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bernluvsbooks 's review for:
Broken Things
by Lauren Oliver
🤔 What really happened to Summer 😵 ? Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods. Everyone thinks her best friends did it... they didn't.
Broken Things was definitely an engaging read, unfortunately it was also quite predictable. The story begins on the 5th anniversary of Summer's brutal murder. We know that her best friends, Mia and Brynn, didn't do it. Yet, each girl holds pieces of the puzzle, secrets they have never shared with anyone.
Mia and Brynn haven't spoken since they were accused of Summer's murder. While cleaning out her home Mia uncovers the book they were obsessed with - The Way into Lovelorn. In the early days of their friendship the girls spent their days recreating the book in their very own Lovelorn, a decorated shack in the woods. The girls' frenzy for the story lead to a shared obsession for writing a sequel. Mia knows the truth of Summer's murder is somehow tied to Lovelorn. Summer was the most obsessed of them all. She had introduced them to the world of Lovelorn and was its gatekeeper. After her death, Lovelorn had simply disappeared. One day the shack was there with its flowered wallpaper and decorations. The next, it was back to being just a dusty abandoned shack. It was as if their Lovelorn had never really existed. The police wrote off Mia's story as fantasy but she knew there was more to it. Lovelorn had existed and the key to solving Summer's murder lay with it.
I enjoyed the idea of the story and the main characters were well developed. Brynn and Mia were both struggling as a result of their friend's murder. I found the direction their lives had taken since the murder interesting and enjoyed watching them reconnect. The cast of side characters - Owen and Abby were quirky and awesome. So why then did I rate the book just 3 stars? The predictability factor did it for me. I figured out who really killed Summer very early on and while I was hoping to be proven wrong, I wasn't. I was also very underwhelmed by the entire reveal. Once I suspected who it was, I knew the reason - it was the only plausible one in my mind. I was really hoping for something more. All in all this was a good read. It just wasn't amazing.
Broken Things was definitely an engaging read, unfortunately it was also quite predictable. The story begins on the 5th anniversary of Summer's brutal murder. We know that her best friends, Mia and Brynn, didn't do it. Yet, each girl holds pieces of the puzzle, secrets they have never shared with anyone.
Mia and Brynn haven't spoken since they were accused of Summer's murder. While cleaning out her home Mia uncovers the book they were obsessed with - The Way into Lovelorn. In the early days of their friendship the girls spent their days recreating the book in their very own Lovelorn, a decorated shack in the woods. The girls' frenzy for the story lead to a shared obsession for writing a sequel. Mia knows the truth of Summer's murder is somehow tied to Lovelorn. Summer was the most obsessed of them all. She had introduced them to the world of Lovelorn and was its gatekeeper. After her death, Lovelorn had simply disappeared. One day the shack was there with its flowered wallpaper and decorations. The next, it was back to being just a dusty abandoned shack. It was as if their Lovelorn had never really existed. The police wrote off Mia's story as fantasy but she knew there was more to it. Lovelorn had existed and the key to solving Summer's murder lay with it.
I enjoyed the idea of the story and the main characters were well developed. Brynn and Mia were both struggling as a result of their friend's murder. I found the direction their lives had taken since the murder interesting and enjoyed watching them reconnect. The cast of side characters - Owen and Abby were quirky and awesome. So why then did I rate the book just 3 stars? The predictability factor did it for me. I figured out who really killed Summer very early on and while I was hoping to be proven wrong, I wasn't. I was also very underwhelmed by the entire reveal. Once I suspected who it was, I knew the reason - it was the only plausible one in my mind. I was really hoping for something more. All in all this was a good read. It just wasn't amazing.