This story felt so real to me. Characters that had so much depth and a story that will break your heart Breaking Faith was one of those novels that makes you feel your emotions deep in the marrow of your bones. This is a story that really helps you see the progression of addiction. It is raw. It is real.

Faith was the perfect main character. She was full of both flaws and redeeming qualities. You really empathize for her as she struggled. The story was told from her perspective, but you could also see that sometimes her point of view was skewed.

It is often hard for people to understand addiction or running away. This is a title that will bring you the viewpoint of an addict and show you how messy it can all be. Show you just how a young girl can wind up an addict. In my opinion I also believe this is an accurate portrayal of what it is like to have PTSD. It is clear the author truly understands these subjects and how they can affect someone’s life.

The broken family dynamics in this novel are showcased brilliantly. It is not just Faith who is created with so many dimensions, but even more minor characters like Norma have in depth back stories. These broken people each try and fix themselves in their individual ways, but in Faith’s case in leads to self medication.

I kind of feel that the using part of Faith’s story was glossed over a bit. I know that she was only using for about 6 months, but the lengths that she went to for her addiction aren’t shown very well in my opinion. I also feel like getting clean came a little too easily for her. A more realistic portrayal would show relapse before complete success, but everyone is different.

From a mental health perspective this is a great portrayal of the mind of someone going through these types of struggles. I hope that people can read this and become more educated on PTSD and addiction. These are lifelong struggles that are hindered by stigma. I would suggest this to people who need more education about either disorder. Breaking Faith was a realistic and heartbreaking read.

Compared to the books I usually read, Breaking Faith was definitely the odd man out - and I don't mean this in a bad way. Breaking Faith was shocking, reflecting, and educational all at once.
Faith is a drug addict. She is addicted to heroin and the only thing she wants more than heroin is love and to escape from her addiction. However, at the end of the day, getting her next fix is more important than getting help. But how did it come to all that? What happened to this young girl who got hooked on heroin when she was only 17? Will she be strong enough to finally beat the addiction?

"You never know how strong you are until strong is your only choice."
- Bob Marley

For starters, I have never used or even tried drugs - I have never even smoked a cigarette before. My roommate and I were talking the other day and I told him that I wouldn't even know how to get drugs or who I would ask for drugs. It's this big mystery to me! Before reading this book, I didn't even know that you could actually smoke heroin. I thought the only way to consume it was intravenous! Besides the "You can get addicted to drugs", "Drugs destroy your body" and "The withdrawal symptons are horrible" knowledge, it seems like I am completely oblivious. Which is why I was so shocked at how easy it was for Faith to get introuced to the drug scene. This might sound naive, but is it really that easy to buy drugs?

Faith's childhood and teenage life are shaped by a spiral of terrible events, lack of love, abandonmnet, and loss. The people who are supposed to support and love her unconditionally did the opposite: they didn't care, they left, and dissappointed over and over again. No one should go through the things Faith did.
E. Graziani showed Faith's downfall in a to me very believable way. Her drug abuse started off very innocent but the more heartache and pain she had to suffer from, the harder the drugs got.

"Everyone has one pivotal moment, somewhere in their lifetime, where they can say, this changed my life."

Although I really 'enjoyed' reading about Faith's story, it was really slow at times and dragged.
I know this sounds probably bad but I wished there would've been more about Faith's addiction to heroin. It was mentioned as part of the blurb and this topic was actually the main reason why I requested the book from NetGalley. It's an interesting and fascinating topic and I was really looking forward to see how E. Graziani would pull off an heroin addicted character. I'm not saying that she didn't write about it all, it was just too brief for my liking.

Neverthless, Breaking Faith was a nice and solid read. I wished there were more authors who wrote about these kinds of things. It is an every day topic, even though we are not aware of it most of the time.

I enjoyed this book, but I struggled through reading the first part because it was a little slow to start. It took awhile to get really hooked. Things started to speed up, so I struggled to put it down.

This was such a heart wrenching and emotional story. I felt connected to Faith throughout her entire journey and watched her grow and change as she fell to rock bottom and began to climb out of it. I didn't want to put down this story as it pulled me in and I felt like I was there on the streets of Toronto alongside the characters.

Breaking Faith by E Graziani delivered the somewhat intense story of Faith and her traumatic upbringing.     She's never known her father, her mother is a drug addict and has left Faith and her two half sisters to be raised by their grandmother.    Gran seems resentful of this responsibility and doesn't exactly nurture the girls.      Though Faith adores her mamma she misses her dreadfully and must rely upon the support and love shared between herself and her sisters.   Not only is her home environment dysfunctional but she's something of a misfit and outcast at school and her coping mechanisms are not what they could or should be.      Major stress events in her life send her on a downward spiral eventually leading her to become a teen runaway, living on the streets and succumbing to her own drug addiction.  

Though I could see this was reality based and recognised it for the tragic situation it was, I didn't feel it the way I had expected.   It was a sad story that ultimately brought hope and yet I felt distanced from the characters and I'm at a loss to explain why.   Covering some important themes this was a cautionary tale about the perils of living on the streets and the speed at which drug use can turn to an addiction and the subsequent unravelling of life.

Thanks to Sevond Srory Press publishers and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am refraining on reviewing this book, as I did not finsih it. The subject matter hit too close to home and I coudlnt' continue.

This is the only book I've ever officially DNF'd. DNF = did not finish, for those who are unfamiliar with the term. Basically, I'm done with this book. It's unfortunate but also unchangeable. I really can't see myself returning to this story.

I typically appreciate books that spread awareness about mental illness and mental health. I also enjoy realistic fiction, for the most part. This is why Breaking Faith caught my attention.

Regrettably, it reads like a child's diary. It's just one bad thing after another. One plain sentence being told after the next. I felt like I was reading someone's recovery journal. It's almost as if this book was someone's task while they were in treatment--to write about their entire life in order to look back and reflect on it. If you're into that type of thing, I hope you enjoy this book more than I did. It just really wasn't going anywhere for me. Maybe it could have been better, but it was not executed properly. The sadness and awareness is there but the development isn't.