Bwog’s Book Club returns with Bwogger Abi Peters reviewing Lauren Olivier’s spooky YA mystery novel ‘Broken Things’.

Rating: 6/10 spooky spiders

Recommended for: Fans of YA fiction looking to escape reality with a good sinister, mysterious, if cliché, read perfect for Halloween season!

Summary: When they were just twelve years old, Brynn and Mia, were falsely accused of murdering their best friend Summer in a Slenderman-esque sacrifice killing inspired by their favorite fantasy book The Way into Lovelorn. Branded monsters by the residents of their small town both girls isolate themselves for years. With clear similarities to real-life cases, as well as the cult classic Heavenly Creatures, the novel follows Brynn and Mia eight years on as they search to find the real killer and clear their names.

Review: I brought this book because I was tired of reading Plato and wanted to read something fun for a change and Broken Things was the perfect choice. Olivier’s novel is one to be read curled in bed, with a hot mug of tea, the act of reading it perhaps better than the story itself.

In fact, the plot was the least interesting thing about this book. The initial mystery was intriguing, who really killed Summer and what did it have to do with The Way into Lovelorn, but it lacked tension and I found myself focusing less and less on the storyline. The real killer was a predictable choice, ruining the big final reveal, and the character in question veered into the territory of heavy cliché. Additionally, major plot points surrounding the murder were left unresolved which left me feeling frustrated.

However, the other characters were very well-crafted, and Olivier didn’t rely on familiar YA tropes that can often emerge in ensemble casts like these. Instead, each character was interesting in their own way, from Abby the Instagram famous sidekick to Brynn’s awkward but charming cousin, obsessed with true crime and intent on proving their innocence. All of the characters felt like real, flawed eighteen-year-olds trying and failing to make sense of something terrible.

Olivier’s writing deftly blurs the lines between reality and fiction, bringing a disturbing yet beautiful element to the story. At times, I, like the main characters, found myself wondering if Lovelorn, the setting of the fantasy novel that inspired the murder, really was a real place. This was one of the most intriguing and sinister elements of the book and I wish Olivier had done more with it.

Overall, Broken Things is the perfect YA novel to lose yourself in for a few hours. It won’t have a great impact on you, you will probably forget all about it once you turn the last page, but it might just remind you why reading for pleasure is so fun.

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