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Summary: The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now… or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.
SOOO excited to be participating in the blog tour for CJ Lyons’ YA debut, BROKEN! Not only do I have my review below, but CJ was awesome enough to put together a little post for you all! HU-ZZAH, right? So, without further ado, say hi to CJ, everyone!
Becoming a doctor was amazing—I come from a small town in Pennsylvania and worked three jobs to put myself through medical school—but becoming a writer was a dream I’d had all my life, so being able to make it come true has been fantastic beyond words.
My writing career hasn’t been smooth sailing, in many ways it’s as hard as being a doctor (I actually work longer hours now!) but it has been fulfilling in so many ways.
As a doctor the greatest rush came from those rare moments when I actually saved a life. As a writer I get the chance to touch hundreds of thousands of lives—and I can’t begin to describe the feeling I get when I hear from fans about how my stories have done more than provide entertainment but have inspired or empowered them. Talk about your dreams come true!
BROKEN is my twentieth book and I treasure each fan letter as much as the first. There have been people facing the pain of chronic illnesses who have been able to make it through the night because of my books. Fellow medical personnel, EMS, firefighters, and police officers have written, thanking me for the way I “tell it like it really is.” And readers who simply needed an escape from their lives have found refuge in my words.
Honestly, no matter how much money or which bestseller lists I hit, I can’t imagine any feeling as wonderful as the feeling I get when I hear from readers who have fallen in love with my books.
THANKS CJ!!!
When I first heard about BROKEN, CJ Lyons’ YA debut, I was completely intrigued. The idea of reading a book about a girl with an incredibly rare, life-threatening heart condition sounded sad and intriguing and, as the synopsis promises, thrilling. Can you imagine living like Scarlet does every day? With the very real fear that she could literally DROP DEAD at any moment? WOW! In the end I liked BROKEN very much. It’s a solid YA debut.
The main thing that stands out to me about BROKEN is that Scarlet’s mother is overbearing and overprotective in the extreme, although you can’t always blame her given Scarlet’s medical history. She’s also manipulative, though, and that I have a hard time abiding for any reason. I was suspicious of her behavior, and I often found myself torn between wanting to shake Scarlet into not being so naïve (I mean, obvs not shaking her REALLY hard because hello, deadly heart condition) and feeling outright bad for her and the way she’s been conditioned to PREFER living in a bubble. That’s so sad, friends! But the Mother? No, thank you. Not a fan. There’s a line—at least to me—and this mom was often on the wrong side of it. Grrr….
It’s a good thing, then, that I liked Scarlet. I liked how despite her condition and some horrible bullying at school she was able to find some friends and a cute boy who liked her and get excited about classes. She had some gumption, too, which I feel like her mother was always trying to tamp down. It’s basically impossible NOT to root for someone who has a legitimately life-threatening condition, but I wanted good things for Scarlet that weren’t influenced by that at all.
Her super adorbs relationship with Tony was…super adorbs. Really. Not hot or intense or anything; I didn’t necessarily feel butterflies, but my heart was warmed. Tony was a good egg, smart and supportive and loyal. It was nice to see Scarlet find connections with people. Some of her friendships—with Jordan, Nessa, and Celina—were better and more satisfying to me as a reader than others. Jordan in particular was likeable, certainly, but I was a little bummed that his arc seemed to peter out a little bit. He seemed like he would be so important at the beginning of BROKEN, and he was in a way, but I thought he faded out. But the best part of all of this was Scarlet getting to behave like a regular teenager for a little while.
As much as I enjoyed some elements of BROKEN, I also thought that the “thriller” aspect was not as intense as I anticipated based on the synopsis. We were a good half through the book before things really started moving. In the beginning, BROKEN seemed more like a regular contemporary than anything that would get my pulse racing the way I thought. The end lived up to this promise a little more, as things unfolded rapidly (maybe sometimes too rapidly).
I feel like this review makes it seem like I didn’t enjoy BROKEN! AHH! Not true. Was it perfect? No. Did I still like it? Yes. There were some instances where the bullying seemed extreme to me, but it was still awful and made me ragey. But the Long QT angle was really intriguing, and the thriller parts, when they became thrilling nearer to the end, kept things moving at a great pace. I know that CJ Lyons has written many books, and even though BROKEN was my first of hers, it likely won’t be my last.
I guess it would spoil things to know, but what is not normal about the high school that might kill her? That is so intriguing, but it sounds like that is not that important in the book (or maybe not important until the second half?) Glad you enjoyed the book!