**From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, comes BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS—a red-hot romance that will break your heart and put it back together again! Don’t miss this stunning new title from Kami Garcia!**

BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS is now available at all fine retailers. Order your copy today!

Author: Kami Garcia
Series: N/A
Audience: +16
Genre: Contemporary YA
Publisher: Imprint
Release Date: February 6th 2018
My Rating: 4.5 Cups
Source: InkSlinger PR
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Before, Peyton was a star soccer player with the perfect boyfriend, Reed. Now, she has a torn knee ligament, a scholarship on the line, and a shattered sense of self. No one believes Reed pushed her, causing her injury, and Peyton just wants to leave the trauma behind. Living with her uncle and twin cousins in their small, football-obsessed town seems like a great escape plan.

There, Peyton meets Owen—high school classmate and local MMA fighter. Though Owen is charming and gentle, Peyton is determined to repress her growing attraction. But when her old and new life collide, Peyton must reclaim the truth of her past in order to save her future

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from InkSlinger PR and Macmillan in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.
I have been a fan of Kami Garcia ever since I read her Beautiful Creatures series and I've been meaning to pick up one of her contemporary books for a while now. I am very, very happy that I ended up loving this book. A lot.

Broken Beautiful Hearts is the story of Peyton and her journey of healing and finding strength, courage, and the true meaning of friendship. Peyton is a girl that went through a lot of things. Her father died in an explosion when he was deployed, her boyfriend turns out to not be the perfect guy but instead pushes her down the stairs, causing her to have a torn knee ligament that puts her future in danger, her friends abandon her, and she has a stalker. She has moments when she's scared that history will repeat itself with another boy, she has moments when she feels like she needs to hide what happened to hear for fear of being judged or be seen as that girl, the victim, but I also think she hides what happened because she's ashamed; like she should have seen it coming and prevent it in some way. I was very happy when her new friends show her that Reed was the one who should be ashamed, not Peyton. I also loved how Peyton learns to be strong, whether that means finding out what truly happened with her dad, or learning to accept and move on from what Reed did. She goes through a transformation. All of that is secondary to one important lesson: asking for help. I feel like that is the main theme of this book, learning how to ask for help when you need it, how not to be ashamed of something someone did to you, and it's an important lesson to learn.

Owen is a great guy, that has some secrets of his own. I liked Owen, mostly because he represented the courage that Peyton learns to have. He also has a reckless side, probably due to his childhood and his family situation, of which you learn more about as the story moves on. I liked how he doesn't push Peyton beyond what she's comfortable with, in their relationship, but he does challenge her to learn how to trust again.

This was a great story, just as great as I expected from Kami Garcia. I only wish Peyton had found that courage to trust again in herself and in others by herself. The pacing was great and there were a few surprises along the way that I didn't see coming. I just wish there was a book for Peyton's twin cousins, because I loved them.

All in all, I loved this book, and it showed me exactly why I love Garcia's books.

Order BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS here!

EXCERPT

April narrows her eyes. “I’d be careful if I were you.” “Or what? You’ll throw lip gloss at me?” I almost laugh. I’m done here.

Grace stifles a smile as I pass her on my way out, and I stop. This girl deserves a break. “By the way, your friend, and I use that term loosely”— I gesture at April—“didn’t dump Christian. He dumped her. She was whining about it before you walked in.”

“You bi—” April shouts at me as the door closes.

That was fun.

Sticking up for Grace cheered me up a little.

The stadium has emptied out for the most part, and the sight of the green field makes me feel like running. As a striker, it was my job to move the ball down the soccer field and score goals. The team relied on my speed.

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t play soccer. Dad spent hours dribbling alongside me—him with a standard soccer ball and me with a toddler-sized version. He stood in front of a flimsy net we’d made out of PVC pipes, and played goalkeeper for hours so I could practice my corner shots. I lose myself in the memories.

“Hey! Watch—”

I look up in time to see a guy’s broad chest before I walk right into him. My knee gives out, but he catches my arm.

“Nice save,” he says, as if I’m the one who kept him from falling instead of the other way around.

I jerk away from him. The combination of hearing Reed’s voice a few minutes ago and feeling a guy grab me from out of nowhere . . . it’s too much.

“You okay?” Brown eyes that look even darker against his pale skin.

It’s Owen, the mystery guy from the parking lot. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

Why won’t my pulse slow down?

“Yeah. I have to go.” I take off in the opposite direction, embarrassed.

I bumped into a guy and almost jumped out of my skin? This isn’t me. I’m the person who never flinches during horror movies.

The leg brace makes me feel helpless. What if a stranger had grabbed me instead of Owen? Knowing I couldn’t run or fight someone off terrifies me.

Or if someone tries to hurt me again.

Mom and Hawk are exactly where I left them. The Twins have returned from the locker room, freshly showered, and they swapped their football uniforms for jeans and T-shirts. The four of them are huddled together talking. They’re probably discussing my fragile state. They think I’m too traumatized to hang out at a stupid party. But I’m not the damaged person everyone thinks.

I refuse to be that girl.

I walk up behind the Twins and squeeze between them. “So when are we going to that party you were telling me about?”

“Something wonderful happened to me as I read this—I fell in love. Genuine, shattering, deep, heart-pounding love. Thank you, Kami Garcia, for Peyton and Owen. We need their story." —Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places and Holding Up the Universe

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This is a limited time offer! So hurry! Registration ends on February 28, 2018! You must register your preorder to receive the exclusive announcement from Kami!

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Kami Garcia is a #1 New York Times–bestselling and Bram Stoker–nominated author and the coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures and Dangerous Creatures novels. Her solo series, the Legion, includes the instant New York Times bestseller Unbreakable and its sequel, Unmarked. Kami is also the author of The X-Files Origins: Agent of Chaos and The Lovely Reckless. Kami was a teacher for seventeen years and coauthored her first novel on a dare from seven of her students. If she isn’t busy watching Supernatural, Kami can teach you how to escape from a pair of handcuffs or bake a Coca-Cola cake. Kami lives in Maryland with her family and their dogs, Spike and Oz.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Release Day Book Review: Broken Beautiful Hearts by Kami Garcia