Unbreak My Heart

4.5 Stars!
Unbreak My Heart was great novel. Told in alternating chapters that that tell the story of how Clemantine's heart broke and the present where she tries to move on.
I liked the plot and that most of the story took place on a sailboat which was really interesting. I liked Clementine and James too.
I really liked Melissa Walker's Ashes to Ashes duology and really liked this novel too. Looking forward to more from this author!

To me, the best contemporary romances have a bigger issue behind it rather than just being a love story. This is one of those stories. What I love even more about this is one is the fact that there are actually TWO of those bigger issues going on in this book. And those two reasons are why I enjoyed this book so much.
In the beginning the first issue isn't really told. All we know is that Clem is really upset and mad at everyone. Including those who tried to help her, like her family. This is unfortunate because her and all her family members are stuck on the same boat for the entire summer. As the story goes on the reason behind her anger and sadness is revealed. I counted this as a big issue because in the high school world (and even in the real world for that matter) what she does can result in becoming an outcast.
Enter James. Clem randomly meets him at a dock along their family's sailing route. She starts off blowing him off, but as they realize their family is going on the same route she and her sister Olive start to hang out with him. After she lets him in they become fast friends. And soon after that, it becomes clear that there is something else between the two of them. I loved that the romance wasn't instantaneous and it was paced just right. Especially after what she went through before hand. It felt real as he melted her old thoughts of love and replaced them with new ones. After this, Walker brings to light the next big issue the book covers. Something huge ties the two issues together and for a second it left me a little worried. But in the end it all turned out just fine.
This book drives home the definition of friendship and love. It will remind you of all that you have to make you happy and to hold on to it.

How am I supposed to start this?
I just want to point out something that annoyed me before I gush and fangirl and talk about the deliciousness of this summer love novel.

I get that we all get my mad. We all get angry with ourselves at one point for doing something we didn't expect we'd do. We disappoint people and you can't help but hate yourself... a lot. This is how Clementine feels, the girl with amazing friends and a best friend that just completes her -- that is, until Ethan comes along. She did something that caused her friendship and she beats herself up about it.

But I hate how she has an excuse for the things she says or does when she lashes out on her family. I have problems when people are mad and others try so hard to make them feel better and the person who's hurt starts yelling at the other person for no reason then tells them some petty excuse. Clementine does this a lot and all the time she makes some excuse I think, 'You should not have done what you did when you knew it was wrong. Stop making excuses for yourself. Take responsibility.' Yes, sometimes we just can't help it and control ourselves, we're all imperfect humans so it happens, which is the reason why I wasn't going to put the book down.

Okay, now that my point has been crossed... OHMYGOD THIS BOOK WAS SO ADORABLY CUTE. It gave me this feeling like I got from reading Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I love the sea, I love romance, and I love boats, so after reading the description I just had to get my hands on this. It has what we need, including humour. I hate that it ended! WHY DID THIS BOOK HAVE TO BE 231 PAGES, WALKER!? I will never forgive you for that.

I really hate saying 'Clem' because it makes me think about a part from our body *cringes*, so I have to write 'Clementine'. After the terrible-awful thing Clementine has done, she sets sail with her little sister, Olive; as well as her mother and father. If Clementine still had her friends, she would have done anything to stay at home and spend her summer with them, but she is forced to aboard The Possibility because she has nothing else to do and wants to 'find' herself. On her journey, she meets James, a boy who sailing the same route as she is. He's always smiling, always energetic and Clementine's depression is lifted a little bit. Little does she know, James has a story that needs to be told, too.

It's so hard for me to write this review without spoiling anything. Just read it, please. Unbreak my heart is the story of true friendship and love.

Playlist:
Clementine - Eliott Smith
Whoever She Is - The Maine
Into Your Arms - The Maine

Unbreak My Heart by Melissa C. Walker
ARC received from Bloomsbury via Netgalley
Release Date: 5-22-2012
Reviewed by: Middle Sis Jenn
The Sister’s Say: A heartfelt story about hope and healing.

I haven’t read too many contemporary novels because usually I start one and a few chapters in I want to stop because they are too depressing or too whiney, so when I started Unbreak My Heart, I was sure I was going to want to stop reading it at some point. I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself smiling at Melissa’s love story, giggling at her ridiculous word play (why knot?), and fuming at the reactions of some of Melissa’s not-so-likeable characters. Great stories take you through the gamut of emotions, and Melissa’s did just that.

Clementine has fallen in love with her best friend’s boyfriend, and as a result she has become a social outcast. Then, to make matters worse, her family is dragging her off for a summer of sailing. Clem thinks the summer is going to be a “summer of exile” but she just might find that exile is not so bad—especially once she meets James. I really like James—he’s sweet, thoughtful, artsy, and he’s struggling with his own kind of exile. He’s not my favorite type of young adult boys (I have a thing for the dark and broody), but he is exactly what you would picture when you think of a sweet guy sailing away the summer with his dad. Although I prefer for my ya guys to be strong, arrogant, and deeply sexy; James really did bring a smile to my face. He was perfect for this story, and it was fun reading how he rebuilts Clem’s heart.

My favorite character in this story was Crazy Olive, Clem’s ten-year old little sister. She’s so vibrant and full of life, and on more than one occasion, puts forth a philosophical statement that sums up how tragic and temporary teenage life and drama can be at times. She’s the perfect foil to Clem’s depressed personality.

I really loved the setting for Clem’s road to recovery. Most of the book takes place on the boat and out on the river, and I love the scenes where Clem and/or James just sit out over the water or on the beach and just relax. It made me wish I had my own boat that I could use to escape reality. I could hear the waves, feel the breeze, and smell the freshness. Clem thinks she’s away from the real world, and I love to see her character grow as she discovers that even on the river, away from her friends and her life, that things can be just as real.

I do wish there would have been more romance, and the book does end abruptly. I thought Melissa could have spent a little more time giving us some more information, after all the book was really short, only 240 pages.

Final Judgment: Melissa Walker creates a heartwarming story that chronicles the ups and downs of teenage friendship and love. Torment meets healing in this tale of discovery and romance.

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When Unbreak My Heart first appeared on NetGalley, I actually didn't request it. I haven't read any of Walker's prior novels, I don't have much history reading contemporaries, and I have a very black and white view of cheating in relationships. All of that told me this might not be the book for me. I went back and requested it when I saw some very favorable reviews roll into the blogosphere.

As I started reading, I was initially regretful of that decision. The opening of the book is so mopey and nothing really happens. All Clem thinks about is the horrible thing she's done, which slowly unfolds in front of the reader. Every other chapter goes into the past (at least until that's all explained). The others are about her summer, in which her family (mom, dad, little sister, and herself) sail down rivers on a boat. I really wondered how Walker was going to pull off a book where the characters are stuck on a boat.

Thankfully, the book picked up the more you learn about the past, and the better you get to know the other people taking this same boating trip. I know absolutely nothing about boating. Honestly, I had no clue people could take a sailing trip like this down rivers. Color me surprised. Early on, they meet four other people who are on the same timeline and route they are (an old couple, and a father and son).

The cheating aspect of the story, the frame of it, never really coalesced with me. It mostly made me angry in a way I was not expecting. Clem has become a social outcast because she fell for her best friend's boyfriend. That's bad, for sure. I mean, having those feelings and not confessing definitely violates the 'hos before bros' pact. What's incredibly NOT cool (slight spoiler) is that Clem didn't even initiate anything and yet she is the one who becomes a social pariah. Her best friend even takes the guy back. All we see of the friendship is them keeping secrets from one another. And, so far as I can glean, Amanda doesn't really even seem to like Ethan that much, so I have a lot of trouble figuring out why she would want him back, unless it's to prove something.

I think that my biggest issue was with Amanda's character. It might have helped to have better context for their friendship. We learn very little about Clemanda pre-Ethan. As it was, I never got a great sense of Amanda as a person. She seems to be a showoff. Clem definitely suffers from an inferiority complex, since Amanda is the kind of person everyone likes and can have any guy she likes. Amanda's also strange for not having been more afraid of Clem and Ethan happening, since they have this crazy obvious chemistry, and she even encourages them to go on a date. That's just weird.

What really worked in this novel were the character relationships. I loved how real Clem's family felt. The mother with her crazy cookbook, the dad with his hat, and, most especially, adorable annoyance Olive. It's so obvious how much Clem's family cares for her. They give her space for a while and they let her know that they're ready to listen when she can talk about it. They put up with a surprising number of tantrums with good grace. When she finally confesses what she's been so upset about, they are just so sweet and non-judgmental.

I also can't leave this review without talking about the adorableness of James. He may be one of the most genuinely sweet guys in YA literature. Girls, let me just say that you want a guy like this, not an Edward or a Jacob or a Noah. You want someone real who will never try to change you or tell you what to do. He has advice, sure, but he doesn't pressure you. Plus, he's a ginger. Oh, how I love redheads. He is cute, upbeat, and funny, and their chemistry is so moving.

Unbreak My Heart is well-written and touching, despite the slow start. There's a lot to be learned from Clem's story. I see more Melissa Walker in my reading future!

I know a ton of people have been mentioning that this a book about cheating. And it is, but that’s not so much what I concentrated on. I was saddened by Clementine’s anguish over her past mistakes. Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker flips the coin and shows us what it’s like when you break the rules and become the one who cheats, and, more than that, spotlights the isolation, the immediate disapproval, and the lack of consequences on the boy who helped break up the friendship, the love right along with her.

I'M NOT SURE I WANT TO READ A BOOK THAT DEALS WITH CHEATING

I know you’re thinking it. We all thought it when we picked up this book. But, Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker isn’t what you would expect. Walker doesn’t paint Clem as unrepentant and intentionally negligent of her friend’s feelings. The whole incident makes Clem sick inside, and she’s so ashamed she’s shouldered ALL the blame. Which is totally not right considering it takes to two to boogie and shizz. She’s lost not just her best friend, but also her band of comrades, the butthole boy, and everyone at her school is torn between outright disapproval and dissing the boy and her best friend. None of which makes her feel good, OBVS.

This story could’ve been so typical. Walker could’ve wrote about it happening and the girl’s guilt but how it feels so right and all that. Instead she wrote about the Other Girl, the one that did the Thing We Can’t Stand, and her emotional recovery. Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker tells the story of the girl who fell in love for the first time with her best friend’s boyfriend, lied about it, breached boundary lines, and berates herself for it every day, inflicts injury and insult all by herself because there’s nobody more ashamed than she is. Walker shows us that not all cheaters are evil, heartless bishes or buttholes but real people who screw up HARD and can do nothing but move forward despite their mistakes. Because nobody has to live with what was done more than them, and suffer for it as deeply.

CLEM AND JAMES

THESE. TWO. There’s something so real and honest and sweet in what Clem and James begin over their summer away from home, living on a boat. Clem is happy to be away from her home but now she’s trapped with her guilt. And James, all smiles James, has got his fair share of heart bruises as well. That alone makes them relatable. We all have our pitfalls and downright lows and they both come through the hurts of the past and recover. All the way, and together.

James is in subtle pursuit of Clem, and she’s not having it. She’s a cheater, a destroyer of worlds and angsty teen relationships. She’s a monster, and she shouldn’t be happy, especially with another boy. One who’s cute and cheerful and thoughtful. One who notices her sad eyes and the shape of her mouth at the same time. One who smacks into her with a cart full of bananas on first sight. They hang out, they laugh, they share, and it turns into something balanced by fluff and soberness, and is tempered by kindness and understanding.

IS THIS AN ISSUES BOOK?

There are tons of issues going on here. Betrayal, divorce, loss, guilt, and so much more. Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker, however, isn’t about enduring or experiencing them; the story is about letting it all go, forgiving, and moving on as best as possible. Wallowing in guilt or anger or self-loathing for a while, and then recovering from the gamut of emotions that play when reality hits like a brick, and a solid and patient support system to help speed up said recovery.

THIS PACKS A PUNCH FOR A LIGHTWEIGHT

Only about two hundred something pages, Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker is impactful without really trying to be and in so short a time. It shares a truth we didn’t acknowledge before—the betrayer isn't always selfish and intentionally cruel—and gives us so much more about emotions, tough pasts, and people as a whole. There’s comedy, intervention, secrets, sailing, and electric kisses to make up this insightful, hopeful summer read.

Originally posted at Paranormal Indulgence, 5/17/12