Review: Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker

 Title: Unbreak My Heart

Author: Melissa Walker

      Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

            Publication Date: May 22, 2012

        Formats: hardcover, 240 pages

                                                  Source: I won this in a contest from the Publishing company

Goodreads Summary:

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?

Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.

My Feelings:

Let's talk about the cover first.  I know the old saying, " Never judge a book by its cover" is really good advice; but come on, you know everyone does this.    

But I like to think I will read a book even if the cover may not interest me.  

I loved Unbreak My Heart's cover.  I liked how it is just her sitting on the boat gazing out into the water and everything else is in the rose colored background.  Like maybe Clementine was looking through rose colored glasses for a long time, not really seeing the real picture.  

The colors are serene and beautiful and you can tell the girl in the picture is sad and just a little bit peaceful in the setting.  

Now I am ready to delve into the actual book.  

Clementine...what can I say about Clementine?  I loved her..I hated her...I just didn't understand her.  

I hate that she had to go through this terrible pain and the mama in me wants to wrap her in my arms and tell her it is not as bad as she thinks it is.  

But the mama in me also wants to tell her to stop with her attitude towards her family too.

That was one of the main problems I had with the book.  She took everything out on her Mom, Dad and even her little sister, Olive.    They were there for her when everyone else turned their back on her and she is constantly snapping at her family instead.  

I guess that also adds weight to the adage " We hurt the ones we love most."   

Olive, on the other hand, was just so darn lovable.  I know she was the little sister and more of the supporting character in the story but I just fell in love with her.  She never loses sight of who Clementine really is even though Clem does.  

She is the little sister I always wanted to have and I guess I was a little envious of Clem for having that and taking Olive for granted.  

James is a really great person too.  He is funny, understanding, and loyal.  He loves "Crazy Olive" just as much as she loves Clementine and he sees the true Clem.  His past is much more than Clem has ever had to go through and it was good to pair those two up together to help each other with the pain they are feeling.  

I think everyone in this story learns something from each other and are able to find a way to get past the pain.     Clementine definitely finds  a piece of herself she is missing and is finally able to come to terms with what happened...and didn't happen.

I gave this book 3 hearts.