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A review by nesdy
Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard
5.0
Beautiful Broken Things is one of my favorite books, so I was really excited about this one and it didn't disappoint in the slightest.
I love that we get Suzanne's story from her own perspective this time, because it gives insight into the mind of a victim, and all the contradictions that come from family abuse. I think that aspect is treated masterfully in the text. Suzanne is not a "perfect victim" and a lot of the time her emotions don't make sense, or they are extremely complex. After everything, she still wants her family to love her, and her journey in this book takes her towards realizing that she doesn't even like her family all that much, and that they're not good for her. All of this is done in a realistic manner and with a lot of respect for the subject matter.
I love that she sees what readers already saw in Beautiful Broken Things: that Brian is not such a great guy after all, and that her mother doesn't deserve her. The scene with ther mother is one of my favorites, because it's spot on in how the mother minimizes the abuse, and tells her to move past it and stop being dramatic. The gaslighting is really well portrayed. And the same thing happens in her conversations with Brian, where he tries to minimize the abuse as well, but in a completely different way.
The romance in this book is excellent. I lived for the Matt/Suzanne scenes. The resolution is also great, though. I love that she realizes that she's not ready for romance, as great as Matt is. And Matt is great. What an excellent portayal of non-toxic masculinity.
I really like that Caddy and Rosie feel, at the same time, different characters and the same ones we knew. It's really well written in that sense. Barnard knows her characters so well that they can still feel like the same people even though three years have passed, and at the same time they feel a bit different because we're seeing them from Suzanne's perspective this time.
I loved this book and I really recommend the series.
2nd time (June 2023)
Crying once again with this series
I love that she sees what readers already saw in Beautiful Broken Things: that Brian is not such a great guy after all, and that her mother doesn't deserve her. The scene with ther mother is one of my favorites, because it's spot on in how the mother minimizes the abuse, and tells her to move past it and stop being dramatic. The gaslighting is really well portrayed. And the same thing happens in her conversations with Brian, where he tries to minimize the abuse as well, but in a completely different way.
The romance in this book is excellent. I lived for the Matt/Suzanne scenes. The resolution is also great, though. I love that she realizes that she's not ready for romance, as great as Matt is. And Matt is great. What an excellent portayal of non-toxic masculinity.
I really like that Caddy and Rosie feel, at the same time, different characters and the same ones we knew. It's really well written in that sense. Barnard knows her characters so well that they can still feel like the same people even though three years have passed, and at the same time they feel a bit different because we're seeing them from Suzanne's perspective this time.
I loved this book and I really recommend the series.
2nd time (June 2023)
Crying once again with this series