Review: Broken by C.J. Lyons

Broken by C.J. Lyons

WOULD YOU PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE TO BE NORMAL?
Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, Scarlet has come to terms with the fact that she’s going to die. Literally of a broken heart. It could be tomorrow, or it could be next year. But the clock is ticking…
All Scarlet asks is for a chance to attend high school—even if just for a week-a chance to be just like everyone else. But Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with each slammed locker and vicious taunt. Is this normal? Really? Yet there’s more going on than she knows. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does…

Publishes in US:  November 5th 2013 by Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: YA contemporary
Source: library
Series? No

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    I wanted to read Broken because anything with illness usually catches my eye. The heart disease aspect is something that I have enjoyed previously in other books, and I know a bit about the long QT which is what is wrong with her. I was also curious where the book would be going with the truth about the school? If its a contemporary I really didn't understand what sort of twist it would be, but wanted to find out. 

    I liked Scarlet and I felt for her. She wanted so badly to go to school and have a shot at normal. We get her background, that homeschooling was boring and that her memories are mostly just of doctor's visits and surgeries and pills. In fact we get that a few more times than I really thought necessary but still. We have the "Set Backs" which I know are when she has been sicker and almost died, but I would have liked a bit more detail early on instead of referencing over and over. 

    Scarlet's mom is very overbearing, and I can understand her point of view as a mother, and can't even imagine if I had a daughter that sick. But they have some sweet moments, talking about her day. It is good to see a mom who is present and trying to be involved in her life, and fighting for her life and health, even though I can also see Scarlet's point of view that she could feel smothered. 

   I enjoyed Scarlet's friendships as well. I do think that there was a bit much going on in their stories, and I think that it should have been pared down a bit or explored more. But still, they were all thrown together in a mentoring group. Jordan is the peer mentor and he's fighting his own sorrow over a suicide completed the year before, and now he has her younger sister in his group. There is also Celina who Scarlet gets pretty close with even though she is quiet and reserved at times, and completely absent others. 

   The romance took the back seat, but it was good and sweet. Scarlet thought some about how kisses and such worked and it was a refreshing inner dialogue. Tony saw Scarlet past the portable AED (a machine that can shock heart back into regular rhythm.) He talked to her like she was completely normal but also accepted her limitations. 

    The ending kind of surprised me, but was the source of the suspense and mystery that the synopsis talked about. I think that it was foreshadowed some, but still I had a little bit of a hard time seeing how it played out that way. But I guess that people in that position have to have some serious sneak skills. 

Bottom Line: Good story about Scarlet, who's plagued with a bad heart trying to be normal by going back to school.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Would you put your life on the line to be normal?