Beautiful Broken Girls is a gripping novel about one boy’s quest to find out exactly why his ex girlfriend killed herself. Told in 3rd person and between Ben and Mira, Beautiful Broken Girls takes the reader on a heart wrenching and mystical journey as Ben uncovers clues about why Mira and Francesca committed suicide.

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I went into reading this book not knowing how deep or how mystical this book was going to be. I certainly wasn’t ready to read, from Mira’s perspective, the events that lead up to her and Francesca’s suicide. I also wasn’t ready to read about what happened to Ben when he was 9. Talk about being blindsided by that (want to know what, read the book). I also wasn’t ready for the reason behind Connie’s death. That was definitely something that took me by surprise.

Honestly, I felt awful for Ben. What a shock it must have been to get a letter from Mira after she died and then to go on that quest to the 7 places where they touched (palm, hair, chest, cheek, lips, throat, and heart) would have done a number on me too. And the way those notes were written!!! If the author hadn’t of included Mira’s side of the story, I would have jumped to the same conclusion as Ben did.

I did feel bad for Mira. She did seem like all she wanted to be was a normal girl but she had Francesca to take care of. Francesca who spoke in tongues, who had fits and who developed an unhealthy crush on their church’s youth advisor. Mira was the one who took care of her and I could see it draining her. Which kinda explains why she committed suicide. The real reason was heartbreaking once it was revealed (again, read the book if you want to find out). I will say that I did think it was kinda mean to send Ben on that quest to find the notes. But at the same time, she wanted someone to know the truth. I think she chose Ben because a) she was in love with him (or in love with him as she allowed her to be) and b) she knew that he would go the distance to get the notes.

The end of the book was very surreal and left me with more questions than answers. I wish that there was an epilogue or something to show what happened to Ben after he got the notes and did what he did. But at the same time, I am glad that there isn’t one and I get to use my imagination about what happened to him.

How many stars will I give Beautiful Broken Girls: 4

Why: This book was heart wrenching to read. It outlines the events leading up to a double suicide while also telling about Ben’s quest to find Mira’s notes and to find out the reason the girls committed suicide. This is definitely a book to read with a tissue and an open mind.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Older teen

Why: Mild Violence, language and the suicide theme

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

I was so excited to read this book. The cover is beautiful and the synopsis was intriguing. The first couple of chapters were really good. From that point on it was a downhill slide.

What had the potential to be a great book became just plain weird. I had absolutely no sympathy for any of the characters. None of them were fleshed out and were totally unrelatable. In fact, the entire book lacked any depth at all. The story jumped from one direction to the next leaving me wondering what had just happened.

A line from the book states, "It was all anyone needed to know, that the girls weren't crazy, just good. Too good for this world." Nah, I'm pretty sure that they were absolutely, unequivocally crazy. I am also questioning my own sanity since I continued to read this even after see the direction the book was taking.

This one started out strong and then just kinda fell apart. It grabbed me to start out and I was very interested in the dual timelines but it then just got to much. This story has a LOT going on and it just got pretty boring and way to detailed. This book has barely any dialogue and is mostly descriptive. The writing is very beautiful at times but it needed some major dialogue. This was just a jumbled mess for this reader.

I give this 3.5 stars. This book originally grabbed my attention from the cover and the description. Sounded really interesting! Unfortunately I feel like it fell short of what I was anticipating. I guess I was hoping for more of a thriller than a tragic mystery.

Mira and Francesca Cillo—beautiful, overprotected, odd—seemed untouchable. But Ben touched seven parts of Mira: her palm, hair, chest, cheek, lips, throat, and heart. After the sisters drown themselves in the quarry lake, a post-mortem letter from Mira sends Ben on a quest to find notes in the seven places where they touched. Note by note, Ben discovers the mystical secret at the heart of Mira and Francesca's world, and that some things are better left untouched.

I was expecting more of a thriller. Some of it felt rushed and like there was a lot packed into the story. I loved the character of Ben, and I wish there was more development with the other characters. It was a very unique story, but I felt like there was something missing. It definitely had more of a Virgin Suicides vibe (which isn't bad) I just found myself losing interest part way through. I think this is definitely one that I'll revisit and reread when there aren't so many others I'm reading at once. I feel this was a book that needed more of my attention than it got.

This one was okay - it had a lot of plot twists, which I like, but some seemed unnecessary and unclear.

They found the two young sisters at the bottom of the quarry. They were clutching each other, bound together for all eternity. Did they stumble during the night and fall to their deaths? Perhaps foul play, although who would want to hurt them? Joint suicide pact?

Ben had loved Mira and he grieved so hard. When a letter came to him a few days after the girls were found, written by Mira, he wasn't prepared for what she had to say. Remember the places you touched me.

As Ben remembers the seven times he touched Mira, the life she shared with her sister, Francesca, comes front and center. Each place that Ben searches reveals another letter, a note, telling him of their strange existence.

I really wanted to like this one much more than I did. The title, the cover, the book blurb all drew me in. It failed to live up to ny expectations ... maybe because it was aimed at a much younger reader. I almost gave up when I started skipping pages, scanning for something that would draw my attention.

I really liked the character of Ben. Mira and Francesca didn't elicit much compassion or interest from me other than the thought of needless deaths for two teenagers who had so much life left to live. There's also the hint of paranormal with this story.

This one just didn't hold my interest.

Many thanks to the author / Macmillan Children's Publishing Group / Netgalley for the digital copy of this book. The opinion(s) expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Unfortunately, this book was too slow and I did not enjoy it as much as I wish I could.

"Do something to one of us, you do it to all."

This book gives off a Virgin Suicides Vibe but with a dash of [ Stigmata (hide spoiler)]. The premise is highly interesting. The cover is stunning. The Cillo girls were fascinating and I enjoyed the flashes back in time from their POV. What was hard for me was the writing. I found I had to reread sentences throughout the book to understand what was going on. And sometimes I still didn't understand until I read farther into the story. Frustrating at times.

"Everyone wanted to touch us. Including you. So remember the seven places you touched me. That's where you'll find me. That's where you'll find the truth. Start at the beginning. In my words."

The story starts out after the Cillo girls jumped into a quarry with their pockets full of rocks and drowned. Ben receives a letter from Mira Cillo sending him on a scavenger hunt to find out what happened. We see the story happen in real time but with flashbacks from Mira's POV. The story turns out to be more complicated and unusual then you would expect based on the synopsis. Some will definitely be turned off by the direction the story takes. I found it fascinating.

"When you touch things, they can break."

***Advanced copy obtained from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group via Netgalley***

A totally different kind of book than After the Woods. Less thriller and more drama. Definitely not a bad thing.

This is an achy book, if that makes sense. My heart ached for a while after reading it, due in part to Savage's writing and in part to the narrative itself. I'm a sucker for stigmata and living saints and old timey Catholicism.

I'm not sure this will appeal to everyone, as it's more of a meandering novel than the usual plot-driven stuff, but it's gorgeous and worth a read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan! The blurb is so on it with this one! This read was definitely reminiscent of The Virgin Suicides. I went into this read having read some reviews. A lot of people were not liking the non realistic aspect of the story but I disagree. It was set up from the start so it never really came out of nowhere, it was excepted as part of the plot. I think it is a lot of how you interpret it also. We never really found out what was true or not.

The story follows Ben after the death of ex girlfriend Mira. Mira and Francesca are sister who have killed themselves, however beforehand Mira left notes for Ben to find.

I really enjoyed this mystery. It really held my attention all the way through, never once was I bored with where the story was going. I did see the plot twist coming a little earlier on then it was reviled however it was still a really solid read.

I did feel like it was a little under developed. I wanted more about the girls, their family life, Bens past, ect. I feel like with a little more background this could have had a hard hitting message. All in all I felt like it was a lyrical thriller that kept you questioning what was real and who was at fault. This was a good fast 3.8 star read for me. I defiantly recommend reading!

★★★

Favorite Quote

“Mira Loved him more for the damage inflicted on him, the kind of damage that her touch might heal.”

I liked this book but I could never get the virgin suicides out of my mind. I did enjoy the read and the "eerie" feeling you got. Thank you for the chance to read this book. Best of luck

I really enjoyed this book. I never lost interest or thought that it was boring. Thank you for the chance to read it before it was released.

Holy twists and turns, Batman! If you're in the mood for something "The Virgin Suicides" meets "Looking for Alaska", "Beautiful Broken Girls" is the perfect book for you! Combining a haunting mood, unsolved mystery, and boys in love with mysterious sisters, this book is a surefire winner for fans of the slow burn. In the present one minute and the past the next, the reader is taken on a ride that is a rollercoaster of horrifying, tender, and revealing moments. At times, I found myself growing restless. So, what kept me reading? The desire to know the solution to the mystery.

My best piece of advice with this book: DO NOT STOP READING IN THE MIDDLE. If you do, you will be left with a very incomplete (inaccurate) picture of what the book is about and what happens to the characters.

Touching on several subjects that I don't see too often in YA Lit (stigmata, child molestation survivors, can't really say anymore without leading to spoilers), I found it intriguing. Although I wound up really disliking the Cillo sisters by the end of the book, I like Ben. I just don't feel as though he grew very much during the story. I was hoping for a little more there. My final wish is that there had been more in the way of wrapping up loose ends.

Overall, it is a good book in that eerie way that you crave. If you read this book and like it, I recommend "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher and "Looking for Alaska" by John Green.

Thank you, Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book just wasn't for me. In order to keep my review spoiler-free, I will just say that there were topics in this book which I found uncomfortable to read and the story just didn't grip me like I was hoping that it would.

Abandoned at 43%.

A very different story. We switch between sisters Francesca and Mira and neighbor Ben. Ben is trying to find out what happened that led to the girls deaths at the local quarry. As he uncovers clues, we flashback to the sisters and the months before their deaths. It us well written, but drags in some places. I would have liked Mira to be given more depth.

Beautiful Broken Girls is the kind of book you tilt your head and look at sideways, puzzled and perplexed, trying to figure out what happened and how it evolved into what it did. Unfortunately for me, even when the mystery unraveled, there were so many questions left unanswered that I was at a loss for what to make of this bizarre story.

When I initially saw this cover, I knew I had to have it. It’s creepy and unsettling. It looks like something out of a horror film, so that’s kind of what I expected when I opened the book. This is not that kind of story. At its core, Beautiful Broken Girls is a mystery and an ode to learning to cope after a horrible tragedy, and for Ben, after a lost first love.

The story is told from multiple characters (Mira, Francesca, and Ben) and takes place in two different years. The pieces are not in order and are further separated by body parts that Ben touched on Mira when they were seeing each other. If it sounds strange, that’s because it is. The idea itself is an interesting one. Getting to each note that Mira left for Ben was like a nostalgic scavenger hunt as he relived the sensual moments he had with Mira as they feel for each other. What the notes meant and getting to the truth propelled the story forward, even when the pacing was excessively slow.

I made guesses throughout the story about what really happened to the dead girls; I suggest trying this and seeing if you guessed right. I did, to an extent. As the story evolves and the clues are found-in the form of Mira’s cryptic little poem snippets-Ben makes a whirlwind of assumptions. It’s hard to talk about this book without giving anything away and I HATE spoilers. One of the first things you learn about Ben, is that he was molested as a child in little league. So he’s known as touched or damaged. There is so much wrong with this, but I digress. Apart from the fact that this is used as a device by others in the story so that Ben is doubted and seen as projecting his past on the situation, it didn’t really function in the story and threw me off as a story arc. It felt like so many elements of this book were jumbled and thrown in and never really came together to form a coherent narrative.

One of my major issues was with voice. Ben, the other boys, Mira, basically everyone in the story, despite being set in 2015-2016, felt like they were using language from the 80s or 90s. Maybe even before that. It could be the setting and maybe those phrases are abundant and natural there, but to me, it felt off. Some phrases are crude and made me feel slimy, and other times, it felt like things were thrown in to emphasize that they were teenage boys, whether they were realistic or not. You’re introduced to a lot of characters at once. It took a bit for them to develop into their own people, it was hard to distinguish them at first because of how they were introduced.

I labeled this with a mental illness tag because of some of the descriptions of Mira and the actions of Francesca (which I can’t really go into without spoilers). But Mira has some disturbing imagery attached to her and her thoughts that make you question her…though somehow nowhere near the way you do Francesca and Mira almost functioned as a secondary character-her voice, her personality, the romance, none of it was emphasized or clear. Mira flitted in and out of the story and there are brief interludes of memory, but other than that, she fades away-ghostly. Back to the point, these thoughts, like wanting to drink toxic chemicals or throw herself off a cliff are dangerous, reckless, borderline suicidal and very disturbing, and yet, they’re just there. Not really deliberated over or anything and it makes you wonder why even put them there other than to show that Mira was messed up too.

I wasn’t invested in the characters, I was invested in the mystery. The need to know what happened was enough. However, that ending, the truth, the reveal, what about all of the other stuff? Was it real? Was it a psychological issue? So many questions. If you’re looking for something weird, something that when you finish reading you’ll question what you just read, then check this out.

"Everyone wanted to touch us. Including you. So remember the seven places you touched me That's where you'll find the truth. Start at the beginning. In my words. "...

Sisters, Mira and Francesca, lived an over protected and lonely life. One neighborhood boy, Ben, is able to reach Mira. In a strange twist the girls commit suicide, drowning in the quarry. The story starts with their deaths.

After their suicide, a letter arrives from Mira to Ben. Something between them will be clues to where more notes will be found. He will learn of their life and secrets. Will he ultimately learn why they died?

This young adult story is both dark and tragic. The story line is actually not even what I thought it was going to be. It was actually shocking, and so compelling in many ways. The chapter names are parts of the clues to where the notes can be found. What a journey for Ben, mourning the loss of the young girl he loved so briefly.

Thank you Kim Savage, Netgalley, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.

Unfortunately, I have to give this book only 2 stars. Even though, the story sounds interesting, this book just fell flat right away. I was hooked at the beginning by the girls' murder and the clues left behind by one of them. However, as the story went on it became increasingly boring and disturbing. I think this book had potential but just couldn't keep my interest.

When sisters Mira and Francesca are found drowned in the bottom of the town’s old quarry, the citizens of the Boston suburb where they lived are horrified—especially since the accidental death of their cousin only a few weeks earlier. The town is reeling. The newspapers suggest a teen suicide trend. In fact Ben’s parents are watching him like hawks, afraid that somehow his one-time girlfriend’s suicide will spur Ben to take his own life. But Ben doesn’t want to die, he just wants answers: Why did Mira become so distant? What was going on in her head during the month before she took her own life? Did their father’s overprotective ways push the girls to do something drastic?

Ben’s first thought when he sees the letter in Mira’s handwriting is that she’s alive, but he knows better. Instead, before Mira died, she left Ben a series of messages hidden in the places that they touched. Each message explains a little bit more about what happened and why. But the messages are cryptic, and don’t always contain the information Ben is longing for. In order to find the answers his heart needs, Ben will have to navigate an ever more complicated labyrinth of locations past friends and adults who have their own agendas, suspicions, and fears.

Beautiful Broken Girls is a page-turner of a book and an eerie, New England tale. I zipped through it quickly, eager to discover what exactly had happened to Mira and Francesca. Ben is a sympathetic character, and I felt his frustration as he tried to piece together the clues to the mystery. Through flashbacks from Mira’s point of view, the reader also gets to know the girls in their last days.

I felt that many of the characters in this story did not have clear motivations. I would have liked to come away with a better understanding of the motivations of the adults in the story. Perhaps since the story was told entirely from the point of view of teens, this makes sense, but I would have liked a little more insight into their decisions and motivations.

A quick and engaging read, Beautiful Broken Girls comes out on February 21.