Book Review: Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard

Book: Beautiful Broken Things
Author: Sara Barnard
Genre: YA Contemporary

I was brave

She was reckless 

We were trouble

Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie – confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated.

As Suzanne’s past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realises, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own. - Quoted from Goodreads

My Rating: 4/5 STARS

My Review:
I really liked Beautiful Broken Things and I felt it was very refreshing to read because this is a YA contemporary that doesn't focus on romance (in fact there was no romance at all) but instead it focuses on the friendship between the three main female characters.  The relationships between the three girls felt so intricate and real that you can't help but want to keep reading to see how they all end up.

In the beginning Caddy becomes jealous of Rosie and Suzannes friendship and I was wary because I thought that that would be the main theme of the rest of the book but I was glad that I was quickly proven wrong.  Beautiful Broken Things is about the friendships between all three girls and it deals with the trials and tribulations that come with it.  I liked seeing the gradual growth of their friendships and I liked how it focused on both the positive and negative sides of friendship.

I liked reading about how different their friendships with each other were, like Caddy and Rosie's long lasting friendship, Caddy and Suzanne's friendship that's only beginning, Rosie and Suzanne's friendship from Caddy's point of view and then seeing them all together.

I can't say I loved the characters because some of their actions annoyed me but I definitely found them interesting to read especially the mystery of Suzannes past and how it affects her current situation.

I was surprised how deep and emotional the storyline got as it went along and I liked how the author ended the book.  This book has some serious topics in it such as mental illness and abuse but I felt it dealt with it in a very real way. 

Overall I really liked Beautiful Broken Things and I think that it definitely stands out in its genre for not focusing on romance but on the strong bonds of friendship.  I can't wait to read more books by Sara Barnard.