Disclaimer: I received an arc from the author. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: Fractured
Author: Shay Siegel
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Recommended For…: contemporary readers
Publication Date: October 27, 2020
Genre: YA Contemporary
Recommended Age: 17+ (attempted rape, sexual assault, self harm, depression, toxic masculinity, upsetting female representation)
Publisher: Indie Published
Pages: 290
Synopsis: Mason Vance is the guy everybody wants to be, and he knows it. He’s the best high school quarterback in New York, a shoo-in for a football scholarship at any school he chooses, and he’s expected to land in the NFL one day. That is, until a broken wrist leaves him fearing whether he’ll ever play again.
Desperate to save his damaged ego, Mason sets his sights on Lace. No cheerleader or homecoming queen like his usual type, she’s too wrapped in her own misery to fall for his pickup lines. Even though she tries to shut him out, she’s surprised to find he’s there for her when no one else is. Slowly, she lets him into the sad workings of her mind and less-than-perfect life, and Mason finds himself caring about Lace more than he’d ever thought possible. That’s why neither of them sees his huge mistake coming—one that instantly fractures everything between them.
Will Mason confront the ugliest side of himself, and in the process see who he’s capable of becoming, or will he fall back into the life he knew before Lace and his injury?
Review: Overall, I thought the book was ok. The book covered a lot of hard topics and while it did so in a pretty good manner, it is still a bit of a difficult read. The book had some good character development with some of the side characters and the world building was good as well.
However, the story was really bad. The book is from the viewpoint of the main character and while I understand why the author wrote the story in such a degrading manner, it’s still really concerning for me that most of the time Mason doesn’t change his stance on his positions. I also don’t believe that the main character, who supposed to be a high schooler, doesn’t know what sexual assault is or what rape is. This isn’t something you teach a 16 year old. This isn’t something you teach 16 year olds. This is something you teach small children. Mason also had a pity party through most of the book. I feel like he was sad about himself having sexually assaulted women more than he should have been sad for the women he sexually assaulted. I don’t feel like he learned that doing those actions leaves real victims with everlasting scars. Overall, the book left me feeling kinda icky but I can see the message the author meant to leave behind.
Verdict: It’s okay for me, but please don’t read if you have triggers with any listed above.