3 Stars
I have to say that Bend Me, Break Me was a good book, but I just couldn't get into it the way I wanted to. So going into this book, I definitely had no idea exactly what the book was about because the blurb was pretty vague. I really like going into books when the blurb is vague because it really gives the book a chance to reveal everything and make it seem more unique and new. Also, sometimes a blurb can be too revealing and give away the most important parts of the book which makes it feel boring and washed out. Bend Me, Break Me kept the blurb pretty light so I was really hopeful that there would be tons of surprises and a really intriguing plotline.
As much as I hate to say it, for me, it was the characters themselves that kind of fell flat. They were both really almost basic and I felt like the switching perspectives actually lessened the value of the plot because one character knew too much which hinted at what would happen later in the book. After a couple chapters, I could pick up what would eventually happen and what the big reveal was going to be. Being able to guess where the book was going, is where this book lost stars for me. Otherwise, this book was pretty good and I do think there were qualities that kept my interest.
So this book went through the emotions and meetings of two people who were affected by something in their past which drives both of them to act a certain way. For her, she was so deeply affected by her past that she pushed away everyone else in order to gain control of her emotions and keep herself from any future pain. Her complete devotion to this task made it really hard to sympathize with her because she was just determined to not feel and I felt like she was allowing her pain to control her life and I wasn't ever given the story behind that pain so it didn't feel quite as real as it could have.
For him, he was equally as affected by something in his past, but instead of internalizing it, he focused his attention on someone else and helping them. For this reason, it was really easy to read his parts in the book because he was so focused and sweet in his intentions. Yet at the same time, I was a little creeped out because he clearly knew the girl but pretended he didn't and decided it was a good idea to get really close to her because he knew what happened to her and wanted to make her feel better. I just couldn't get into this book and the creep factor was a big reason why.
Overall, this book was a good read but it wasn't my favorite and there were elements present in the story that just turned me off for this book. There was either too much information given away too early or the characters themselves were hard to like and understand because their past was so sketchy and undetermined. But maybe this book will speak to you better than it did to me so if it sounds intriguing... I say go for it and let me know if I just definitely missed the parts of the books that made this a 5 star read.
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amazon
blurb
Lonely.
Broken.
Lost.
One boy.
Determined.
Guilty.
Lost.
Two hearts.
One terrible secret.
It will either bring them together or tear them apart.
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author bio
Chelsea M. Cameron is a New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car, tweeting (this one time, she was tweeted by Neil Gaiman) and playing fetch with her cat, Sassenach. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.
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