REVIEW and GIVEAWAY
One Broken Day
by Melissa MacVicar
One Broken Day by Melissa MacVicar is currently on tour with YA Bound Book Tours. The tour stops here today for my review, an excerpt, and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
After a notorious school shooting leaves her a shadow of the girl she once was, seventeen-year-old Lizzie Beringer moves to Nantucket Island. There, Lizzie vows to hide her identity as the shooter’s sister. All her efforts to fly under the radar, however, are complicated by her P.T.S.D. and the attention she receives from two competing boys. While fending off the not-so-subtle advances of popular athlete Michael Wickersham, she must also deal with her growing feelings for her shy lab partner Gage Pike. Gage may act like he’s all wrong for her, but the pull between them is undeniable.
Under the threat of discovery and the possibility of testifying in a televised trial, Lizzie fights to keep her secrets and start her life over.
One Broken Day is a brilliantly imagined story exploring the ways we are all broken and at the same time, offered redemption in the most unexpected of places.
Excerpt
Lizzie
My brother should be dead. Death was what he wanted, and his death might have made everything that came after that day less painful. After succeeding in so many terrible things, however, he failed to complete this one final act.
Despite these harsh words, I do not take the possibility of his death lightly. Even now, when the thought of it enters my mind, I resist it, and immediately following the shooting, I hated myself for it. My insides ached, and my head throbbed. He was my brother. My baby brother. I was supposed to love him, not wish him gone from the planet.
Standing in his room before we left for Nantucket, I considered what to take. I wanted something of him. A talisman. An object from the scene of this crime, my own personal family tragedy, that would allow me to remember him as the boy he was before. The boy who laughed at sitcoms on Nickelodeon and swam in the pool with neon green floaties. The boy who called me Wizzie. The little brother who couldn’t possibly be locked up in a jail cell for murdering four people.
The room itself was not special—double bed, blue walls, built in book shelves stripped of their contents. Boxes littered the floor, filled with the personal items that populated Thomas’ life. Out his windows, the picturesque view of the pool and the fir trees beyond was still lovely.
I forced myself to try to see it as a stranger, like someone who only heard about Thomas on the news. Were there clues in the paint color? The books he read or the framed poster of Tony Hawk? No matter how hard I searched, no answers to my infinite questions were revealed. Nothing there explained what happened to us.
I spotted it then, atop a pile of books in a still open box. The horseshoe. I forgot all about it until that moment, but I knew instantly it was what I’d been looking for. We both received one on the vacation at the dude ranch with Dad although I had no idea where mine was anymore. On that trip, we rode horses and square danced and ate all our meals together. Good times. We had some good times. The rust speckled piece of metal, satisfyingly heavy in my hand, was my proof.
Turning to leave, I caught a glimpse of Thomas’ cork board. Removed from the wall, it leaned against the side of a box near his old desk. Weird drawings of scary faces, death metal concert leaflets, and a few pictures of a scowling Thomas were pinned haphazardly across it. In one corner, however, an unexpected pop of color peeked out. Without thinking, I reached to expose it.
Thomas—a four-year-old Spiderman, me—a six-year-old Cinderella. We both smiled as we clutched our bags of trick-or-treat candy. With a little effort, I unpinned it from the board and gazed down at our grinning, childish faces. When exactly had Thomas stopped smiling for pictures? When was the precise day and time that occurred? That was the day I should have known. I should have noticed. I should have realized that something was not right with my baby brother.
[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]
Praise for the Book
"One Broken Day uses an original point of view to tell the story of a tragic event and its devastating effects. The author has clearly done extensive research to create an authentic plot and characters. She demonstrates familiarity and ease in portraying teen relationships and struggles, and there are no easy solutions to complex problems. Strongly recommended for high school libraries and young adult collections in public libraries." ~ Maggie Sullivan, Librarian, Nantucket High School
"I feel the strength of this novel lies in the characters - and the different ways they grow and shift throughout this journey. However, there's a sense of mystery and suspense woven through every page - a motivation that kept me trapped, unable to put the book down. While we don't necessarily get handed all the 'answers,' I feel Melissa MacVicar did this with a purpose - life, after all, doesn't always just hand us a reason or justification for why people do the things they do, or why things happen the way they do." ~ Elizabeth Mathis, Betwixt These Pages Blog
"This is a great story dealing with sensitive issues. It is thoughtfully written with relatable characters. I found it hard to put down and was sorry when it ended!" ~ Ackreader
"This is a beautiful, touching novel and a lovely romance. The teen voices rang true. I really felt for Lainey. She had a perfect life--except for the horrific crime her brother committed, shattering her life forever. But Lainey gets a second chance at happiness with Gage. I rooted for these two and enjoyed watching Lainey work toward healing." ~ Kayla S.
"This author has a wonderful writing style that pulls the reader along through the story. Her characters are intense and fully realized. Each one grows and changes throughout the story and I especially liked what she did with Wick. The courtroom scenes were very well done as well , and the romance was achingly real. I highly recommend for a great reading experience!" ~ Knitting Lady43
My Review
Lizzie Berringer's younger brother Thomas is in jail, awaiting trial for killing four people in a school shooting. One of them was Lizzie's best friend Hannah. Four months later, Lizzie moves from Los Angeles to Nantucket where she starts school under the assumed identity of Lainey Darwin. But, suffering from depression and anxiety, she is having trouble adjusting to the normalcy of school life. And with rivals Wick and Gage both vying for her affections, she's getting more attention than she ever wanted. What will happen if her secret comes out?
The story is told from both Lainey's and Gage's points of view, interspersed with passages written in italics, detailing the events leading up to the shooting. The book explores how a school shooting affects the family of the shooter. While We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver focuses on the shooter's mother, this book focuses on the effects of the shooting on the shooter's sibling. And it does a great job. This book is not only a family drama and romance, but it is also full of all sorts of complex characters and relationships. It's nice to see Wick grow through the course of the story. I especially love his exchange with Sybil and his wrestling match with Gage.
Warnings: coarse language, sexual references, drug use, violence, underage drinking, school shooting.
About the Author
Giveaways
Enter the Goodreads giveaway for a chance to win an autographed paperback copy of One Broken Day by Melissa MacVicar (US only, ends 28 July).
Enter the Amazon giveaway for a chance to win a Kindle copy of One Broken Day by Melissa MacVicar (US only, ends 28 July).
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