The Fiction Conniption

This review can also be found here on my blog: http://thefictionconniption.blogspot.com/2012/08/book-review-breaking-beautiful-by.html--This book really blew me away. It was a really moving premise. Is it okay to be relieved when your boyfriend dies? In any normal case you'd say, "No, of course not! That's horrifying!" But then what if he was abusive? What if it was the only way that she was ultimately able to escape him? Does that change things?From the first page, I was totally invested in Allie's story - and just as confused as she was as to what could have happened the night that her abusive boyfriend Trip died. It drove me crazy as I read it, trying to piece together little clues and such - but I loved it! At the start, Allie can't remember a single thing about the night that her boyfriend Trip's truck went off a cliff resulting in his death, and her mysteriously being discovered on the side of the road, instead of in the water with Trip and his truck. The fact that she remembers nothing scares her, in a way that I found totally believable. She worries that maybe she did something to him - how had she gotten out of the truck? Why had they been there in the first place? The characters were written very well. I appreciated the way that Allie remembers her relationship with Trip in pieces. Nothing can throw a wrench into a great flowing story like a sudden and long flashback scene stuck right in the middle of the action. Ms. Wolf has an amazing way of revealing the past through small lines of flashback - the way flashbacks actually do feel in real life. The flashbacks gradually grow longer and slowly begin to offer more background information into how their relationship really functioned and how trapped she truly felt. It made me feel like I was truly living through the memories once again with Allie. I can't remember there being a single dull moment in this book. I was captivated from the first page, and while it didn't necessarily have my heart racing - it definitely kept my curiosity piqued. It took me quite a while to form my own theory about what might have happened that night, and the mystery around whether my theory was correct or not definitely had me staying up til 4 am while my in-laws were visiting this week just so I could find out a little more. I'd recommend to anyone interested in a more reflective read - one that will make you think and wonder. Definitely not a beach-y, curl up with a cup of hot cocoa kind of read. Be ready to be emotionally invested and totally along for the ride.