I will probably film a full review for this one on my channel.
It was interesting and meaningful, but it never really touched me emotionally

Contemporary used to be my thing, then lately it hasn't been... but this?! FLEW through it. I haven't enjoyed reading a simple contemporary in SO LONG. Maybe it was because the characters were complex and interesting, maybe it was because the story itself was interesting... or maybe I just was in the perfect mood (although I picked it up mentally sighing because UGH CONTEMPORARY so I definitely didn't realise I was in the mood if that's the case) BUT YES. This is what I want reading to be like all the time.

I just really enjoyed my time, I enjoyed the message. The characters felt real and nothing really seemed too far fetched or unlikely for a book set in our world in an ordinary life. I am so glad I read this and I really hope this book has broken the weird contemporary (and general, really) slump I've been in for like... a long ass time.. two years??

Trigger/Content Warnings for abuse. There's also a character with bipolar disorder who occasionally makes jokes about it which I know some people may not be comfortable with (but I personally loved bc that's exactly how I deal with things lol)

I feel like I’ve been waiting to read a story like this one for a while. A YA novel that is purely focused on the importance of platonic female friendships. I was already majorly excited before I even turned to the first page.

This story follows protagonist Caddy as she approaches the age of sixteen. At the start of the book she talks about how she feels to be reaching this age without having experienced any Significant Life Events. (Something I remember thinking about a lot at that age, so I was relating to Caddy merely six pages in!) So she wants to do something exciting, she wants some sort of turning point to happen in her life. Little does she know she’s about to get just that, only not in the way she ever expected.

She and her best friend Rosie go to separate schools. Rosie is in a mixed high school; Caddy attends a private all-girls school. Despite this, they’ve managed to remain the very best of friends throughout the years. Then Suzanne arrives as a new girl at Rosie’s school and the friendship dynamics soon begin to change. Caddy fears that her and Rosie’s friendship may begin to drift apart as Rosie spends more and more time with Suzanne. But as the story progresses, Caddy discovers more about Suzanne’s past, and the pair begin to bond.

The characters in this book are so beautifully written and utterly believable. I adored the contrast between Caddy and Suzanne, both having completely different upbringings and home lives. The dialogue between the girls was great; funny at times, but heartfelt when it needed to be. I highly enjoyed the night-time conversations between the two of them.

The plot was perfectly paced and never rushed over any details. I enjoyed slowly discovering more about Suzanne’s past as the story progressed and seeing how it affected her in different ways. Whilst this particular story is fictional, there are all too many teenagers that have suffered the same situations as Suzanne, and this book touched upon them sensitively but without sugar-coating anything. That is one of the reasons why this is such an important YA story.

As much as I wanted things to work out happily, I knew that trouble was brewing. Suzanne is dealing with a lot of problems that Caddy doesn’t fully understand, and whilst she tries to help Suzanne through it to the best of her ability, sometimes she’s not aware of what is best for her friend. Seeing Caddy’s willingness to defend and protect Suzanne was touching and demonstrated just how important friendships can be. This is one of those rare novels that shows how romantic relationships during teen years are fleeting, but friends are there to see you through not just the fun times, but the painfully hard times as well. These are characters that stay with you long after putting this book down.

Do you ever open a book and instantly know "ah, this is going to take me on an emotional journey"?

Beautiful Broken Things is a YA novel wonderfully exploring what it is to share friendship in the age of trauma. It’s the discovery of making something of yourself and it feels significant.

The story follows Caddy, our narrator, who is inseparable from her friend Rosie. But then comes along Suzanne, who is exciting and damaged, and suddenly things are a lot more complicated than they once were. Friendship meshes with recovery, and downward spirals can’t be stopped.

What struck me the most about Beautiful Broken Things is that it is a novel geared to young adults addressing platonic love; and yet it is so much more. Between the pages are whispers of life lessons that can be easily overlooked if we take the novel at face value.

The tone of the novel, which is set through Caddy’s teenage comparisons of her own life to that of her friends, gives the first lesson. Acceptance. We see characters face sympathy upon others learning of their trauma; the struggle of now being seen as flawed.

Caddy’s narrative is beautiful in the sense that it is flawed. She is ignorant of the damage her comparisons cause, oblivious to the weight and scarring trauma can still hold. This immaturity can be frustrating; however, having a narrator be so blatantly wrong is refreshing. This candour brings something different to this read.

Read Beautiful Broken Things if you want to experience the beauty in being broken, the empowerment of healing, and the power that is friendship from the perspective of a young adult.

I'm struggling to get my thoughts together enough to write a review of this book. It was really well-written and I enjoyed it, but my brain just can't seem to find the right words to explain why. So this review might be a random collection of thoughts, sorry.

I thought the representation of the issues it covers - including mental health issues and child abuse - was done in a really sensitive way. There was no glamourising, and various characters gently mock clichéd aphorisms like 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' and 'in every life there'll be some rain'. Another thing I really liked was that we had a character struggling with undiagnosed mental ill health - Suzanne - and another, Tarin, who was on the other side of the scale, her bipolar disorder being pretty well-managed. This meant the author was able to use Tarin's voice to explain mental illness and to show that it does get better (in Tarin's case,with medication and counselling), which is something that's often lacking in YA books about mental health issues.

The friendship between the three girls was really brilliant to see. It felt so realistic, imperfect but so supportive. Even when they were arguing and getting things wrong, it came from a good place and the love they had for each other was so obvious.
There's a great quote that really spoke to me, reminding me of my three best friends and former housemates: "Nothing strengthens a friendship like an argument survived".

There were a few things that bugged me, like some of Rosie's comments about Suzanne were bordering on slut-shaming and these weren't called out. Suzanne's behaviour was self-destructive and not at all positive, but I would have liked it if the book had made it clearer that Rosie was criticising Suzanne's particular situation and not promiscuity in general.
I also wanted to see a bit more of Caddy's school friends as they got a pretty raw deal, basically being sidelined as 'the people Caddy speaks to when Rosie and Suzanne aren't around'.

This a lovely, complex, and touching story about friendship and the aftermath of abuse. The complexities of the plot and dimensions of the relationships-which was what this story was really about-were so well executed.

Finally a book totally focused on teenage girl friendship.

This is a love story, but not romantic love. Instead, it’s about a love between friends, old and new. Caddy and Rosie have been friends for a decade when into their lives comes Suzanne, a girl with a dark past and a bright exterior surface designed to hide it. As Suzanne’s former life gradually gets revealed, Caddy is pulled closer in. She’s drawn to Suzanne’s ability to have fun, but also to her rule-breaking which makes average Caddy feel cool. Things gradually come to a head as more and more of Suzanne’s former life is revealed, and the final few scenes are gripping and absolutely heart-breaking.
This is the second book by Sara Barnard that I’ve read, and considering how much I loved A Quiet Kind of Thunder, I genuinely don’t understand why I’ve not just gone out and bought everything she’s ever written and read it immediately. Her writing is pure and beautiful, and emotionally vivid. She writes well-rounded, honest characters, and this story cuts straight to the heart – it nearly had me in tears more than once.
I may have received a free e-copy of this book from Netgalley, but I loved it so much that I bought the physical version too, along with the sequel Fierce Fragile Hearts, which I cannot wait to start.