Review: Heartbreaking, hilarious, and genuine. A definite must-read!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2014
Goodness gracious you guys, I freaking loved the guts out of this book. Chelsea Fine has a way of crafting a story that is as honest as it is beautiful, as heartbreaking as it is hopeful, and as snort-inducing as it is tear-creating. In the pages of this book I fell in love with the characters, their past, their present, and everything else in betweenWhen it comes to main characters, Pixie was as perfectly imperfect as they come. Her personality was so freaking realistic that I kept hoping she were a real person so I could be best friends with her. It was easy to see from the first few chapters that Pixie had faced something tragic making her a little more closed off than normal. Her heartbreak was evident for sure but what I loved most is that Chelsea made her a fun and enjoyable character despite all the sadness that surrounds Pixie and her past. She would go off on these long and rambly tangents when she was stressed or embarrassed, the little quirks she thought to herself or even spoke out loud were hilarious, her way of interacting with Levi (i.e. blowing the fuse while he was doing something) had me laughing the whole time, and the way she carries herself was just so very enjoyable and made her one of my all-time favorite female MC’s.When it comes to Levi, I loved him just as much as Pixie but for different reasons. While Pixie has this hilarious, quirky personality that helps to hide the pain she carries, Levi wears his pain and guilt like someone would wear their clothes. My heart went out to this guy because I could tell just how broken he was over what happened between him and Pixie in the past. Like Pixie though, Chelsea wrote Levi has an incredibly enjoyable character despite the darkness and sadness that surrounds him. I love that he was such a guy in this book. He was territorial and protective of Pixie but not in a creepy way, more of a “I really, really, REALLY care about you” way. He was also very sweet and caring even if it didn’t always come across that way. Seeing the way he took care of Pixie in the past and the subtle ways he tries to do the same for her in the present made me realize just how great of a guy he truly was.The book would be pretty great if it was ONLY about Pixie and Levi but Chelsea added in characters like Jenna, Pixie’s best friend, Zack, Levi’s best friend, and Ellen, Pixie’s aunt who happens to be hers and Levi’s boss, and this book went from pretty great, to absolutely, positively AMAZING. If you know anything at all about me, you know I lurrrve me some fantastically written secondary characters who could pretty much have a book written all about them. Well it is my pleasure to tell you that Best Kind of Broken is chop-full of them. Jenna is this feisty, hard-ass, but also super supportive best friend and I absolutely love the fact that she is there for Pixie but also doesn’t push Pixie to share about her past until she’s ready. And then there’s Zack who I absolutely ADORED. Chelsea, if you are reading this, could you please make a book, a novella, even just a teaser devoted entirely to him? Zack was really freaking hilarious but not in a in-your-face-cracking-jokes-non-stop way but more in a wacky-and-quirky-where-does-he-come-up-with-this-shizz way. He is definitely the humor that Levi needs in his life and I loved that he pushed him to be more than his past. And then we get to Ellen who, you guessed it, I LOVED. Pixie and Levi are each lost after the tragedy that occurred in their past but Ellen and her Inn soon become their safe haven, their new home, the place they reconnect. I love Ellen for her constant strength and the support she offers each character. For different reasons, Levi and Pixie are missing a mother figure in their lives at the moment and Ellen fills that void for them.So what’s better than a book full of ah-freaking-mazing characters? A book that has great writing to connect all of these characters. You guys, if these characters don’t draw you in (which they undoubtedly will, BTW), then Chelsea’s writing will do the trick. It was flawless, beautiful, hilarious, heartbreaking, and genuine. I felt like the characters were real-life people dealing with real-life situations. I felt like the past these characters had together and the way Chelsea wove it with the things that are happening during the present was done seamlessly. And finally, Pixie and Levi’s story while it has it moments of tragedy and heartbreak, definitely left me with a happy, tingly, gushy, I-want-to-hug-the-guts-out-of-both-of-them feeling.If you read any NA book this year, do yourself a favor and make sure it’s Best Kind of Broken.