~REVIEW~ Breaking Free by SM Koz

 

Synopsis

Kelsie Sullivan’s life has changed forever. The once outgoing cheerleader has a secret to hide. The car accident that killed her best friend Jenna? She caused it.

With an absent father and unforgiving stepmother, Kelsie has nowhere to turn. She manages her guilt and grief with razor blades. The fleeting release she experiences becomes an obsession and soon she can no longer hide it. Once her cutting is revealed, Kelsie’s parents enroll her in a Wilderness Therapy program designed to rehabilitate troubled teens, but North Carolina is a world away from California.

Kelsie fights against everything the program has to offer until she befriends JC, a boy with a tortured past of his own. He’s also the only one who is able to ease her pain. The two grow close, but quickly discover that nature—both human and elemental—can easily rip them apart.

Disclaimer: This book contains adult language, sexual themes, and explicit self-harm behavior. Parental discretion is recommended for those under 15 years of age.

ADD TO GOODREADS

~MY REVIEW~

**ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review.**

The Plot

Breaking Free starts off with Kelsie in the present time recounting her life for the past few months. A past that included her best friend, a guy she loved and many tragic events that shatter her will to live and be strong. Told in the present and past, Breaking Free tells the story of her journey to finding her strength to live and to accept that which she had no control over. Through it all she finally finds the love she has never had in the most unlikely of people. People who stand by her through it all, even when she is at her cruelest and weakest points.

The Characters

If there is one thing I dislike are weak heroine. Fortunately, this was not the case with Kelsie. Although at first i wanted to strangle her because of her stuck up attitude, as the story progressed we finally got a view of her life. A life where she had no love or family but her best friend that she loved beyond anything in the world. Her pain and her guilt was so heartbreaking and so real that you cant help but feel for this girl that  has lost all she held close.

Now JC is something else. From the beginning you cant help but quickly adore him. Against his better judgement and his situation he helps Kelsie find the strength in her. With his stories and his tenderness he gives Kelsie what no one beside her best friend has given her, love. But like the rest of the Wilderness pack he holds his own secrets and his own demons haunt him. While he helps Kelsie he doesn't confront his own until confronting them becomes the only thing that makes him whole.

The Romance

JC is everything Kelsie despises at first. But from the moment he helps her there is not stopping the growing friendship between the two. As Kelsie work through her demons JC becomes her light in the darkness and that type of connection blossoms to so much more. A love that's so pure and healing.

The Wrap up

What i first was hesitant about this story was the jump from present to past. I was not happy about it starting the book but after those two first chapters I couldn't have read this book any other way. It was not confusing and it made the story what it was. I cannot say much more but when it releases you need to pick this up and read it. Love it.

HAPPY READING!

Favorite Quotes

"'Aren't you supposed to be learning some life lesson about self-reliance?'

'I think I've learned it. When someone is better at something than you, accept their offer to help.'"

"He wanted to see you. The whole you. The good, the bad, and the ugly, and let you know that he accepted you. Every last bit of you."

"Things have taken a turn for the worse. No time to write, other than: I Love you, Mal. No matter where we are of what you do. Never forget that.