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Release Date: January 8, 2013
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Source: Strange Chemistry through NetGalley
Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads / IndieBound
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Summary: Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein where a young couple's undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.
A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claim the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.
When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely...familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even with his hazel eyes his brown flecks are just like Daniel's.
The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of a mangle but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.
I found the premise of Broken to be quite intriguing. In fact, throughout the whole story, I found myself curious of what really happened to Daniel and the secrets Alex Frank's dad was hiding. It was because of that that I continued to read until the end.
The position that Emma is in really made me connect with her and I found myself being torn and heartbroken just like she was. I felt her grief and her pain as she dealt with the death of her boyfriend, Daniel. I have to give the author her credit for doing such a great job in portraying Emma's grief so well.
However, I wasn't so surprised when Emma found out about Daniel's ex-best-friend's secrets. I managed to pick up on the hints that were scattered all throughout the book. One of the things that really bothers me when I read is that sometimes somethings happens and "somehow" the characters doesn't pick up on it but the reader does. It makes me wonder whether the author is undermining their reader's intelligence or not.
There was also something about the way the author wrote some parts that had me a little confuse and quite honestly, distracted me from the story. I'm not sure whether that was intentional or not but I'm sure that being pulled away from the story because you're trying a unique way of writing and saying this is not what you want your readers to experience.
Overall, I found the book to be an enjoyable read and full of suspense to keep you turning the page.My only issue with the book was how everything was wrapped up nicely in the end. It was too much of a perfect ending which makes it unrealistic for me. Because of that, I can't give this book a higher rating than 2.5 stars.
