Title: The Brokenhearted
Author: Amelia Kahaney
Genre/s: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Released Date: October 8, 2013
Add to Goodreads TBR List
Buy on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Synopsis:
A teenage girl is transformed into a reluctant superhero and must balance her old life with the dark secret of who she has become.
Prima ballerina Anthem Fleet is closely guarded by her parents in their penthouse apartment. But when she meets the handsome Gavin at a party on the wrong side of town, she is immediately drawn into his dangerous world. Then, in a tragic accident, Anthem falls to her death. She awakes in an underground lab, with a bionic heart ticking in her chest. As she navigates her new life, she uncovers the sinister truth behind those she trusted the most, and the chilling secret of her family lineage…and her duty to uphold it.The Dark Knight meets Cinder in this gripping and cinematic story of heartbreak and revenge. From Alloy Entertainment, this inventive new superhero story is sure to captivate any reader.
My Thoughts:
The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney fell short on the Dark Knight meets Cinder comparison. It's more like Patience Phillips/Catwoman's origin story but instead of cat-like abilities, she woke up with a hummingbird-like bionic heart. It has a lot of potential to be awesome. But it was a disappointing read for me.
Anthem Fleet almost had it all - daughter of Harris Fleet, who owns almost half of Bedlam City, she's running for valedictorian, a prima ballerina and the envy of almost all the girls in Cathedral School because her boyfriend was Will Hansen a.k.a Mr. Popular. But things aren't the same with her and Will anymore and when she met Gavin Sharp, a good looking bad boy mural artist from the South Side, everything turned upside down.
I like that Anthem was not a stuck up rich girl and I sympathize with her replacement daughter dilemma. She was expected by her parents, especially by her mother, to be obedient, to be the best and be the perfect daughter that will replace their first one. She's been living under so much pressure all her life, so when an opportunity to escape that world presents itself, she took it immediately without thinking twice. Anthem felt the freedom she never though she needed when she was with Gavin. And I can't blame her for not falling for him because let's face it, he's raggedly handsome. The only problem was that her sheltered life makes her too gullible and too blinded by her emotions that it almost always overshadowed her decisions. It's also the reason behind every mishaps in this story.
As I mentioned above, the plot has more resemblance in the origin story of Catwoman(the movie starring Halle Berry) rather than Batman because like Patience Phillips, Anthem was at the wrong place at the wrong time when she died, she brought back from the dead with awesome upgrades and both of them were looking for revenge, at some point.
I, also, noticed that this book doesn't have a central conflict but it has a lot of personal problems that revolved around Anthem. It was more character-driven, I guess, that's why it's lackluster at some part. The first half of the story was intriguing and mysterious but after the part in Hades mall, it lost the urgency and tension. The revenge part, I had to admit, was bad-ass but I feel like it was a bit shallow and forced. I mean, Anthem met Gavin for what, a couple of weeks, a month tops, and then there she was putting her life in danger and ready to kill someone to avenge him. That's seems unrealistic and borderline crazy to me. So yeah, not believable.
Overall, The Brokenhearted was a disappointing read for me. It just wasn't for me.
My Rating
*A review copy was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
