Book Review: Broken by A.E. Rought

Title: Broken

Author:  A.E. Rought

File type:  ARC

Release date: December 8^th, 2012

Genre: YA,  gothic, retelling

Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.
A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.
When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.
The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

The first this you need to know about Broken is that it has an interesting plotline, normal (read not annoying main character) and dashing hero. 

The main reason I didn’t give 4 or 5 stars is- this book is meant for younger readers (13-16) even though it has some seriously disturbing scenes. After that awesome start the middle part of the book got a little bit repetitive. I really don’t need to read about every detail in the MC daily routine. Emma is still grieving the death of her beloved boyfriend but she completely ignored her friend’s texts throughout the whole freaking book. She replied maybe 3 or 4 times-tops. Since her friend doesn’t mind it’s all OK. Boys are all over her but she has eyes only for the new hot guy, who is a dream of every other girl in the school. *sigh* If only this book came out 4 years ago. I would adore it…but I’ve seen this pattern already a thousand times and it’s getting pretty old (just like me). I am not sure if the ending was great or over the top. One thing is certain- it was very explosive. 

There is no doubt, the author is very talented and she should continue to write this type of books.