Monday 31 March 2014

Review: Best Kind of Broken (Finding Fate #1) by Chelsea Fine

BEST KIND OF BROKEN - CoverBest Kind of Broken – Chelsea Fine

Author: Chelsea Fine
Series: Finding Fate
Pages: 336
Publisher: Forever (Grand Central Publishing)
Release date: 4th March 2014

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

New Adult Romance

Pixie and Levi haven't spoken in nearly a year when they find themselves working―and living―at the same inn in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time, they were childhood friends. But that was before everything went to hell. And now things are... awkward.

All they want to do is avoid each other, and their past, for as long as possible. But now that they're forced to share a bathroom, and therefore a shower, keeping their distance from one another becomes less difficult than keeping their hands off each other. Welcome to the hallway of awkward tension and sexual frustration, folks. Get comfy. It’s going to be a long summer.

Review: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Best Kind of Broken is the first book in the Finding Fate series by Chelsea fine and was kindly provided to me by Forever via Netgalley.

Sarah ‘Pixie’ and Levi are childhood friends who haven’t spoken in a year due to a tragedy they both blame themselves for. Now forced to face each other daily since they live and work at the same inn they have perfected the art of avoidance but their personal pain is something they haven’t been able to avoid.

I really liked the MC’s but their immature and stubborn behaviour grated on my nerves so many times, being together opened old wounds but they refused to communicate civilly; they both remain miserable and lonely without each other and continued daily with the pranks and insults. Despite their attitudes I did enjoy the overall story-line and the friends to lovers trope is one of my all-time favourites so I was anxious to see how it would all unravel and whether they would eventually get their HEA; there was so much avoidance, guilt and misunderstandings but despite this, their chemistry and the attraction was off the charts.

Despite the drama there was a really sweet friendship, this book was about overcoming personal tragedy to find trust and love again, it was a very slow, angst filled journey to get there but it was enjoyable to see the characters work it all out and to overcome the unrealistic expectations they had placed on themselves.

The secondary characters bought a bit of fun and humour to the story; they were all portrayed in a way that was believable except of course for Pixie’s mother who was a real piece of work!

I have read a few books by Chelsea Fine and always find myself immersed in her story-telling and well-developed yet broken characters. We are taken on an emotional roller-coaster in this book, I was frantically flipping the pages wanting to know what had happened between the characters to cause them such pain, and it was heart-wrenching once we got there but for some reason it was still missing that unique, wow factor for me.

Overall, Best Kind of Broken is an emotionally charged, heartfelt friends to lovers romance that had me glued to the edge of my seat but in the end it needed a bit more wow and less drama. 

  

Chelsea FineAbout the author: 

Chelsea lives in Phoenix, Arizona where she spends most of her time writing stories, painting murals, and avoiding housework at all costs. She’s ridiculously bad at doing dishes and claims to be allergic to laundry. Her obsessions include: superheroes, coffee, sleeping-in, and crazy socks. She lives with her husband and two children, who graciously tolerate her inability to resist teenage drama on TV and her complete lack of skill in the kitchen.

10 comments:

  1. Normally drama would put me straight off but it sounds like it was balanced out by the friendship/romance and the storyline :)

    Mands @ The Bookish Manicurist

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    1. It was balanced out well, it's just a shame it took so long for the characters to work things out.

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  2. Lack of communication is drama that drives me nuts! Fortunately I can often look past it. I'm glad you mostly enjoyed it!

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    1. Thanks Candace, these two seemed to have perfected the art of avoidance! ;) lack of communication drives me crazy as well. Overall, I did enjoy this though.

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  3. I'm putting this on my contemporary TBR list. Seriously, I can handle a LOT of angst for a good friends-to-lovers story ;)

    Jessica @ Rabid Reads

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    1. It's my all time fave kind of story but there was a little too much unnecessary drama for me to completely love this one.

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  4. I'm due for a good romance read, but I'm not sold on the immature characters. I tend to shy away from the YA genre for exactly this reason, so I'm kinda torn on this one. I know New Adult is supposed to avoid some of these pitfalls, but it doesn't sound like this one did. Hmm...

    Carmel @ Rabid Reads

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  5. I read Sophie and Carter and I liked it but that was before the onslaught of broken characters and dramatic romances, now I don't think I could read this because I am so tired of stories that follow this recipe.

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  6. I haven't had a chance to start this one yet, but I am looking forward to it. Thanks for the great review. I am glad you liked it, even though the characters could be immature at times.

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  7. Oh no..awkward I could handle..immature? no thank you. Fantastic review Sharon, I love the premise but even though it is NA it sounds too young.

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