Fracture (Fracture #1)

Delaney Maxwell should be dead. By all accounts no one survives a fall through ice, spends eleven minutes in freezing cold water without dying or at least sustaining major brain damage, but Delaney does. What happens in those eleven minutes not only changes Delaney's life, but the lives of everyone around her.

Fracture is an intense story about life and death, love and loss and the discovery that there is in fact a difference between being alive and truly living.

Delaney and Decker, the boy she's been BFF's with since forever, were on their way to meet up with friends when he decided they should take the shortcut across the lake. She protested, he scoffed and then he left her to join the others. What happened in the next instant changed both of their lives forever.

Decker and Delaney are always together but they aren't "together" even if kids at school have begun to wonder. Delaney has noticed that Decker isn't riding the ugly train and she's heard the boys' whispers that neither is she but it's Decker and to think of him as anything other than her BFF would just be weird...right? But "Decker" is whose name she screams as she falls through the ice and Decker is the one who pulls her out, trying desperately to save her life. Decker is the one who stays at the hospital anxiously waiting, believing, willing Delaney to wake up. (We *hearts* Decker, just in case you're not paying attention.) When she finally does, his relief is overshadowed by his guilt which is bittersweet and heartbreaking. He tries so hard to do what's best for her and their friendship but can feel it splintering more each day. *swipes tears*

Delaney surprises everyone by not only waking up from a coma after nearly a week but coming out of it seemingly unscathed, at least by all outward appearances. That's short lived when strange things begin to happen inside her body, like how she feels drawn toward the sick and dying. Her doctor passes this off as a side effect of the eleven minutes she spent under the frozen lake but Delaney knows it's something more. She feels it like a warning. Fearing those around her will think she's gone crazy, she decides it's best to keep these "warnings" to herself but that's becoming harder to do.

Delaney's life fractures a little more with each passing day...her relationships with her family and friends; how she views the world and especially how she views herself. She struggles to piece together who she was with who she is now but nothing makes sense to her anymore and she feels alone, until she meets Troy. He's mysterious yet familiar and he claims to understand Delaney in ways that no one else can. (He's also not riding the ugly train.) She feels a pull whenever he's around and as much as she initially wants to avoid him (and Decker wants her to as well) she can't. Then there's Decker, who knows her better than she's knows herself, or at least he used too. He seems to want things to go back to normal but Delaney doesn't know what "normal" is anymore and the closer she gets to Troy, the greater the divide between she and Decker grows.

When the bottom drops out from under her again, Delaney will find herself in yet another fight to survive. Decker was her savior last time. Will he be there to pull her through this time or will she be forced to save herself?

*Personal note: I read this in about 4 hours & when I was finished my initial reaction was: OhMyDECKER! I LOVED HIM! *swoon* I also enjoyed Troy but a girl only has so much room in her heart, ya know? I'd also stopped after the first chapter to read "Eleven Minutes: Exclusive Tie-In Story (FRACTURE)" which is from Decker's POV and probably had a little something to do with the TEAM DECKER high. ;) Click the link below and then follow the directions. I promise, you will.not.be.disappointed.

http://www.facebook.com/FRACTUREBYMEGANMIRANDA?sk=app_160430850678443

I also shivered - literally shivered - through the entire under water scene. This was partly because I fell through ice as a child. When I was in second grade, a friend and I decided to try and cross a man made pond in our neighborhood (which I didn't really want to do but I went along so she wouldn't call me a chicken. She was older and I wanted to be "cool" like her.) I took a couple of steps along the edge and the next thing I knew I was under the water and had been pulled into the middle of this pond where I couldn't stand. Thankfully, I was pulled out by a man who was nearby and who'd heard her screams. Goodness knows I couldn't call for help but I do remember thinking I was going to drown. I will never forget the feeling of not being able to get warm. Scary stuff!

"What would you do if you only had one day left to live?" This is the question that haunts Delaney Maxwell after she spends eleven minutes under a winter lake. Her heart and brain stopped working; FRACTURE's protagonist dies in the first seven pages of the novel, but somehow she doesn't stay dead. Despite all medical reason, Delaney survives as good as new. Almost.

After drowning, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the dead and dying, and she's not alone. The mysterious Troy, an outsider who also came out of a coma, always seems to be around when someone is dying. Troy is the opposite of Delaney's lifelong best friend, Decker, who saved her from the lake and is suddenly unrelatable. The distance increases between Delaney and all her loved ones, but when Troy reveals himself to be less noble than he seems, she has nowhere to turn.

Wintertime in Maine is the perfect setting for this story about isolation, where Delaney is frozen out of the life she once had. Author Megan Miranda is skilled at creating a cold atmosphere in the local hospital and Delaney's home. Rather than giving her characters the warmth and celebration that should follow a near death experience, Miranda keeps her characters metaphorically trapped beneath ice.

Delaney can be a frustrating character. While she has been given a second chance at life and spends much of the novel asking others what they would do if they only had one day left to live, she does not live her words. She expresses herself poorly to Decker and her parents, and is paralyzed to act when she knows a situation is wrong.

FRACTURE is far darker than the plot synopsis implies. When I started reading, I expected a paranormal plotline, but it is more of a thriller than anything else. There are few bright spots for Delaney, so much of the narrative feels like a heavy weight on the reader's chest. Still, I could not stop reading, hoping that the ice would thaw for Delaney.