A Review for Best Kind of Broken by Chelsea Fine

Posted by Donna
Release Date: March 4th, 2014
Finished Date: February 18th, 2014

Publishers: Forever
Genre: New Adult
Source: For Review

Format: eARC
Pages: 256

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

New Adult Romance

Pixie and Levi haven't spoken in nearly a year when they find themselves working―and living―at the same inn in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time, they were childhood friends. But that was before everything went to hell. And now things are... awkward.

All they want to do is avoid each other, and their past, for as long as possible. But now that they're forced to share a bathroom, and therefore a shower, keeping their distance from one another becomes less difficult than keeping their hands off each other. Welcome to the hallway of awkward tension and sexual frustration, folks. Get comfy. It’s going to be a long summer.

The Review: 2.5 flowers! 

This was the first time I’ve read anything by author Chelsea Fine and Best Kind of Broken was an okay read. If I’m honest, I was expecting it to be better than it was, but that’s my fault for getting over excited about the book before actually reading it. 

The story follows Pixie and Levi who are forced to spend the summer living together while at the same time, working for Pixie’s aunt at her country Inn. The problem is, Pixie and Levi haven’t spoken to each other for months because of a tragedy that torn them apart. Now they’re sharing a house together – a bathroom together – and working together, and the tension is rising. Can Pixie and Levi overcome their demons so they can start working on a better future?

I liked Best Kind of Broken but I didn’t love it. I found it predictable and the story was the same old stuff I've read before from other New Adult authors. There’s that many authors trying their hand at NA now, that it’s all becoming the same – obviously there are some books that don’t fall into that category, but I’m finding it’s becoming old – fast! When I read a NA book, I want the story to stand out from the rest and unfortunately, Best Kind of Broken didn’t for me. 

I liked the idea of the plot and I liked how the story was set up with the flash backs but that’s about it. Neither pixie nor Levi really did anything for me. They we’re just two stubborn characters that couldn’t sit down and talk for 5 minutes about their problems, and reading their story became frustrating fast. Not only that I found some of things the characters said weird and I know I’m not the first person to notice this from Pixie – “He pushes into me and I howl like a werewolf. Seriously. It's that kind of doglike sound that comes out of my mouth.” WTH! Howling like a werewolf during sex? Ermmm, just no! It was things like that that made the story feel unrealistic and while I’m on the subject of sex, it takes forever to happen, like 85%, so by the time it does happen – I’d lost interest. 

Honestly I don’t think Chelsea Fine wrote a bad book, this is her first try at NA, I just feel as though it could have used some more work.. I’ll still look out for future releases from Chelsea and I’m very eager to read her The Archers of Avalon series, so I’ll definitely give her another try.