Authors: Megan Miranda
Publication (dd/mm/yyyy): 05/01/2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury AU/NZ
Source: For review
Precautions: Violence | Sexual Content | ?Profanity
Precautions: Violence | Sexual Content | ?Profanity
Pages: 262
My Rating:
 |
| Amazing read |
Summary:
Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?
For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.
My thoughts:
~ Final thoughts ~
Megan Miranda's debut novel amplifies the significance of knowing what it means to be not only alive, but human. This emotional and daring psychological thriller is one that will not let you go, right up until the last page. Tautly written and full of gripping tension, Fracture failed to disappoint!
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
Delaney Maxwell should have died when the ice cracked from under her, plunging her body into the icy-cold waters below. But she survived, and after being comatose for several days, she wakes up and she's absolutely fine. Except she feels an inexplicable pull towards certain people. Dying people. She's not the only one feeling the pull--Troy is always there, wherever she feels the pull. Grateful as she is, Delaney's losing herself, and when she feels the pull towards one of her friends, she MUST find a way to reverse the hands of fate. It has to be possible. Otherwise, she might end up losing everything she holds dear to her.
MY THOUGHTS
Fracture is such a chilling read--not only in the actual setting, but in the mood of the book itself. It was so hard to put this book down once I got into it.
If I had only one wish, it would be that there was some sort of explanation to the pull that Delaney has toward the dying. Every now and then I can just let it go and be content with things happening "Just because". This was not the case here. There's just no explanation whatsoever. I loved the idea. I just wasn't hot on the non-explanation of it. Anyway, let's move on, shall we?
Perhaps one of my favourite aspects of Fracture was in the romance. Guys, meet Delaney and Decker!!! They've been best best friends for EVER. Decker is such a cutie, and it was just so endearing to watch the relationship between these two morph into something more.
But before you go jumping for joy at the lack of love triangle or mysterious guy...well. There is Troy. Who is, for a long portion of the book, seen to be as Black, and by that I mean that he has no good in him; he's just pure evil. And then we hit a grey area in his character, and it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him. Since I am anti-spoiler, I will say no more on the matter. But yes, his appearance does shake things up for the Double D power couple over here. :P I don't normally like love triangles, but this one had a subtlety about it that never once did it bother me.
As to where the plot was going, I did have an idea from the start, but Miranda really escalated the stakes at hand. And when the suspense and anxiety-inducing tension builds, the book had me by a death grip. Or maybe I was the one holding on. I don't really know; all I know is that for the last 100+ pages my eyes did not leave the pages once, and even when I'd finished I just stared in awe.
Think about this: If you were given the ability to know when someone's life was almost ending, would you take the opportunity to ease their suffering, right then and there? Afterwards, I wasn't just thinking "Wow, that was a good book!" -- I actually thought about it: whether helping ease a person's suffering is really so bad, regardless of their choice; how far can someone go from being HUMAN to just being alive; and so on.
Last of all, I want to talk about that cover. It is absolutely PERFECT. Every single detail was clearly well thought out, right down to the blonde hair and red parka. Read this sneak peek and tell me you're not interested.
First lines
"The first time I died, I didn't see God.
No lights at the end of the tunnel. No haloed angels. No dead grandparents.
To be fair, I probably wasn't a solid shoo-in for heaven. But, honestly, I kind of assumed I'd make the cut.
I didn't see any fire or brimstone, either.
Not even an endless darkness. Nothing.
One moment I was clawing at the ice above, skin numb, lungs burning. Then, everything--the ice, the pain, the brightness filtering through the surface of the lake--just vanished.
And then I saw the light."
Favourites
"'I shouldn't be alive,' I told Decker when he came back later that evening.
(p. 29)
"'Ready to derive?'
I pulled a calculator from one pocket of my fleece ensemble and a pencil from the other. 'Prepared, as always.'
'God, you're such a nerd.'
'Embrace it,' I said."
(p. 78)
INTERNATIONAL READERS
Follow the author!
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook
Read stuff!
Read the sneak peek for Fracture!
Read the short story Eleven Minutes! ~ I'd call this an incentive prequel that is told in the POV of Decker, Delaney's best friend.
Other reviews:
Shirley @ Shirleyy's Bookshelf ~ {4.5/5} "...completely blew me away"
Brodie @ Eleusinian Mysteries ~ {4/5} "...an addicting, haunting novel"
Lisa @ Read Me, Bookmark Me, Love Me ~ {3.5/5} "...love[d] the concept."
Cindy @ Princess Bookie ~ {5/5} "I loved every minute of it."
Mary @ BookHounds ~ {Loved it} "...a quick and easy read."
Shantal @ Book Nerds Are Pretty Too ~ {5/5} "The only big problem ... was I couldn't put it down."
I have received this review copy in return for an honest review.
Challenge: 2012 Debut Author Challenge
Delaney Maxwell should have died when the ice cracked from under her, plunging her body into the icy-cold waters below. But she survived, and after being comatose for several days, she wakes up and she's absolutely fine. Except she feels an inexplicable pull towards certain people. Dying people. She's not the only one feeling the pull--Troy is always there, wherever she feels the pull. Grateful as she is, Delaney's losing herself, and when she feels the pull towards one of her friends, she MUST find a way to reverse the hands of fate. It has to be possible. Otherwise, she might end up losing everything she holds dear to her.
MY THOUGHTS
Fracture is such a chilling read--not only in the actual setting, but in the mood of the book itself. It was so hard to put this book down once I got into it.
If I had only one wish, it would be that there was some sort of explanation to the pull that Delaney has toward the dying. Every now and then I can just let it go and be content with things happening "Just because". This was not the case here. There's just no explanation whatsoever. I loved the idea. I just wasn't hot on the non-explanation of it. Anyway, let's move on, shall we?
Perhaps one of my favourite aspects of Fracture was in the romance. Guys, meet Delaney and Decker!!! They've been best best friends for EVER. Decker is such a cutie, and it was just so endearing to watch the relationship between these two morph into something more.
But before you go jumping for joy at the lack of love triangle or mysterious guy...well. There is Troy. Who is, for a long portion of the book, seen to be as Black, and by that I mean that he has no good in him; he's just pure evil. And then we hit a grey area in his character, and it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him. Since I am anti-spoiler, I will say no more on the matter. But yes, his appearance does shake things up for the Double D power couple over here. :P I don't normally like love triangles, but this one had a subtlety about it that never once did it bother me.
As to where the plot was going, I did have an idea from the start, but Miranda really escalated the stakes at hand. And when the suspense and anxiety-inducing tension builds, the book had me by a death grip. Or maybe I was the one holding on. I don't really know; all I know is that for the last 100+ pages my eyes did not leave the pages once, and even when I'd finished I just stared in awe.
Think about this: If you were given the ability to know when someone's life was almost ending, would you take the opportunity to ease their suffering, right then and there? Afterwards, I wasn't just thinking "Wow, that was a good book!" -- I actually thought about it: whether helping ease a person's suffering is really so bad, regardless of their choice; how far can someone go from being HUMAN to just being alive; and so on.
Last of all, I want to talk about that cover. It is absolutely PERFECT. Every single detail was clearly well thought out, right down to the blonde hair and red parka. Read this sneak peek and tell me you're not interested.
Quotes:
First lines
"The first time I died, I didn't see God.
No lights at the end of the tunnel. No haloed angels. No dead grandparents.
To be fair, I probably wasn't a solid shoo-in for heaven. But, honestly, I kind of assumed I'd make the cut.
I didn't see any fire or brimstone, either.
Not even an endless darkness. Nothing.
One moment I was clawing at the ice above, skin numb, lungs burning. Then, everything--the ice, the pain, the brightness filtering through the surface of the lake--just vanished.
And then I saw the light."
Favourites
"'I shouldn't be alive,' I told Decker when he came back later that evening.
'You were in ice-cold water,' Decker said. 'It slows the body's metabolism. So you don't use that much oxygen. Or something.'
. . .
'Then how come everyone's acting like I shouldn't be alive?'
'Because it's rare. I mean, really, really rare. Like snow in August.'
'That's never happened.'
'No, I guess not. But it's not impossible, right?'"(p. 29)
"'Ready to derive?'
I pulled a calculator from one pocket of my fleece ensemble and a pencil from the other. 'Prepared, as always.'
'God, you're such a nerd.'
'Embrace it,' I said."
(p. 78)
Trailer:
Buy:
* cheapest Australian e-store price
AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTS
AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTS
INTERNATIONAL READERS
All links from Booko, because I'm too lazy to search each individual store anymore.
Extras:
2014: The sequel/companion novel to Fracture, called VENGEANCE!
Told. From. Decker's. POV. Wait here while I dance in the corner.
Told. From. Decker's. POV. Wait here while I dance in the corner.
Here's the deal (abridged - link):
Miranda's also got a standalone psychological thriller for Winter (or Summer :P) 2013, called HYSTERIA. I'll be waiting....in which the lake that claimed victims appears to be cursed as more tragedy unfolds, raising the question of whether a character's strange affinity with the dying is something even more sinister.
Follow the author!
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook
Read stuff!
Read the sneak peek for Fracture!
Read the short story Eleven Minutes! ~ I'd call this an incentive prequel that is told in the POV of Decker, Delaney's best friend.
Other reviews:
Shirley @ Shirleyy's Bookshelf ~ {4.5/5} "...completely blew me away" Brodie @ Eleusinian Mysteries ~ {4/5} "...an addicting, haunting novel"Lisa @ Read Me, Bookmark Me, Love Me ~ {3.5/5} "...love[d] the concept."
Cindy @ Princess Bookie ~ {5/5} "I loved every minute of it."
Mary @ BookHounds ~ {Loved it} "...a quick and easy read."
Shantal @ Book Nerds Are Pretty Too ~ {5/5} "The only big problem ... was I couldn't put it down."
I have received this review copy in return for an honest review.
Challenge: 2012 Debut Author Challenge
