Hey lovelies!

Today I am going to be sharing with you a book review of Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard. But first, can we take a moment to appreciate how beautiful and gold this cover is? I am such a sucker for beautiful covers and this book really, really does the job!

But more than a beautiful cover, it’s an amazing story!

About the book. 

{ WRITING }

I really enjoyed the writing of this book! It was simple, sweet, nothing too flowery and worked really well with the book. I liked how it really enhanced the characters and complemented the tone of the book. I also liked how it mixed in text messages between the friends as well as Facebook chats and such as it added a new element to the book and made it more interesting to read.

{ IDEA }

I haven’t read too many great books on friendships. I usually steer clear of them because they usually begin with the friends breaking up and by the end, making up.

I can’t say this book was a whole lot different HOWEVER, I think the way the idea was explored in this book was wholly unique. I loved how well Barnard captured the friendship of the three girls, the dynamics of changing friendship and how that affects those who get left out and the results new friendships can have on the person’s personality.

It was a very simple idea that was incredibly well done and beautifully expressed. It made me want to change my mind about reading books about friendships!

{ PLOT }

The plot is what stopped me from giving this book a higher rating. I felt like some parts progressed too quickly and there was too much going on in the book at times. There wasn’t really an element of mystery as the book revealed plot twists pretty soon in the story. I felt I needed something a little more to keep me going at times.

In saying that, it is in no way boring to read or unenjoyable. I just feel like it could have been made better at times.

The elements of the plot I did enjoy was (going to sound contradictory, I’m sorry) how the girls became friends pretty early in the book. I thought the entire book would be the girls not getting along and fighting but it wasn’t and I liked how it moved past that into more important aspects of the story such as the friendship dynamic, as mentioned above!

I liked how it was originally Caddy feeling left out, but when she too, became friends with Suzanne, how it affected her relationship with Rosie. It was really well explored and fleshed out.

{ CHARACTERS}

First to Caddy! I loved her as a protagonist. I thought she was very relatable and sweet and I could see myself in her at times. I liked how she cared about her friends and family, how she didn’t like conflict, how she thought she was unconfident, but as Suzanne points out to her, was actually pretty confident in herself and her choices. I liked how she preferred to do simple things like hang out with her friends rather than go to parties and meet boys. I found her to be a fantastic, sweet, 3D character that I loved reading from the perspective of!

Now to Rosie! She isn’t actually a whole lot in the book and as readers, we don’t get to know her too much, which really surprised me. I felt quite neutral about her because of how little she was in the book so I don’t have a whole lot to say about her…

Suzanne! I loved Suzanne’s character as well. I loved how layered and deep she was – seemingly perfect, the ‘all-american-girl’ on the outside, but once you got to know her, had a lot of depth to her. She surprised me by being a lovely person.

Originally going into the book, I thought she would have been the characters the readers were meant to dislike because she ‘stole’ Rosie from Caddy but it wasn’t at all like that! I had thought she’d be a terrible person that no one except for Caddy disliked but she was a genuinely lovely, funny, caring person and I really loved her! (Don’t worry – Caddy loved her too, in case that wasn’t clear.)

I liked the relationships of the female characters in the book. I liked how close they were, how well they got along and most of all, how much they understood and cared for each other. It was absolutely heart-warming to see!

{ FINALLY…}

This was such a fantastic read and even after I put it down, I was left thinking about it. It was so sweet and simple and beautiful and a must read! I recommend this to all you contemporary lovers looking for a good book! Really, you must read it!

OVERALL RATING: