Beauty of the Broken

by Tawni Waters

In this lyrical, heartwrenching story about a forbidden first love, a teen seeks the courage to care for another girl despite her small town’s bigotry and her father’s violent threats.

Growing up in conservative small-town New Mexico, fifteen-year-old Mara was never given the choice to be different. Her parents—an abusive, close-minded father and a detached alcoholic mother—raised Mara to be like all the other girls in Barnaby: God-fearing, churchgoing, and straight. Mara wants nothing to do with any of it. She feels most at home with her best friend and older brother, Iggy, but Iggy hasn’t been the same since their father beat him and put him in the hospital with a concussion.

As Mara’s mother feeds her denial with bourbon and Iggy struggles with his own demons, Mara finds an escape with her classmate Xylia. A San Francisco transplant, Xylia is everything Mara dreams of being: free-spirited, open, wild. The closer Mara and Xylia become, the more Mara feels for her—even though their growing relationship is very much forbidden in Barnaby. Just as Mara begins to live a life she’s only imagined, the girls’ secret is threatened with exposure and Mara’s world is thrown into chaos.

Mara knows she can't live without Xylia, but can she live with an entire town who believes she is an abomination worse than the gravest sin?

Genres: LGBT, Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Queer, Fiction, Realistic Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published August 26, 2014

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exceptional storytelling at its best. I'm struggling to find the words to do justice to this incredibly poignant book. I was completely swept up by Mara's story, moved to tears, joy, outrage, and understanding continuously, chapter after chapter. Waters' revelation of one woman's soul is deep and courageous. Warning: reading Beauty of the Broken may lead to enlightenment and an urge to live your life like you never have before--with conviction and an outrageous declaration of truth.

[Alice 🔮 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to do my best to review this book but honestly, I don't even know how to rate it. Hopefully I'll decide once all my thoughts are written down...

Firstly, TW: abuse, self-harm, homophobia, racism, sexual assault

This book is about Mara struggling to live in a conservative town due to the fact that she has fallen in love with a girl. Going into this I assumed there would be more of the relationship between Mara and Xylia but this book heavily focuses on the family. Especially her brother, who developed brain damage because of their dad. I liked reading about it. It was horrendous and upsetting but also well written and I was engaged the entire time. The homophobia she faces is present through the entirety of this novel; as someone who is bisexual I can say that it didn't really upset or tigger me in any way but that is because I was in a very different situation. The preacher and the preachers son felt very cartoony to me (and outdated but that's because I live where this wouldn't happen). However, if you have come from a very conservative, religious background I would be careful going into this book.

I couldn't ever decide whether I liked Mara. I definitely felt for her and was interested in her story but there were time where I just wanted to tell her to shut up. She got overly jealous when Henry spoke to Xylia, muttering to herself that she wished he'd drowned, despite saying how much she's grateful for him two minutes earlier.
Seeing her change and develop the more time she spent away from her family and more time with Xylia made me happy. Mara was also an amazing sister to Iggy.

I still don't know how to rate it... The characters were amazing, the plot was good... There was a few words used (the r-word) that I don't agree with.

2.5/5

[K.B. Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel broken after having read this. The blurb paints the main theme of this novel to be a coming of age love story between two girls in a backwards, religious town. But it is more a story of gut-wrenching abuse afflicted on a family by the father, and the small-minded bigotry of a town who praises God but looks the other way when it comes to the crimes of their own people. The love story was more of an awakening for both girls, I thought, but any sense of a real connection between them wasn't really there for me. It was such a small part of the story. By the time people find out about the "forbidden love" of the two girls, so much else has happened that it almost seems trivial. Even the ending, though open-ended, leaves you with a sense of dread for Mara. I would recommend this novel, as long as you know what you're getting into. The writing is absolutely beautiful - the beauty promised in the title - but the story is harrowing. It's real, and it happens, and that's why I feel it's important to read, but be warned: it might leave you a sobbing mess, and it will definitely stay with you.

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the saddest stories I have ever read, it has definitely left an impact on me

[Eric Auxier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the great fortune of being able to read the galley proof of this book before publication.

I can say that it is one of the most profound, engaging books I've ever read.

Tawni Waters is destined to join Faulkner, Steinbeck, Salinger et al as one of the great writers of our time.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely one of the best books I've read this year.
In the blurb, it says that Beauty of the Broken is a "lyrical, heartwrenching story" and that's exactly how I'd put it. It was so sad at some points, that I'm just beyond tears. I would be thinking about this book though out the day and I just couldn't get it out my head.
The writing style is so beautiful and amazing. The story just breaks my heart. And I won't be forgetting this book anytime soon.

I recommend this book to everyone.

[Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to review this book in one word it would be "wondrous."

If I had to review it in one sentence it would be "this book is way better than it has any business being."

This is not normally the kind of thing I like to read, but I'm glad I picked it up; it is moving and heart-breaking and I'm surely going to read it again and again

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are so many problems with this book that I don't even know where to start.

I've read a lot (a LOT) of books and other material dealing with the intersections of Christianity and sexual orientation, and it pains me to see it dealt with in a smug, black-and-white manner where the Christians are terrible people and don't they know that Jesus taught everyone to love?? The most outspoken homophobes in the book are not misguided but well-meaning Christians; they are a horrifically abusive husband and father, and a preacher's son who's a bully, blackmailer, and a rapist. And the "good guys," who accept Mara and Xylia, are a Native American boy from some unspecified tribe who has some unspecified nature/God/spirit belief, and a hippie mom who has a fascination with goddesses. There is zero nuance in the way Christianity is handled in this book.

The character of Henry was infuriating. He has no identity more specific than that's he's "an Indian" who came from "the reservation," and he has special psychic powers and a deep connection to nature. He finds hawk feathers and blesses them for Mara and her mother. Outside of that he serves no real purpose than as a cockblock for Mara and Xylia for the first half of the book, and then to get blamed for Mara's rape. I did not understand why Mara didn't think she could clear up the accusations against Henry without accusing Elijah. She couldn't have said, "Oh, I said Henry's name because he was the one who found and rescued me. I don't remember (or won't tell you) who actually raped me"?

Going back to horribly vague racial representation, Xylia and her mom were represented as a weird cultural conglomeration, with Xylia's vaguely foreign-sounding name and their house full of African masks and Our Lady of Guadalupe and the mom wearing kimonos all the time. Until Xylia's skin was explicitly described as white I thought maybe she was supposed to multiracial, but no, she just... likes other cultures? Overall I was not impressed by Waters' halfhearted attempts at incorporating racial and cultural diversity into her novel. (Like, were we supposed to assume Keisha was black because of her name? Because she's literally never described.)

Other things I did not like:
-Mara is terrible to her brother. She never accepts him as his brain-damaged self, referring to him multiple times with the r-word and hoping he'll magically return to "normal." She abandons him as soon as she gets some friends, and though she does show some remorse later, he conveniently dies before the end of the book so we never get to see what it would look like for her to have a close relationship with her brother as he is now.
-The plotting was kind of weird. After Xylia leaves there's this long stretch where we don't hear about her much at all, what with Mara getting raped and losing her mind and then Iggy getting kicked out of the house and dying. There's this whole buildup to their relationship for most of the book, and then it's like the plot changes gears and Waters couldn't handle keeping that story arc going except for Xylia to be an eventual escape hatch for Mara.
-For the first part of the book, Mara did not sound like a 16-year-old. She sounded like a 10-year-old. I had a very hard time picturing her as a teenager when she seemed to have minimal self-reflection or maturity.
-There were several references to different things that were just flat-out incorrect. For example, Mara reflects that maybe Persephone returned to the underworld every year because she just loved Hades so much that she would go through hell to be with him, completely disregarding the entire storyline of that myth, that Hades kidnapped Persephone and forced her to marry him and then tricked her into eating some pomegranate seeds so she would never be free from the underworld.
-The editing was also pretty sloppy in places, in the sense that there were easily fixable consistency problems. For example, Mara describes her mom as sitting at the table and putting food on Iggy's plate, then she (Mara) has a conversation with her dad that is interrupted when her mom waltzes back into the room. I read it through several times to make sure I hadn't missed the part where her mom leaves the room (or even the table), but nothing was ever mentioned. This kind of thing happened more than once.
-I did not love that getting raped caused Mara to lose her mind for like two months and then taking a razor to her head caused her to immediately regain her sanity.

Look, I think on a sentence level, Tawni Waters is actually a decent enough writer. I think if she'd been willing to put in a lot more research, particularly around avoiding stereotypes and unnecessarily offensive language, and if she'd been willing to write with more nuance than "look at the bad, hypocritical Christians," she could have written quite a good book. There were some great scenes and some great descriptions, and I just wish they'd been fit into a book that was a better whole.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gosh. I didn't expect this to be a fluffy romance, which is fortunate, because it's anything but: it's domestic abuse and brain damage and bigots operating through the church. It's homophobia and rape and a violent death that has very little to do with the rest of the story.

Mara's a sympathetic character, at least to a point. She's determined to protect her brother from further abuse; up to this point she's been the only one safe from her father's rages, but she knows that if her own secret gets out, all bets are off. And yet—I wanted her to think harder, sometimes. To not go back to her secluded hideaway spot after she'd been discovered there. (Obviously she's not at fault—it's just like those horror movies where you're shouting 'don't open the door!') I wanted her to speak up when she understood that the wrong person had been blamed.

I don't know. I think this sort of book, where bad shit happens for senseless reasons, remains pretty important, because, well, hate crimes didn't go out with the sixties. But it's so black and white here. Mara = good and Jamie = good and Henry = good and Xylia = good; Mara's father = bad and Elijah = bad and Elijah's cronies = bad and the preacher = bad. Mara's mother is afforded a tiny bit more complexity, in that she wants the right things for her children but lacks a way to get out of her situation. It's just—if all the bad guys were as slimy and pimpled as they are here, the world would be much easier to navigate. (Then again, if all the bad guys were as psychopathic as they are here, the world would be a much more violent place.) Well-written and sad and messy, but at the end of the day I would have liked to see more shades of grey.

[Laura (Booksforbreakfast) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What did I just read? My brain can’t even comprehend right now.

I picked this book up because I loved the spine and the title was so haunting and beautiful. I wasn’t disappointed when I decided to finally read it. Mara’s voice is extremely strong and I felt a connection to her almost immediately. The writing was amazing and flowed so nicely, I found myself looking up and I’d read 20 pages in a short amount of time.

You can feel the family is completely haunted and weight down by the father’s beliefs, and I found Daddy so frustrating, I wanted to hurt him myself. My favorite character by far was Iggy, he was such a sweetheart and I wanted to learn more about him.

One thing I didn’t like about the book was the form of instalove between Xylia and Mara, there wasn’t much beginning to their story and honestly I felt like boom - love. I wanted more conversations between them and have it be a slower build. The other thing that annoyed me to no end was Mara’s attitude towards Henry. She was a bitch to him whenever Xylia was around and he was just trying to be her friend. I am a very loyal person, so that didn’t make me too happy.

This book was still wonderfully written with an extreme depth of characters. I found myself hating the Reverend, his son, Mara’s Father, and some of her classmates, as well as growing closer to Mara and her family. The ending was something I wasn’t expecting and I liked that about it. I recommend you give this book a try!

[Vlorini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tawni Waters has written a magnificent book. To describe it as a Y.A. Book about an LGBT girl only serves to find a place for it on a bookstore shelf. This book, with fully three dimensional characters, whose love and evil come through at every sentence, may be the standard by which all books in this genre will be judged. It is a difficult read, only because the reader becomes immersed in the trials and tragedies of the characters. If, at the end, there seems to be hope, it is because we all, characters and readers alike, needed it. Congratulations on a fantastic book.

[Martine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fierce and unflinching roar of a Bildungsroman, this first novel from author Tawni Waters is a long-held gospel note in the church of real innocence, of longing and of love. Don't miss it.

[H · Rating 5 out of 5]

PRIDE MONTH 2016 Rec #1: Beauty of the Broken. [F/F main characters in rural New Mexico]
_______________

5 this-hurt-my-heart, instant classic stars.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that life will get better. It won’t. You stand up, it will strike you down. You might as well tie a rope around your neck and get it over with now if you’re waiting for your luck to change. I imagine myself tying a noose, dying. I see me spread out on that table like John Doe, my belly cut open, my guts all twisted inside me. [...]

It was all I could think to say.

This book hurt. This book hurt, because life isn't fair. Horrible people don't receive punishment, no one intervenes when they see bad things happen, and the good ones are forever strangers to the concept of justice. Does that sound bleak? It is. I come from a small town, and I think that's partly why Beauty of the Broken resonated so strongly with me. My town knows that A's father beats his wife, that B's sister resents her mother's mental illness, and C tried to kill himself last year - but no one does anything about it; we're all squirming from guilt, hovering in a terrible state between acknowledgement and action. And how can we help in some of these situations? We just can't. We just can't, and that's one of the most frustrating and heartbreaking parts of life.

We meet Mara while she's in the midst of listening to a hell fire sermon - we're talking an evangelical-esque church in an extremely conservative small town. Mara is used to the messages of hell and sin from years of indoctrination, but shows an immense discomfort with all the hate. How can she reconcile the messages that women are inferior and gays should die when she knows all of these assertions are completely untrue?

And how does she know they are untrue? Mara has the misfortune of being a lesbian in a town where she would be completely eviscerated and left to rot if the truth ever came out. She knows she is a good person, she knows that being attracted to girls isn't sinful, she knows that this whole situation is unfair -- but what can she do? She can only try to survive. So Mara goes about her life from earthquake to earthquake (avoiding beatings from her alcoholic father, protecting her brother Iggy, appeasing her mother...) in the vague hopes of something better coming along.

That something better comes along in the form of Xylia, Mara's new classmate from San Francisco. Xylia is a free-spirited breath of fresh air, and for the first time Mara tastes the feeling of freedom, hope, and yes, even love. But these two are set on a collision course more Romeo and Juliet than All's Well That Ends Well. And Mara's family has been teetering on the edge of collapse for so long, it seems impossible to prevent the inevitable implosion from the years of dysfunction and hate.

Beauty of the Broken pulls no punches, and that's what makes it so heartbreaking. Just when I thought the tide of gut-wrenching unfairness had receded, I was hit with a complete reality check through stomach-turning moments like these:

I thought Elijah would get arrested, but he doesn’t. It turns out the hospital lost the rape kit. I throw a fit, but the police say it happens all the time. So I have no proof that Elijah raped me. It’s Elijah’s word against mine now, and who’s gonna believe an abomination like me?

Just...my heart hurts.

My daddy is just like him. He’s thinking about the way people will look at us in church. He’s thinking he will never be able to walk tall through town again. In his book he is the only one that counts. His wife and children are just nameless extras, like in the Bible stories. But I’m not nameless. My name is Mara, and I matter. I feel strength fill me, from my toes up.

Despite its heavy subject matter, Beauty of the Broken is not a miserable novel to read - just a completely real and raw one. What an apt title. One can only desperately wish that the broken - our Mara among them - can find a glimmer of hope in the midst of these heartbreaking circumstances.

[♥ Ashleigh ♥ Contrary to popular belief I'm not actually mad! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beauty of the Broken is such an appropriate title for this intense story.

The blurb pretty much sums up this book:

'In this lyrical, heart-wrenching story about a forbidden first love, a teen seeks the courage to care for another girl despite her small town’s bigotry and her father’s violent threats.'

except its so much more than that! Mara seems so real (and completely and utterly bizarre) and she is going through hell. Her father is a monster, she has mixed feeling about whether she should love someone like him, or feel ashamed. Her mother isn't much better but is trying to make alright a terrible situation. Her brother is beyond complicated, with so many mixed emotions its hard to contemplate. Her home is filled with complete whack-jobs. Bigots, the worst kind of whack-jobs.

This story was painful, cringe worthy and occasionally disgusting but it was also beautiful, soulful and filled with such passion that it was breath taking. Beauty of the broken is taking the whole YA genre to a new extreme. Its all about discovery, Not just about who is Mara, but her sexuality, her morals, her values, her will, her beliefs and religion, what God means to her verses what he means to everyone else. It was a truly beautiful and completely bizarre story. The other characters aren't just page fillers either, they have their own unique and interesting histories and opinions, their diverse, some are wonderful and some are cruel.
(I loved Henry. I was worried about him being a cliche character, but he wasn't he was such an individual, and even if he was cliche, his dad alone would of separated him into a category of his own!! what a quirky trait, i wonder how the author thought of it?)

The writing was incredible. absolutely beautify. Lyrical i believe would be a more apt term.

The only complaint i would have (besides the very weird beginning which almost made me put the book down - i recommend reading past it, it gets better) is the open ending. Yea i can picture what would happen afterwards, but i would have preferred the author to write something, letting us know. I'm hoping for a happy ending, but
with poor Mara's luck who bloody knows?


3.5 stars. I almost feel like i should maybe give 4, this book is worth 4 stars, but for me i believe 3.5 is a better fit, maybe because of the topic's covered? it was painful to read, but I'm glad it was covered. It's such authentic topic and was pictured so vividly in this book, something i believe teenagers will appreciate while reading. something they may be able (unfortunately) be able to relate to in certain families. Hopefully it won't make them feel so alone.
The book was also weird as fuck on occasion as well, which may contribute to my rating. I feel 4 stars should go to an enjoyable read, something that made me feel uplifted. This was great, but uplifting it is not.
I'll be looking out for more book written by Tawni Waters, who is an incredible author. Kudos for doing such a fantastic job, where most people would shy away from such topics.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.7
I was between four and five stars on this one because truly, it was beautiful. There were a couple places I wasn't too fond of(mostly just when the author used second person a couple times). But overall it was really good.

Spoilers ahead
I thought this book was a story about a small town lesbian in love. And it's June and the cover was pretty so I wanted to read it, but as I kept going I realized it was so much more than that. The romance wasn't even the main plot. This was a story about a girl stuck in a bad situation and her brother. The story covered so much, but it worked, I wouldn't have thought it could work but it pulled it off.

Characters
Mara-Mara was a really good narrator, at times parts felt like poetry and she was the only one who could tell this story. But as with most narrators, her character is more a spectacle to see the story through

Iggy-I want to see his eyes. I want to know what happened to him. And I want him to come back. But in actuality, his character was slighting unreal. Always bringing back his "see right through you" eyes at the most convenient point. But Iggy represents more than he is. He represents hope and any love Mara could have for his family. He is Mara's angel. He protects her and saves her and is there for her when she needs him most. And this shows really clearly at the very end when he is gonna and Mara finds her angel; she found a new angel because Iggy is gone

Xylia-goodness, as this book would say, "I have the hots for her" literally. How could I not. She's so cool, and so hot, and pretty, and smart, and when her and Mara were in the bushes stripping down together and making out on the beach, Jesus, that was hot. And she was the perfect anti-thesis of Mara. They were the same and fit together, but Xylia's family and life represented exactly the opposite of Mara's because Mara was alone in an unloving homophobic family, but Xylia's parents love her and are okay with who she is because they're good.

Henry-I feel so bad for Henry. First he gets assaulted then he gets falsely imprisoned for raping Mara and his life is ruined more than it already was

Elijah and the dad, were characters made just to be hated and it's so easy to hate them, but still the way Mara's feelings go back and forth on the dad make them both more dimensional

This book, especially the aftermath of the rape was written in exquisite style, and I really liked it.

[Kirsti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright, this was a weird one for me. I liked it, I really did, but by the end I was over the plot and rolling my eyes. That sounds absolutely horrible, considering one of those things was a rape, but let me explain a little more. It is entirely possible to overload so much on the death and destruction that by the end the actual value of the event is lost. Alright, so in this book here is a quick summary of really terrible things that happen to Mara and her family.
*Her brother is actually her half brother, but she is the only one privy to the reason her father hates him
*Her father beats her brother so badly he suffers a devastating brain injury, loses his intelligence and regresses to around ten years old (from what I can tell)
*Same father beats her mother and breaks her jaw, forever spoiling her beauty.
*Same father drowns her kittens. WTF.
*She is raped by the popular Preacher's son. Due to losing touch with reality herself, she can only say the name of her savior, best friend Henry, and he is set to go to trial instead
* When she regains herself, she accuses the actual person who raped her, but no one believes her.
*She is outed by said Preacher's son as being a lesbian, in revenge for accusing him of rape
*Her brother is forced from the house, right after he finally stands up to Daddy
*Her brother is killed randomly

Alright, I just felt like there was never a positive event in this book and it made each blow lessen for me. I can generally handle a lot of angst, but it was too much for even me.

I did like most of the writing, and I enjoyed the book in the beginning. That's why I kept with the three stars, even though I didn't enjoy the ending.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

My Thoughts: This book was one of those rare stories that holds your heart in a death-grip and doesn't let go. I picked it up late one night when I couldn't sleep - thinking I'd read a few chapters - and found myself unable to put it down for even a second, reading well into the morning. I finished in one sitting and tried to write a review, but couldn't find the words to describe just how much the book had affected me.

Mara and Xylia's story was a heartbreaking one, and I felt for them during every minute of their struggle to be together and their struggle to survive in their backwoods town. This was far from a 'fun' read, but it was a book that demanded to be read. I had a major book hangover after finishing, and it took weeks before I could collect my thoughts enough to write a review. To say that this book messes with your emotions is an understatement - it devastates you. But no matter how bad things get, there is always the hope that things will get better for Mara, Iggy, and Xylia.

The characters were extremely well-written and realistic despite their numerous flaws, but that made it all the more real. The image Tawni Waters was able to paint in my head of Mara's town was incredibly detailed, and the atmosphere of the novel matched the subject matter perfectly. I cannot think of one thing I didn't like - this is one book hangover that I won't be recovering from for quite a while.

Final Thoughts: I recommend this novel to fans of edgier contemporary YA and fans of romance with a darker atmosphere.

[OG · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEAUTY OF THE BROKEN by Tawni Waters. I don’t even know how to continue. I’ve been trying to write this review for a week and have been unable to find the words to convey how reading this book made me feel. I read it in less than a day, unable to put it down, and it left me feeling empty and full all in one.

The book is raw. There is no watering-down of some truly horrific events and there were moments when I felt truly heartbroken for Mara and Iggy, as well as their mother at times. Yet, even in the presence of the pain, there is a light in this book that is truly beautiful. The light shines brightest when Mara is in her happy moments – whether it be rare pleasant moments with her family or the time she spends with Xylia. Their growing relationship made the pages glow with happiness.

Tawni Waters is a wonderful writer who can evoke emotions from the very core of the reader. She doesn’t shy away from darkness, doesn’t necessarily give happy endings, and creates flawed characters. Anytime you love or hate a person in a book, the author is doing her job right. Several weeks after finishing THE BEAUTY OF THE BROKEN, I’m still thinking about it. I’m sure it will be on my mind for a long while to come.

*Thanks to Michelle at Simon & Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this book to read in exchange for my honest review*

[Leslie · Rating 1 out of 5]

*very light spoilers*

Waters' language is beautiful, but I hated this book. One star for the beautifully-written prose, for the three characters I really liked, and for some deep ideas for a YA novel. Also, for the developing relationship of queer girls.

Look. I enjoy sad things. Way more than I probably should, but this was too much even for me. Is it a Lifetime movie? It could be. It is dark, and I get that, but the fact that "broken" is in the title is no joke. It's just too much.

I get life is the actual worst, and there are interesting points about beauty and trying to find meaning in the meaningless, but again, it was too much. Any ONE of these elements are enough for a heartbreaking story.

After all of that, I felt that the end wasn't enough for this poor girl who has been through hell, nor was it satisfying enough to justify putting the reader through all of that.

If you can get through it, this book is artfully-written and compelling. There are some genuinely beautifully moments, too, but for me, they just weren't enough.

[Grace Morse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This captivating novel was published in 2014 by Tawni Waters, a writer who is very much like Jandy Nelson in how she writes and the genre they write; young adult fiction. The plot is very original and will leave you in awe by the time it is finished. However, some of the plot is kind of far-fetched. The characters are very well developed, but by the end of the book I wished that Waters would have given more information about what was going on with them (I do not believe that there is a sequel coming out.) This book is a lot like I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. They both are about young adults finding out who they are, and deal with controversial or uncomfortable topics like sexualoty and mental health. This book does use a lot of foul language, so I would reccomend it to students that are at least in highschool.

[natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

words can’t describe how much this book means to me. it’s been there for me since i was 11 years old and before i even realized i liked girls. this story is one that sticks with you forever. i am so grateful for this book and it’s presence in my life and it will always be one of my favorite books. as a 20 year old lesbian it hits the same as it did when i was a scrawny 11 year old kid. thank you, tawni waters for telling my kid self that being a lesbian is okay and when life hurls it’s worst at you, which it did for mara, there is always love and beauty on the other side.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This debut novel is beautifully written. The questions of society and religion the author tackles through her main character Mara are thought-provoking, deep, and relevant in todays world. I could not put it down. I laughed. I cried. I raged. This is one of those books that will stay in my mind for a long time.

[Claire (Book Blog Bird) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t sure what to make of this one. Just when you thought the MCs life couldn’t get any worse, the author pulled another sideswipe out of the bag.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mara lived in a small town, living a life that’s challenging and gray. She hangs out with her older brother Iggy a lot but that all changes one day when another one of daddy’s alcoholic-enraged beatings finally lands Iggy in the hospital. Iggy’s not the same and the family waits for his return, from where… they don’t know. The wait is painful for Mara but when mother arrives in daddy’s overalls, swearing and reeking of alcohol Mara gets scared. Daddy has finally broken Iggy for good. The feelings and opinions I have at this point in the book are all over the place. The author informs us about the family’s history which allows me to see the different viewpoints of all the characters but for this tragic event to happen, I am beside myself. Daddy has such strong viewpoints which he stands firmly behind and Mara is scared to cross the line as she knows to do so will bear great consequences. Father himself acts like a preacher with his talk and his “righteous” chatter and the preacher himself, daddy worships. At school there are a few girls who rule the roost, a preacher’s son who feels he knows the gospel like the back of his hand and then a few new students who get introduced into the mix, this combination with the family is just enough to fill the book. There’s a new boy from the Indian reservation who arrives with his long braids which the school children immediately start to pick on. Henry, there was something about his attitude, he just hung in there and how their relationship continued throughout the book, was something. Xylia, she arrived at the school a few months ago and Mara is taken back by this girls presence. Mara doesn’t know how to describe her feelings at first as she knows this is a girl and that complicates things. It’s a line that Mara must walk to find out the answer to the question that’s on her mind, her secret that she holds. It’s a small town with loud-people and with Mara she has a strong father who likes his bottle. Mara realizes that it is the alcohol that speaks in her parents, for there are two sides to her parents. Those happy moments, she must speak to them before the alcohol hits them. Those rare moments when their blood runs free.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters has ruined my life. I wish I could come up with a very clever and intellectual review, but instead I am broken and nauseous and angry.

Let me back up for a second, though: Mara Stonebrook, daughter of an abusive father and an alcoholic mother, finds her life changed when her father beats her brother, Iggy, so badly that he renders the boy mentally disabled. To make matters worse, Mara is falling in love with a girl called Xylia, in a place where being gay means that you are an abomination.

At first, the book is both parts sappy and horrifying. There are the gruesome details of the father beating Iggy with a two-by-four, of the local priest preaching sexist and anti-gay rhetoric, of the mother drinking to ease the pain of being stuck in a horrible marriage. However, there is the other half of it that basically has Mara gush over Xylia to the point of it being annoying. However, as you get halfway through the book, you can only wish for those mushy descriptions of teenage love to come back. Because this book gets really dark, so dark that all the light scenes are swallowed up by all the horrible things Mara witnesses and experiences.

I won't go into too much detail lest I spoil anything, but I will say this: the ending is only marginally satisfying. Everything has gone to hell in a handbasket and the future is so blurry that you can't really tell whether the ending is hopeful or tragic. I could barely stomach all the injustices that happened throughout the course of Beauty of the Broken, but I knew, deep down, that all of this was based in real life. All these things could have happened. They have happened. Probably not to a girl called Mara Stonebrook, but Mara spoke of realities and capped it off with an ending that was ambiguous. Not every story ends with a happy and clear ending, especially not in real life.

Basically, don't read this if you are easily disturbed. You have to have a strong stomach for some of the horrors that happen here, but you come out of it feeling different. And there's nothing like a book that changes you, whether it is for better or worse.

[Mikayla Bond · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5 stars.

As if her parents' heavy drinking and her father's abuse - which nearly killed her brother, Iggy - were not enough, fifteen-year-old Mara is caught kissing her girlfriend, Xylia, by the preacher's son and becomes terrified that her own life is at risk.

Wow. This book was something. I really wasn't sure if I wanted to keep reading at the beginning. It was mostly just a sad story of a girl and her brother, and there wasn't really a plot. But the last half of the book was good, and the last fourth made it a worth-while read. I would have given it more stars if the book had been more gripping throughout, rather than just at the end. I can say that I am glad I did not stop reading like I thought I might.

When I began the book, I really couldn't tell what century the characters lived, let alone what decade. There were no markers until someone mentioned cell phone. That kind of gave me a shock. From the characters' actions and language, I really could see this as being set in the 1950s or 60s. Especially the closed-mindedness of the individuals of the town. I think that being set in the 60s or 70s would have actually made this a better book.

**SPOILERS**

I was glad that, at the end, though she was raped, Mara was able to piece herself back together. It took a while, understandably, but I derived satisfaction that she was able to report her rapist to the police and rise above the situation and keep it from tearing her apart. I think this example may be of help to individuals that could be struggling with the same problem.

I was hoping to hear more of Xylia at the end, perhaps Mara at least with some direction and focus to go and stay with her, but there wasn't anything like that.

[Shane Beaudry · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK I've seen so many reviews with 5 stars when me myself have to give it one. In my opinion this book was not the best. Of course it has so much truth to it and ill be truthful, that's probily is why I don't like it. Its a small town that hates anything to do with homosexuals. So many bad things happen to Mara. I have to say I cannot call this a YA Lesbian Romance book. There was like no romance to it at all. I want to say there was only like 2 chapters of actuals kissing and romance. Everything else was the usual crush on the new girl in the school, crush on her for half the book and then finally find out she loves you too. Here's the things I didn't like. Ok so this is mega spoilers and I checked the "hide because of spoilers" box but just in case:

*Usual Crush
*2 chapters of real romance
*Crush leaves
*Mara gets raped
*Mara looses her mind
*Mara gives the wrong name of her Raper
*Mara doesn't tell the truth of her real raper until long after
*Elija gets away with rape
*Iggy dies!!!!!!!
*It ends with really no ending she starts walking, says she is going to find her girlfriend, and that's how it ends, no explanation at all.

Ok so for a girl in Mara's position this is the cold hard truth that can really happen to a girl. And if I didn't want the truth I should not have read this book but I like to review and see how I feel about books. My biggest problem was that there was like no romance at all but the crush and 2 chapters of some romance. For hours after I finished the book I was really depresses. Wish there was more romance and at lest a little bit of happiness in the end.

[Whitney- Lifestyle of a Blessed Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sigh *** This book gutted me... It was filled with tragedy and hate, but somehow finished off as a heart breaking and beautiful story. The tough topics were quick to pull me in and the character development held my attention long after the final page.

Mara is a girl living in a tough world. Her momma is a drunk, her daddy is abusive, and her brother is special because of a family incident. While she tries to find beauty in all of the ugly, she also faces inner battles. Her mind knows feelings for a girl are wrong, but her heart just can't say no. When her secret is found out, her world becomes a game of cat and mouse. The preacher's son uses pictures to his advantage and in the end gets what he wants.

I really cannot put into words how much impact this book had on my emotions. I went from stomach sickness to swooning. My heart ached so many times and my mind raced to figure out the conclusion. I wanted a happy ending for Mara, but I also craved happiness for Iggy. To me, it was a no win situation. I wanted more then what could happen. I never expected the ending though and gosh did it rock my world. I'm still baffled and a tad sad.

I think this one should be a mandatory read for all ages. It touches on bullying, stereotypes, family struggles, rape, religious beliefs, LGBT, and true love. It wasn't an easy book to read, but it packed a hard punch. I feel extremely blessed to have indulged in such an impactful read and I hope you all check it out too!

[Elizabeth The Wandering Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Since I met Xylia, the whole world has leaped into high definition. It’s like I walked from a normal movie into a 3-D. That’s saying something, considering how shitty everything else has been. I guess you could say Xylia Brown has saved my life. (I’d draw an illustration, but I left my colored pencils at home, and you can’t draw a rainbow with just a gray pencil).”

Why the hell aren’t more people talking about this book?!

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that will punch you in the gut and leave you crying!!! I felt that way so many times, and Marla is a girl you want to pull into your home and get her away from where she is in the book. Mara lives in a bigoted town in New Mexico that only wants their daughters to be silent and there to be mates for men. But she meets a new girl Xylia from San Francisco and she falls madly in love. Both girls fall in love and Mara feels complete and so wants to leave that terrible town. But she can't, her brother was beaten by her terrible father so bad he's brain damaged and can't function, and her mother is just drinking and crying her days away.
The local preachers boy Elijah is just as mean and bigoted as his father and catches the girls as the kiss and hold each other by the river, and takes a picture of them saying he will expose them as the abomination that they are. Xylia flees back to SF to escape but Mara can't because of her brother. When her father kicks Izzy out because he is tired of having that bastard child under his roof, Mara cant believe it. It's worse when he's found days later killed in Albuquerque.
This book is sad in so many ways. Sad that people have to live in such fear, that the can't love who they want and feel what's right. Mara and Xylia are truly loving and their story is a sweet part of what's a rough book to go through.