Review: Breaking Glass by Lisa Amowitz

Title: Breaking Glass

Author: Lisa Amowitz

Publication Date: July 9, 2013

Synopsis:

On the night seventeen-year-old Jeremy Glass winds up in the hospital with a broken leg and a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit, his secret crush, Susannah, disappears. When he begins receiving messages from her from beyond the grave, he's not sure whether they're real or if he's losing his grip on reality. Clue by clue, he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, and soon realizes he must discover the truth or become the next victim himself.

My Thoughts:

Jeremy Glass has a very real, but very secret crush on his best friend's girlfriend, Susannah. But that's not the only secret he is keeping. Stuck as the middle man between Susannah and his best friend Ryan, he has been keeping their secrets safe as well as his own. Only now his secret, alcoholism, is about to be revealed when an accident sends him to the emergency room. That same night, Susannah goes missing and Jeremy knows that Ryan was the last person to see her. When strange clues start popping up and Jeremy decides to investigate on his own, he is forced to confront everything he thought he knew about not only his friends and family, but himself.

Jeremy, for the most part, is a decent kid. Yes, he has his issues and is hiding a severe alcohol addiction, but once you start hearing his life story you can't really help but feel sorry for him. If anything, he was a little too nice for his own good. He puts up with way more than he should from his friend Ryan, and his father isn't exactly the best (more on that later). 

Susannah, on the other hand, I didn't like at all. Even though she too had a miserable upbringing and a mother who was driving the crazy train, I had a very hard time connecting with her. She was selfish and took advantage of everyone she knew, especially Jeremy. If she wasn't already missing, I wouldn't be against strangling her myself. 

Even though yes, Susannah has disappeared, I didn't come away from this book thinking that her disappearance was the important part of the story. The struggle that Jeremy was going through far outweighed the disappearance in my opinion. Being a track star and now having a very severe leg injury coupled with the fact that he no longer has alcohol to block his pain, Jeremy is dealing with some very serious issues, and pretty much on his own. 

I mentioned his father before and his lack of parenting skills. It wasn't that he was abusive or mean, but I just really had a hard time handling the fact that when his son is wheelchair bound, going through withdrawals and dealing with the fact that his friend is missing, he leaves Jeremy home alone to go stay at his mistress's house to comfort her after an accident. Um, hello! Horrible parenting. Nothing gets me more worked up than parents that mistreat their children. This part of the story really fueled my rage and made me feel even worse for Jeremy.

Overall, I enjoyed Breaking Glass even though it did invoke my rage at times (in a good way). Jeremy's story coupled with Susannah's disappearance was suspenseful and the story well written. The paranormal aspect was the perfect addition to an already disturbing story of secrets, small town politics, love and loss. I recommend this book to lovers of Young Adult, paranormal, or anyone just looking for a deeper, intense read. 

For more about Lisa Amowitz and Breaking Glass, visit her website here. 

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*I received this book for free in exchange of an honest review. This did not influence my opinion in any way and all views and opinions expressed are 100% my own.