Thursday, May 8, 2014

Breakable by Tammara Webber


"He was lost and alone. Then he found her.
And the future seemed more fragile than ever.


As a child, Landon Lucas Maxfield believed his life was perfect and looked forward to a future filled with promise — until tragedy tore his family apart and made him doubt everything he ever believed.

All he wanted was to leave the past behind. When he met Jacqueline Wallace, his desire to be everything she needed came so easy…

As easy as it could be for a man who learned that the soul is breakable and that everything you hoped for could be ripped away in a heartbeat."


********

Breakable is nothing less than amazing. Just one word could describe the whole book, it would be amazing. When I first heard that there was going to be a second novel from Easy by Tamarra Webber, I couldn't conceal my joy to know we were going to read Lucas' POV. What makes this novel unique to others supplying the male's POV in second book was that we hear from both Landon and Lucas. Same guy but in two different states on mind. Landon is before and after his mom dying and Lucas is after his mom dying and before, during, and after falling in love with Jacqueline. I'm going to split the review into each POV that was presented in the book starting first with Landon.

 

Landon 

While read Landon's POV I kept thinking of this quote from Neil DeGrasse Tyson which aired on MPR. He said, "I would say I am where I am today not because of what the teachers said about me or did for me, but in spite of it. And I don't think that's what you want, so I will decline...Also consider that if you a straight-A student in your class, that student has straight A's not because of teachers, but in spite of teachers. That's what having straight-A means. It means you do well, no matter the teaching talent of the teacher. That's what straight A's mean. So if you're a teacher and you put forth your straight-A student as though you had something to do with it, you are deluding yourself." (The full quote and story can be found here.)

I felt the same way about Landon and his being moved to this new town while grieving in his introverted way. No teacher gave him the benefit to look beyond the quite kid who didn't want to interact with the students. The outcast. The one being bullied. Even in high school, being called out on day one as a trouble maker. How do you expect our students to excel when they're faced with that and no one willing to look deeper into the issue. It's something I feel strongly about and it really it home on the problems that exist in public schooling.

So, in spite of the doubt and bullying and a father who wasn't there, Landon somehow made it out to become Lucas. That is what makes this story so inspiring and amazing!

 

Lucas

Ever chapter we get a Landon and then a Lucas POV. At the beginning Lucas has become this working machine to pay for college, get top grades to not find himself back in that small town, and a small base of friends. What I liked most about the Lucas chapters what that we got to meet his friends and see his interactions with people outside of Jacqueline. In Easy, he was always this dark and mysterious character. In Breakable, he was a solid person who had fears, wants, needs and was trying non-stop to do and say the right thing. How could I not fall even more in love with this character.

I will also note this book is more introverted. Which I found perfect to match the character. We get character interactions and new text between Jacqueline and Lucas but there is a lot of thought and observations that we get just from Lucas.

After finishing the book I hope for a few things. One is a book on Boyce and Pearl. Really! Those two have something and I want to read about it! The second hope is for something on Cole who was a new character in the Heller family. I'm sure he has always been there but we meet him for the first time through Lucas.

I would recommend that you read Easy first if you haven't. That's a must because the book is that good. Then followup with Breakable. If you're an Easy fan, Breakable will be just as good, if not better to read.

I'm now off to donate my copy to the local library so they can have it in their collection. If you live in the area, make sure to place a hold on this amazing book! 

 

2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. There is now a copy at the library. I can get a hold placed for you, if you like.

      Delete