{Review} Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker

Posted by Donna
Release Date: May 23rd, 2013
Finished Date: November 7th, 2014

Publishers: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback

Pages: 256

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams' heart. She fell for her best friend's boyfriend and long story short: he's excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life. 

Enter her parents' plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now. 

Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he's just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem's walls and heal her broken heart?

The Review: After seeing so many mixed reviews about Unbreak My Heart, it was one of them books that I wanted to read but didn’t want it to disappoint. But in the end I finally decided to take a chance and, I’m so glad I did because it’s one I really enjoyed.  

Unbreak My Heart is an emotional read about a young girl who struggles to deal with the aftermath after falling for her best friends boyfriend but, also tries to rediscover herself while on a secluded family vacation.

I really enjoyed this story. Honestly, there’s wasn’t much not to like. It’s a good YA contemporary story that has just the right amount of fluffiness, heartache and fun times. I felt the story is well written and it had a ton of great characters.

Clem – even though she’s quite depressed to start with – was a great character to get to know. She’s fun and full of life but when everything is revealed, she’s like a shell of herself. The whole relationship with her best friend’s boyfriend in my opinion was quiet complicated. I honestly couldn’t see why Ethan was Amanda except for the fact that Amanda is really pretty. I felt as though Ethan and Clem had an undeniable attraction to one another. It felt more real and as a reader you can really see the feeling that they had for one another. In my book, it wasn’t really cheating. Yes Ethan and Clem weren’t completely innocent but Ethan was always the one that instigated anything between them and then suddenly, all the blame is on Clem. I felt bad for her. She loses her best friend and friends all together and Ethan is walking around scot-free. I hated Ethan after that and Amanda too for treating Clem the way she did.

The other characters that stood out to me were of course, Clem’s family. What an amazing family. They supported Clem no matter her mood and always tried to include her in everything they did. And then of course we have James and his father. James was exactly the right person Clem needed. Someone who didn’t know but could get to know the real her – and James saw the real Clem for sure. I love their moments together.

In all, Unbreak My Heart is a good summer read and one I’m glad I took a chance on!