Mundie Moms

Thursday, February 1, 2018

BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS by Kami Garcia / Blog Tour: Book Review / Excerpt #BrokenBeautifulHearts


Welcome to the next stop in the BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS blog tour, hosted by Inkslinger PR. Releasing on February 6th, 2018, this new contemporary from Kami Garcia has one hot romance contemporary fans are going to love. Today's stop features both my review, and a excerpt from Kami's upcoming release. 

ABOUT THE BOOK


By: Kami Garcia
Published by: Imprint Books
To Be Released on: February 6th, 2018
Purchase from: The Publisher Amazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads
Rating: 4.5 stars
Thank you to the tour host & publisher for providing me with an e-arc of this book to read in exchange for my honest review

Before, Peyton was a star soccer player with the perfect boyfriend, Reed. Now, she has a torn knee ligament, a scholarship on the line, and a shattered sense of self. No one believes Reed pushed her, causing her injury, and Peyton just wants to leave the trauma behind. Living with her uncle and twin cousins in their small, football-obsessed town seems like a great escape plan. 

There, Peyton meets Owen—high school classmate and local MMA fighter. Though Owen is charming and gentle, Peyton is determined to repress her growing attraction. But when her old and new life collide, Peyton must reclaim the truth of her past in order to save her future.

With southern charm, underground martial arts, and red-hot chemistry, Kami Garcia’s second contemporary romance will steal your breath away. 

MY REVIEW

This book will sweep you off your feet with it's southern charm, leave you swooning over the sizzling romance, and leave you wanting more. Garcia has written a realistic, gritty, contemporary romance that is reminiscent of another YA favorite contemporary author of mine, Katie McGarry. Garcia has definitely found her niche with writing. 

I happily stayed up way too late and lost sleep over reading this book. Once I started reading it, there was no stopping until I was done. There's something about the characters, and the way this book was written that completely immersed me into this story. They became more than just characters on a page. This is the kind of book that left me loving the secondary characters as much, or more than the main characters. 

Garcia does a beautiful job at writing a story about abuse in relationships. I absolutely admired Peyton for standing her ground with her ex-boyfriend Reed, even if it does cost a future she had all planned out. Though the surprise in the story was predictable, the outcome of it wasn't. At times I loved Peyton's strength and strong will, but more often than not the way she acted got on my nerves a lot. It felt a little over the top much of the time, making it hard for me to not be annoyed with her. Luckily this book had a solid cast of characters I absolutely loved.

Friendship and family plays a huge role in this story. I loved the diversity of both, as well as that of Peyton's family's heritage. Peyton's mom, Uncle and twin cousins were characters I easily fell in love with. Her cousins and Uncle bring the small town, Southern charm to this story perfectly. The romance in this book is sizzling! The chemistry between Owen and Peyton was natural and definitely ignites the pages of this! Watching these two fight against it, and than fight for each other was something that really made this book what it is.

I absolutely loved Garcia's writing. She's written a poignant, emotionally charged story that's about fighting. It's about fighting back, fighting for yourself. standing up, making your voice be heard, healing, moving forward, strength, hope, taking chances, letting go, and new beginnings. She made me not only fall in love with the wide range of characters in this book, but with the heart of this story as well. Each of the characters in this book had their own brokenness they were fighting to fix, heal, and move forward from. I couldn't help but feeling emotionally connected to them, and each of their own healing. 

On a more serious note, this book does deal with addiction, and abuse, especially in teenage relationships. While I talk about the things I loved about this book, there are serious elements to this story. Garcia does a beautiful job and writing something that is hard to read at times. I don't feel like these elements should be taken lightly nor were they in the story. I applaud Peyton for fighting for herself and getting out of the situation is in. It definitely was not easy, and comes at a cost. 

READ AN EXCERPT 

Tess pulls into the hospital driveway and stops near the glass doors to the ER. She leaves the car running and hops out. “I’ll be right back.”
Once I’m alone, the panic hits me full-force. Some of the shock of Reed pushing me has worn off, and now all I can think about is my knee.
What if I can’t play soccer anymore? Permanent damage could keep me off the field—and end my career before it begins. Every once in a while you hear about a situation like this on the news. A high school athlete blows out a knee or an elbow during senior year, and it’s game over. What else will I do if soccer isn’t an option?
Nothing. I’ll do nothing.
Going pro has been my dream for as long as I remember.  The folded acceptance letter is still tucked in my back pocket. I don’t have a plan B.
Tess returns with two nurses, and the three of them to help me out of the car and into a wheelchair. Inside, a nurse wheels me through a pair of double doors that lead to an examination area, where hospital beds are lined up along the walls and separated by privacy curtains. Once I’m settled in a hospital bed, Tess sits with me as the nurse takes down my personal information.
“Can you tell me where it hurts and describe the pain?” the nurse asks. “I’ve had some shooting pains, but there’s also a weird pulling feeling.
Is that bad?” I ask.
“I’m not a doctor, sweetheart. But don’t worry. This is an excellent hospital.” The nurse takes notes on a form attached to her clipboard. “How would you rate your pain, on a scale of one to ten? One being no pain and ten being unbearable pain.”
“If I don’t move my knee, it’s around a five. But if I bend it, the pain shoots up to an eight or nine.”
More like a ten.
I’m trying to be brave. A ten seems like a pain level of someone who survived a car crash, not a fall down the stairs. But if the nurse asked me to rate how scared I am right now, it’s a twelve.
“How did you hurt your knee?” the nurse asks.
If I say Reed pushed me intentionally, he might get arrested. If Tess weren’t in the picture, I would’ve called the police already.
But Mrs. Michaels can’t support herself and Tess on her own. She tried before and it didn’t go well. It seemed like every year they were moving into another crummy apartment. When Mrs. Michaels ran out of friends’ couches to crash on, Reed started working even more extra hours to help out.
“I fell down a flight of stairs,” I say.
“Did you hit your knee against anything?” She scribbles more notes on her clipboard.
“My kneecap hit the ground.”
“On the sidewalk,” Tess adds, wringing her hands.
The nurse finishes writing. “A doctor is going to come and take a look. Can I call someone for you?”
“I already talked to her mom,” Tess says. “She’s on her way.”
“I’ll be back to check on you in a few minutes.” The nurse pulls the privacy curtain around the bed, and Tess and I are alone again.
“Thanks for not saying anything,” she says.
“I know you don’t believe me, but I’m telling the truth.”
Tess presses the heels of her hands against her temples, like she’s fighting the worst headache of her life. “I don’t know what you want me to say. You’re my best friend. I want to believe you. But we’re talking about Reed. He’s my brother. He wouldn’t lie to me. And he loves you. He’d never hurt you.”
Until tonight I thought the same thing.

PRE-ORDER BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS 

Pre-Order a digital or print edition of BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS by the #1 New York Times bestselling author, Kami Garcia, and be the first to hear an exclusive announcement from Kami about her next book - a secret project her publisher is keeping under wraps! Hurry! This is a limited time offer! Registration ends on February 28, 20181 You must register your preorder to receive the exclusive announcement from Kami. Pre-Order it here!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Kami Garcia is the #1 New York Times, USA Today & international bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures and Dangerous Creatures novels. 

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES has been published in 50 countries and translated in 39 languages, and the film Beautiful Creatures released in theaters in 2013, from Warner Brothers. Kami’s solo series, The Legion, includes the instant New York Times bestseller UNBREAKABLE, and the sequel UNMARKED, both of which were nominated for Bram Stoker Awards. Her other works include THE X-FILES ORIGINS: AGENT OF CHAOS and the YA contemporary novels THE LOVELY RECKLESS and the forthcoming BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS (February 2018). 


Kami was a teacher for seventeen years before co-authoring her first novel on a dare from seven of her students. If she isn’t busy watching Supernatural, Kami can teach you how to escape from a pair of handcuffs or bake a Coca-Cola cake. She lives in Maryland with her family, and their dogs Spike and Oz (named after characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Visit Kami at www.KamiGarcia.com.    


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