Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things eARC Review with Playlist

*I received and eARC of this book to review via NetGally

Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things by Jacqueline Firkins

Synopsis:

“Mansfield, Massachusetts, is the last place seventeen-year-old Edie Price wants to spend her final summer before college. It’s the home of wealthy suburban mothers and prima donnas like Edie’s cousins, who are determined to distract her from her mother’s death with cute boys and Cinderella-style makeovers. She’s got her own plans, and they don’t include any prince charming.

But as she dives into schoolwork and getting a scholarship for college, Edie finds herself drawn to two Mansfield boys strumming for her attention: First, there’s Sebastian, Edie’s childhood friend and first love, who’s sweet and smart and . . . already has a girlfriend. Then there’s Henry, the local bad boy and all-around player who’s totally off limits—even if his kisses are chemically addictive.

Both boys are trouble. Edie can’t help herself from being caught between them. Now, she just has to make sure it isn’t her heart that breaks in the process.”

Review:

4 Stars

Between the synopsis and the cover, I knew that I want to read this book because it sounded like a fun contemporary story about a young girl trying to find herself with a little romance to keep her on her toes!

If you like:

• Love Triangles
• Literary Quotes Sliding into Conversations
• Rebuilding Friendships
• Crazy Family Drama

Then you should read this book!

From the very first page, I intrigued because Edie had been in foster care after the death of her mother until her aunt and uncle takes her in for her senior year in high school. Now, Edie finds herself living in a world filled with parties, extravagant clothes, and wealth making her feel way out of her comfort zone, and if that’s not enough her aunt like to have everything her way and her two cousins are a story all in their own!

The love triangle is very interesting because I feel like this is the first book I’ve read in a while where the MC actually has feeling for both of the guys, and the guys in this story couldn’t be anymore different. After the first time I met Sebastian, I was honestly catching feelings. Because he was so happy to see Edie again. Sebastian is the guy next door who’s sweet and somebody that you’d take to meet your family after the first date; Sebastian has been her best friend since they were kids, but she has seen him since she left and went into foster care, yet when they reunited, it was like no time has passed and they went back to the banter like old friends and was reciting quotes and talking about things as if they had been talking the whole time she was gone.

“She turned around, slowly, nervously, and undeniably gut-fluttering-ly. Sebastian was smiling which meant Edie was blushing.”

On the other hand, Henry is the bad boy who get around and doesn’t do commitment. Henry on the other hand is new and gets Edie fired-up, but he also shows her that unpredictability is good in life, and despite all of that, he always seems to be listening to everything that Edie has to say and finds ways to surprise her!

If that’s not complicated enough, Sebastian also has a girlfriend who happens to be Henry’s sister.

“Crushes seriously sucked, and they were shockingly potent.”

As the story progresses, Edie finds herself dealing with situations that she’d never thought she find herself in like dealing all while trying to find out who she is. She has to try to fix the mistakes she made in her past, learn that love doesn’t always end in destruction, and come to terms with all of her mixed emotions about the past.

“Either way, she’d tried her best. She’d been honest about herself. It was all she could do, really. The rest was out of her control.”

Overall, I really enjoyed to book. It was fast paced, and it made me laugh, cry, and do some major swooning. I wish that the book was longer, so it could go into more depth about Edie’s mom, Edie’s past life before she moved in with her aunt and family and talked about Edie’s friendship with Shonda. But, I understand that this book is about Edie and how she grows as a person, so it makes sense that she doesn’t dwell on the past a lot.

Playlist:

• Can I Be Him by James Arthur
• Wild Card by Hunter Hards
• Something Great by One Direction
• i’m so tired… by Lauv and Troye Sivan
• Lie to Me by 5SOS ft. Julia Michaels
• Lose You to Love Me by Selena Gomez
• Missing You by The Vamps
• Sometimes It Rains in LA by The Vamps
• More by 5SOS
• Fixed by New Hope Club
• Catch Fire by 5SOS
• This Feeling by The Chainsmokers ft. Kelsea Ballerini

Happy reading until next time,