BROKEN THINGS By Lauren Oliver

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Broken Things by Lauren Oliver
Published by HarperCollins on 10/2/18
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Mystery & Detective, Young Adult
Pages: 416
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods.

Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly.

The only thing is: they didn’t do it.

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago—no matter how monstrous.

Short and Sweet

Five years ago Summer Marks was murdered and everyone believes that her best friends Mia and Brynn did it, but they didn’t. On the anniversary of Summer’s death Brynn and Mia are reunited and this time they try to prove their innocence and in doing that they have to revisit Lovelorn, a book that the girls were obsessed with and even imagined themselves in.

Characters

Brynn: One of our main characters. Brynn has been spending most of her time in rehab for a drug problem that she doesn’t have but it’s easier being in rehab then dealing with the judgement of people all over the country for being a “killer”. I liked Brynn she has a tough exterior but she’s actually may have been the softest out of all of the girls.

Mia: Mia is known to be the more sensitive and quieter of the girls but we learn that she may be stronger than everyone thinks she is. After everything that has happened Mia has been homeschooled and basically tries to live a normal life.

Summer: Well the only time we read about Summer is when the girls are thinking about her or they’re having a flashback. Summer seems like a victim in the story but we learn that she kind of bullied the people around her. Summer is the one who introduced the girls to Lovelorn and she was really invested in it and liked imagining that she was in Lovelorn.

Abby: Mia’s friend and a famous youtuber. Abby has been Mia’s only friend over the recent years and she loves Mia and is always willing to help her.

Wade: Wade is Brynn’s cousin and for the past five years he’s been obsessed with the Monsters of Brickhouse Lane case and trying to prove his cousin’s innocence. I liked Wade and the fact that he truly wanted to help Brynn out. Wade is a little weird but it makes him more likable.

Owen: Owen was suspected of murdering Summer but got off because of a mistake the police made. I felt bad for Owen because he’s also hated by the community and even though he moved away and came back people never forget.

Romance

Brynn and Abby: This was just one of those things that just happened. These two were spending a lot of time together and it started with a kiss and then that was it. They have a connection but I think Brynn was insecure about the fact that Abby may actually like her back which made her push Abby away, which left Abby with the feeling that she did something wrong.

Mia and Owen: Mia and Owen had been friends for a while and Mia had feelings for a long time but these two just drifted apart and now that they’re back together all of those past feelings are brought up.

Quotes

~ “Summer was awful. We hated her. And she was magical, too, and it was our job to protect her, and we failed.”

My Thoughts

~ My favorite thing that happened was when everyone was reunited because they were all living lives so different from each other.

~ Each character even if they weren’t main characters all played a big part in figuring things out.

~ I loved that it was like a book within a book and the group had to put together clues from Lovelorn to find out what happened in reality.

~ I found it interesting that the girls obsession with Lovelorn ended up being the reason that Summer was murdered.

~ Throughout the book Brynn and Mia learn things about Summer that they didn’t know before, like the fact that someone was helping her write the sequel to Lovelorn.

~ We get to read from Brynn and Mia’s point of view from the past and the present, we also get to read from the original Lovelorn and the one the girls were working on.

Overall

I honestly enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, I was worried that it would be confusing going back and forth from past to present but it actually made the book easy to follow and gave a lot of background. The book also includes some lines from Lovelorn so it was like a book within a book. I loved the characters and I was so glad when they banded together to actually figure out what happened on the day Summer died. I would recommend this book and Halloween is coming up and this would be the perfect read!