A review by glew8
The Broken Hearts Club by Susan Bishop Crispell

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Thank you to Sourcebooks FIRE for this ARC!!

"Love makes people do ridiculous things. Take me for example: today I'm celebrating my one year anniversary with my very fake boyfriend"

The Broken Hearts Club by Susan Bishop Crispell is an absolutely delightful YA romance. The way the author weaves the intricacies of romantic, platonic, and familial love elicits such warm and fuzzy feelings alongside the deep questions posed: what does it mean to love? Can you love more than one person in a lifetime? What, exactly, is true love? Like I said, a masterful compilation of philosophy, humor, and beauty. While Mo has self-centered tendencies, I can't fault her for being a literal teenager. As an adult, the problems she faces seem more than manageable (thank god for frontal lobe development!), but who hasn't been 16 believing the world to be ending when your crush doesn't like you back? 

Other than that, the only other thing I didn't enjoy about this story was how reliant the characters were on social media. I read books to escape the likes of instagram, it really took the magic out whenever they took out their phones to DM each other. But that's also more of a personal issue than a professional one, so if you don't mind constant social media usage in literature that probably won't irritate you as much. 

And, of course, I love a story with constant, subtle references to Taylor Swift and her discography. Incorporating different color auras based on mood was also so Jasper Cullen of the author, I loved it. Again, this is simply an extremely enjoyable read:)