Review: An Emotionally Gritty Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 27, 2013
All the feels, all the emotions to process.. Jessica Sorensen has again delivered another gritty and confronting novel that has left me in pieces. This is a  very emotional read, a sad and hopeless look at two people who haven't been able to put their lives back together after tragedy and are trying to deal with their issues that can not be easily fixed."I keep quiet and let myself drown in my thoughts, knowing that's not what I'm doing. I'll probably never truly be happy again, no matter how much I want to, because no matter what, Landon will always be gone and I'll still be here.Alone."Nova Reed was a confident and strong personality who had dreams and a clear future mapped out for her. Once she loses her boyfriend tragically, she also loses her life as well.  She's left a broken woman, who is constantly sad and has developed a case of OCD, just to keep some control of her life. Nova is stuck in her life, unable to move on from what happened, constantly questioning the past and her future. Quinton Carter was the type of guy you'd gladly take home to meet your parents. Bright, polite, with good values, he was clearly going places in his life. Until a car accident that kills his girlfriend and cousin changes everything. Quinton died that night too, and all that is left is a shell of a man drowning in guilt. With no job or real prospects he turns to drugs to numb his pain.  These two broken souls are drowning in their sorrow, unable to feel anything other than sadness and pain, until they meet each other.  What starts off as a tentative friendships blossoms into something more.The story is slow building, but once it gains its momentum and secrets and details are uncovered you are completely invested.  Nova and Quinton literally broke my heart, their sadness leaping off the page. They're  just existing, without any real purpose or any will to survive. You want to help them, to see them get their happily ever after, but there is no easy fix, just a long bumpy road ahead of them.  Upon their first meeting, a simple touch caused a reaction that neither one has felt in a long time. It was filled with understanding, hope and perhaps happiness. Their spark was the one bright part of the story, it gave me hope that MAYBE they would be ok."Nova said she went looking for me. No one ever goes looking for me or cared enough to worry about me. When she says it, I'm pretty certain my worthless heart shatters inside my chest, and she steals one of the pieces. If I didn't already belong to someone else I probably would have handed her all the pieces right then and there."Quinton struggles with his self worth, believing that Nova is too good for him, yet he is inexplicably drawn to her. Nova sees the sadness that emanates from his eyes, and she wont turn her back on him, she'll do everything in her power to help him. Slowly they begin to open their hearts to one another, and we see just how beautiful a connection they share. Sadly this is all clouded with alcohol and drugs,  as we see them trying to numb the pain and sadness, to stop the memories that . It's a confronting look inside the head of someone that turns to drugs as a coping mechanism.We get both POV's in this story, taking us deeper in their minds, grasping all their emotions. Essentially this is Nova's story, where we see her eventually get to a point of 'freedom', and this then sets us up for Quinton's journey in Book 2 (set to release in February, 2014) , which is far from over.Jessica Sorensen has a knack for writing the emotionally dark novels. She writes in such a way, that the pain, sadness and their struggles feel so real. A  writing style that takes you into the heart of the story, and you live it along with them. I know Jessica's books are emotionally taxing, yet I think she goes further with Breaking Nova.  She takes you on a journey of healing that is dark, gritty, and emotionally painful."You know what I think," he says, vining his legs around mine. "I think you're going to have a really amazing future, full of drumsticks, and songs and videos, and anything else you want, because one day you're going to wake up from all of this and realise that you're too good to be here."