart Score: ♥♥♥ (3.21)
Whistle Scale: (9/20)
Summary: Allie lost everything the night her boyfriend, Trip, died in a horrible car accident - including her memory of the event. She doesn't remember driving on the cliff road. She doesn't recall jumping from the truck just before Trip lost control. As their small town mourns his death, Allie is afraid to remember because doing so means delving into what she's kept hidden for so long, the horrible reality of their abusive relationship. When the police reopen the investigation, it quickly turns on Allie and her best friend, Blake, especially as their budding romance raises eyebrows around town. As the threats begin and the survivor's guilt takes over, Allie knows she must tell the truth. Can she reach deep enough to remember that night so she can finally break free?
Fans of dark contemporary stories will feel right at home in the hands of debut writer Jennifer Shaw Wolf as she takes them on an emotional ride through the murky waters of love, shame, and ultimately, forgiveness.
Going into this story I think my expectations were a little too high. For the semi-most part, the majority of what I read was good, not bad or great, just... good. However, the subject matter was fresh, in a way that it lit the spark i needed to get over my reading slump. I felt rather bittersweet - mixed feelings stirred with a handful of annoyance. There were things I seriously couldn't stop from rolling my eyes at and wanting to punch the main character; then there were things (namely characters) my heart couldn't stop beating for.
Mild Spoilers Ahead
(I warned you.)
"It came on slowly, like the ride filling up the entire shore before you even realize it's coming in."
This quote completely explains the hetero feelings I had towards this story. Some feelings were expected; others snuck-up on me - whether for better or worse, was always different. So let's start from the beginning.
As usual, we're introduced to the main characters. And the main character/narrator is Allie. We find out she's been in a horrible car accident, which has not only injures and causes her to lose her memory of the night of the accident, but also kills her boyfriend, Trip. Instantly, the reader is dumped with information - things, I think could have slowly been distributed throughout the book. This was one my turn-offs.
But first let's start off with the things I really LOVED:
- Andrew - OMG Andrew! *squeals and gushes irrationally* For me, Andrew, Allie's twin brother, was the best part of this book. Andrew has Cerebral Palsy, which has hindered him from many things. But the one thing it hasn't, is protecting and loving his sister in all her crazy shit. Gah! Andrew was just the beakon of everything light and shiney in world, for Allie and myself, as a reader. I just loved him and seriously wished there were more scenes between him and his girlfriend, and him and Allie. And ugh, I just wish the whole book would have been from his perspective, because it would've the story 10x better. So 5 ♥♥♥♥♥ for Andrew.(:
- Chemistry: There were a couple scenes in the story I just had to highlight and reread, because... well everything about those scenes really made me smile. One of them was with a slight showdown between Allie and Hannah. When Hannah accuses Allie of trying to get with the new hot detective in town. (cue eyeroll) but what Allie did to defend herself was beyond badass, and I seriously wished that kind of attitude would have stayed with her throughout the story. Another fave scene of mine was between her and Andrew. Actually, most of the scenes between her and Andrew are my fave. But this one stood out the most for me because it really highlighted the strength of their relationship despite everything that was happening.
- This might sound completely horrible, but it must be in this list - Allie and Trip's abusive relationship - now before you click off and start calling me all kinds of horrible names, the last thing i want you to think is that I am gung ho about abusive anything. The reason this is on the list is because this topic has never really been highlighted in YA. And because of that, I commend Jennifer Wolf for being so brave and touching the subject. It was a really fresh intake of breath to actually read something we don't normally hear or read about on a daily basis. Allie and Trip's relationship was pretty typical but it was so raw that I had to look past the cliches. In any sense, I felt for Allie in almost every flashback spotlighted in the story. But at the same time, I wish those memories would have helped her want to solve the absence of her memories and officially move on with her life.
- Hannah - She was the typical superficial mean girl. However, there were some things that surprised me. Then right when I was starting to somewhat warm up to her character Hannah fell right back into the cliche. So sad. Although, I have to say I never trusted her anyway.
- Scatter plots - This was another thing that dug under my skin about this story; some ideas in the plot didn't really add up, and most of the time, unrealistic, throwing me off and making me want to throw my phone at the wall.
- Filler details/chapters - This as a writer is one of the worst things you can do for your story: add filler details so your story can be a certain length or you have writers block and just need something to fill your blank pages. Now, don't get me wrong, I know there are all kinds of great stories out there that probably have filler chapters/ details, but because the author was sneaky and hid it well, the details were most likely not easy to catch. Breaking Beautiful wasn't part of that list, unfortunately. Because I'm a writer, it was pretty easy to see what chapters/details could've easily been snipped and clipped from the story. But with them, the plot really dragged on whenit didn't have to.
- If there's one thing I hate more than anything else on this list it's a whiney narrator. Towards the middle/end of the story, Allie was that to me. I felt like she was just starting to make up excuse after excuse and giving up so easily. Like dude, grow some balls. Quit running away from your past, solve the mystery behind your boyfriends doom so everyone and yourself can move on with their lives. JEEZUS.
All in all, as my rating shows, I wasn't all that in love with this story. There were things I would seriously change; then there were the things I will keep and story away in my fave book moments. Other than that I hope you all enjoyed my first review. This is just one of many to come.
So until next time, my loves.(:
Hugs and Candy,
Lyric ♥
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