Review: Heartbreaking story filled with love, hope, and new beginnings.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2014
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Heartbreaking story filled with love, hope, and new beginnings. It covers some very serious issues and is pretty depressing, but overall this was a really good read.Opening Sentence: Sometimes I wonder if there are some memories the mind doesn’t want to deal with and that if it really wants to, it can block out the images, shut down, numb the pain connected to what we saw–what we didn’t want to see.The Review:Nova Reed use to have such a bright future. She was in love with her best friend and had dreams of becoming a famous drummer. Then one terrible night everything changed and everything about her life seemed like a lie. They say time will heal all wounds but it has been a year since her boyfriend left this life for good and Nova doesn’t feel any better, if anything she’s worse. She is a shell of the person she once was and does things that she would have never considered before. Nova puts on a great front, but inside she has gone numb. Then she meets Quinton Carter, a boy that reminds her way to much of the one she lost with his sad eyes and artistic soul. He might be the only thing that can make her feel again, but he seems just as lost and broken as she is.Quinton doesn’t deserve happiness. He killed the only girl he has ever loved and he made a promise to be with her forever. He plans on keeping that promise until the day he dies.  Miserable and alone he turns to the only solace he can get — drugs.  The old Quinton would have never touched the stuff, but it seems to be the only way to numb the pain.  Then Sweet beautiful Nova walks into his life and she is like a breathe of fresh air. He can breathe again for the first time in so long, but he is broken beyond repair and she deserves better. But he can’t seem to stay away. Can he finally forget the past or will it haunt him for the rest of his life?Nova is a beautiful girl that has been dealt a pretty awful past full of loss. Her father dies when she was young, and then her boyfriend/best friend died when she was 18. Nova doesn’t understand why everyone she cares about keeps leaving her. Nova really pulled at my heartstrings, she was the one left behind to deal with all the pain of trying to move on and that would be so hard. Nova doesn’t do a perfect job but at least she tries and I respect her for that. I loved watching her learn from her mistakes and become a better person. She was an amazing girl and I am excited to read more of her story.Then there is the devastatingly gorgeous Quinton. There were moments I had a hard time connecting with him because he was so depressed and guilt ridden it made it hard to really fall for him as the love interest. But when you see those rare glimpses of who he was before the accident it makes you realize that there really is something there worth saving. He is so broken you can’t help but want to fix him. His story really pulls at your heartstrings and if Sorensen had written him any other way, I don’t think he would have been as realistic. His character has tons of potential and I am intrigued to see where his story will go in the next book.The romance was interesting in this story. It’s basically two broken lost souls that find comfort in each other. In all honesty, I didn’t really feel the love connection between them as much as I did a friendship one, but I actually really liked that. Sorensen has a great setup to make the romance much more meaningful in the next book. They have a connection and they are attracted to each other, but neither of them is really in the right place in their lives to truly fall in love.This was a really heartbreaking story and I’m not going to lie, it actually was pretty depressing. Sorensen covers some very heavy topics and to make it realistic it has to really pull at your emotions, which she did perfectly. This was a difficult read for me because even though I have never experienced what these characters went through, I can understand how painful something like that would be. But I love the message of how hope and forgiveness is what heals pain, not drugs and alcohol. Fair warning — there is a lot of drug and alcohol references in this story so if you aren’t a fan steer clear. The ending of this book was perfect, but it is a little torturous as well since you are left hanging, but I am very eager to see what happens in the sequel. I would highly recommend this to anyone that is looking for a good new adult book that is full of emotion and hope.Notable Scene:“Like the car.” The sound of his voice is familiar, way to familiar, like the world has decided to play a cruel joke on me. when a guy steps out of the hallway, I just about drop dead on the floor as the similarity intensifies and sends my mind spinning. Everything about him screams Landon, and for a second I really believe it’s him.It’s not really the similarities in features as much as something less visible. He’s taller than Landon, with dark brown hair instead of black, and it’s shaven short instead of hanging in his eyes. He also has slightly more muscle tone to him, and there’s an indistinct scar over his top lip. all these things don’t match up, but it’s the little details that push an insanity button in my head. like the charcoal on his hands, or the fact that the laces of his boots are untied, something Landon used to do all the time. the sound of his voice, deep and smooth like melted butter, has a strikingly comparable ring to it. And his eyes. Those goddam honey-brown eyes with so much sorrow in them it nearly swallows any happiness in the room. I’ve only seen that much sadness in one person’s eyes. Ever. And when they lock on me, it’s like I’m drowning in his sorrow–Landon’s sorrow.FTC Advisory: Forever/Hachette Book Group provided me with a copy of Breaking Nova. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.