$3.99
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Nice Journey With Brooklyn, July 11, 2014
This review is from: Shattered Reality (Brooklyn and Bo Chronicles Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
Shattered Reality was new to me. I've never been
a fan of autobiographies or nonfiction. In general, I avoid them like
the plague. In order for this to be a fair and honest review, I had to
separate preference from quality.
Ratings
Quality Rating: 4.75 stars
Preference Rating: 4 stars
I'll start with the negative and finish with the positive.
Negative:
I didn't care for the tense. There was dialogue, but so little of it. I still pictured everything just fine, and I understood Brooklyn. It was just that it was like trying to write a journal years after the events happened. The author wanted to show all of Brooklyn's life from start to finish, and I kept thinking, this is okay, but when are we going to get to the present. I was hoping to be really brought into the story, but I rarely was in the sense of being in the character's body. Because of the summary style writing, I was in the room, but I wasn't in the character. With that being said, considering the amount of ground the author had to cover, I don't think it could have been written much better. The negatives where purely preference based.
Positives:
The writing was exceptional, and the fact that the whole character's life unfolded in less than 400 pages amazes me. Everything in the book was so believable that I have to wonder if it is actually based on the author's life. I really want to know! I want to go search and see if her husband's name is Bo. 5 stars for making the story convincing.
From the blurb, we already know that Brooklyn cheats on her husband and winds up with Bo. Some would automatically judge Brooklyn as a "homewrecker", but reading the story lets you see through the eyes of someone who cheated, and it's hard to judge Brooklyn as being bad. She's had a crap deal with her parent's deaths, mooching sisters, (I want to beat the crap out of her brother-in-law), loose boyfriends, illnesses, and so forth.
Being married to her husband is more of an obligation than anything. To her, it fills like what I would imagine to be a successful arranged marriage. I got married at 19 and my parents made sure to let me know not to settle and that I was still very young and me and my husband would do a lot of changing throughout the years. They were right; we did do a lot of changing, mostly me. He's basically the same.
In Brooklyn's case, she settled, and her husband was the one to change. I really liked Gerard in the beginning. Brooklyn had been in some iffy relationships, and Gerard was stable. I was part of his cheering section, and I thought that Brooklyn could really come to love him, but she didn't. It was so sad to see Gerard become this depressing person with no "spark". I can't imagine feeling as alone as Brooklyn felt. They moved away, and she had to find new friends. Eventually, she meets Bo. I didn't get enough of Bo in this book, and I'm really hoping I get to see more of him and their relationship in book 2. It was really nice to see Bo and Brooklyn together.
I loved the last 20% of this book the most. Brooklyn started to revert to her 20-year-old self. She was spunky and strong. I hated Bo's wife as much as she did, and I didn't feel sorry for the woman - not one bit. Oh my, the gym scene between the two of them was epic. During the scene, I was in Brooklyn's body, and I was furious. I probably would have cracked my phone, if I had been reading on it. I wanted to hit that woman so bad! I want to get in my car right now and head to the gym. I want to stick in my headphones and step on an elliptical machine. I want to see the woman walk in and beat the daylights out of her. She's a sad individual. I'm glad Bo cheated on her!
*Sighs* The last part of this book was sooooooo good. The first part was very good too, but it really ended with a bang. I don't want spoil you with the details. If you enjoy books where you can walk in someone else's shoes and learn all about them and their thoughts and dreams, this a book for you. You will love Brooklyn and stand by her side like a best friend, even when she does things society doesn't condone. You will love her so much that it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. You will want her to be happy no matter what. Everybody deserves a happy ever after. Brooklyn wasted over 50 years of her life trying to find happiness. Now that she's found the one that can turn that all around, things are looking up. Or are they? Happy ever afters aren't effortlessly handed out, and Brooklyn and Bo learn that the heart way. Will they make it through the journey to happiness, or will they settle for their old lives? Find out in "Shattered Reality".
Ratings
Quality Rating: 4.75 stars
Preference Rating: 4 stars
I'll start with the negative and finish with the positive.
Negative:
I didn't care for the tense. There was dialogue, but so little of it. I still pictured everything just fine, and I understood Brooklyn. It was just that it was like trying to write a journal years after the events happened. The author wanted to show all of Brooklyn's life from start to finish, and I kept thinking, this is okay, but when are we going to get to the present. I was hoping to be really brought into the story, but I rarely was in the sense of being in the character's body. Because of the summary style writing, I was in the room, but I wasn't in the character. With that being said, considering the amount of ground the author had to cover, I don't think it could have been written much better. The negatives where purely preference based.
Positives:
The writing was exceptional, and the fact that the whole character's life unfolded in less than 400 pages amazes me. Everything in the book was so believable that I have to wonder if it is actually based on the author's life. I really want to know! I want to go search and see if her husband's name is Bo. 5 stars for making the story convincing.
From the blurb, we already know that Brooklyn cheats on her husband and winds up with Bo. Some would automatically judge Brooklyn as a "homewrecker", but reading the story lets you see through the eyes of someone who cheated, and it's hard to judge Brooklyn as being bad. She's had a crap deal with her parent's deaths, mooching sisters, (I want to beat the crap out of her brother-in-law), loose boyfriends, illnesses, and so forth.
Being married to her husband is more of an obligation than anything. To her, it fills like what I would imagine to be a successful arranged marriage. I got married at 19 and my parents made sure to let me know not to settle and that I was still very young and me and my husband would do a lot of changing throughout the years. They were right; we did do a lot of changing, mostly me. He's basically the same.
In Brooklyn's case, she settled, and her husband was the one to change. I really liked Gerard in the beginning. Brooklyn had been in some iffy relationships, and Gerard was stable. I was part of his cheering section, and I thought that Brooklyn could really come to love him, but she didn't. It was so sad to see Gerard become this depressing person with no "spark". I can't imagine feeling as alone as Brooklyn felt. They moved away, and she had to find new friends. Eventually, she meets Bo. I didn't get enough of Bo in this book, and I'm really hoping I get to see more of him and their relationship in book 2. It was really nice to see Bo and Brooklyn together.
I loved the last 20% of this book the most. Brooklyn started to revert to her 20-year-old self. She was spunky and strong. I hated Bo's wife as much as she did, and I didn't feel sorry for the woman - not one bit. Oh my, the gym scene between the two of them was epic. During the scene, I was in Brooklyn's body, and I was furious. I probably would have cracked my phone, if I had been reading on it. I wanted to hit that woman so bad! I want to get in my car right now and head to the gym. I want to stick in my headphones and step on an elliptical machine. I want to see the woman walk in and beat the daylights out of her. She's a sad individual. I'm glad Bo cheated on her!
*Sighs* The last part of this book was sooooooo good. The first part was very good too, but it really ended with a bang. I don't want spoil you with the details. If you enjoy books where you can walk in someone else's shoes and learn all about them and their thoughts and dreams, this a book for you. You will love Brooklyn and stand by her side like a best friend, even when she does things society doesn't condone. You will love her so much that it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. You will want her to be happy no matter what. Everybody deserves a happy ever after. Brooklyn wasted over 50 years of her life trying to find happiness. Now that she's found the one that can turn that all around, things are looking up. Or are they? Happy ever afters aren't effortlessly handed out, and Brooklyn and Bo learn that the heart way. Will they make it through the journey to happiness, or will they settle for their old lives? Find out in "Shattered Reality".
