Blog Tour: Fractured by Shay Siegel Review + Favorite Quotes

Fractured by Shay Siegel

Release Date: October 27th 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Synopsis:

Sometimes we have to let go of who we are to embrace who we can become.

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?

For contemporary young adult fiction fans, comes a bold debut that is raw, relatable, and real. Fractured is a moving tribute to the fragility of human nature and its ability to destroy even the most powerful connections.

BOOK LINKS

Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK | Bookdepository

Review:

5 Stars

If you like:

• YA Romance

• Sports (Football)

• Healing Characters

Then this is the book for you!

TW/CW: underage drinking, mentioned drug abuse, depression and anxiety, mentioned-self harm (cutting)

As soon as I saw that Fractured was a sports romance book, I knew that is would be something that I’d want to read, and all I can say is wow! I didn’t expect this book to be so deep and dark, but it was a gripping story that is brutally honest, and had me hooked.

Mason is one of the star football players on his small high school’s team, and with him being a junior with so many titles and records with his name on it, it seems like he has his life falling into place. With college coaches staring to scout him and the parties and girls, he’s practically a celebrity, it when he makes a mistake on the field, it could cause him his whole career in football before it even gets started.

While he’s waiting for the elevator to see his orthopedists about his wrist, he meets Lace who seems to be in her own world of troubles and immune to his charm that normally has girls swarming him. Lace is different for the girls that he usually notices with her heavy eyeliner, many piercings, and purple hair, but there’s something about her bluntness that makes Mason want to continue to talk to her.

“I stared at her, my eyebrows furrowed. I liked that she thought about stuff; it was refreshing. I didn’t really know if other girls I’d hung out with thought about stuff like this too; I didn’t talk to them long enough to find out. I was glad I was talking to Lace, even if her views were making my chest feel heavy.”

With Mason’s uncertain future with football, we really get to see how there so many high schooler’s who’s whole life and motivation is sports or academic and when that security of what makes that person feel special and valuable is taken away, it causes that person to have an identity crisis of sorts and figured who they are without that thing. And we see Mason struggle through the grieving process of how his life could change if he couldn’t play football anymore.

“I didn’t need a wingman. I needed my throwing arm. I needed football.”

Then with Lace, my heart just went out for her because even though she has the perfect life on the outside with wealthy parents, they don’t want to listen to her about her anxiety and depression and given some things that had happened about a year ago, it makes it near impossible for Lace to want to get close to anyone. Yet, there’s something about Mason’s persistence that draws her in despite her weariness in the beginning. Things starts to look up there for a while until one night.

“Lace was kind of like a thunderstorm. She was intense and dark. She wanted to be heard and felt. Only, most people didn’t like the rain unless they were curled up inside—away from its force. They didn’t want to be right in it, getting drenched; they wanted sun.”

Where Lace’s parents were absent, Mason’s parents and younger brother were right next to him during the entire process of the healing which is really refreshing since many books right off most of the family system even in these stressful situations.

I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to read this book especially since in just got done with my mental health nursing class, so I was able to understand both of Mason’s and Lace’s pain and the ways that they were handling it. I can honestly say that I had no idea where this book was going to lead me in the last half and to be honest, I was scare for several moments given the mental state of both Mason and Lace. Even though I didn’t quite get the ending I would normally hope for, there’s a good ending that ties all the loose ends!

Other Favorite Quotes:

“It felt like pebbles were lodged in my chest. Not particularly heavy, just uncomfortable and blocking the air. Would this be my life from now on? Sitting on the sidelines . . . watching?”

“I wasn’t even listening to the alternative rock song she chose, too busy thinking about how it could be possible that I actually liked a girl. She didn’t throw herself at me or want attention and validation. She was kind of lost in herself, and it sort of made me want to get lost there, too. It knocked me off my game, but in an interesting way.”

“A slow smile spread across her small lips and she burst out laughing. I laughed, too, thankful she seemed happy, even if it was at my expense.”

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Shay is a young adult author from the east end of Long Island, New York. Her debut YA novel Fractured released October 27, 2020, and her book of poetry Bleeding Flowers debuted June, 2019. With an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, Shay’s short stories, poems, and essays have been published in numerous literary journals. She received a BA in English from Tulane University where she was also a member of the women’s tennis team. 

Shay loves reading, exploring nature, stand-up paddleboard, the ocean, autumn, fashion, barre and orange theory workouts, pit bulls and cats, drinking soy lattes, and nineties grunge. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her boyfriend, Pat, and their giant-headed rescue dog, Bernie.

AUTHOR LINKS

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

TOUR SCHEDULE

INSTAGRAM GIVEAWAY

Prize: Win a signed copy of FRACTURED by Shay Siegel + $10 Amazon Gift Card (INT)

Click HERE to be taken to my IG post to enter!

A huge thanks to Favorite Pages Book Club for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour!

Happy reading until next time,