All tagged Walker Children's
Usually I hate taglines on book covers,* but the tagline on the cover of Megan Miranda’s Fracture says it all,
A lot can happen in eleven minutes.
That line is from this early passage in the novel, which creates the premise of this fascinating debut,
A lot can happen in eleven minutes. Decker can run two miles easily in eleven minutes. I once wrote an English essay in ten. No lie. And God knows Carson Levine can talk a girl out of her clothes in half that time.
Eleven minutes might as well be eternity underwater. According to the lessons from health class, it only takes three minutes without air for loss of consciousness. Permanent brain damage begins at four minutes. And then, when the oxygen runs out, full cardiac arrest occurs. Death is possible at five minutes. Probable at seven. Definite at ten.
Decker pulled me out at eleven.
I wonder how long until I’m allowed to be happy again.
That is the essence of Jennifer Wolf Shaw’s unique debut novel, Breaking Beautiful: Is there a point at which we can no longer heal?
Allie is the only survivor of a car accident that killed her boyfriend, town football star and golden boy, Trip. She has no memory of the accident, but is left with scar on her head and memories of the side of her relationship with Trip that no one else saw—or chose to ignore, in some cases. See, while Trip wore #33, he was no Tim Riggins. Allie suffered from Trip’s physical and mental abuse to the point where she has lost herself.
With Trip around, I was isolated from the rest of the school, but I was isolated with him for company. Now I’m just alone.
Following Trip’s death, Allie slowly rekindles a friendship with her childhood friend, Blake. As their friendship slowly moves toward being something more, the mystery surrounding Trip’s death grows as well. While the town memorializes Trip and vilifies Allie for trying to move on with her life, local police begin to investigate, and Allie begins to question what really happened the night her boyfriend died.
Breaking Beautiful fills a niche that’s largely missing in YA—it’s a dark, mature, contemporary mystery.
