The Locket by Stacey Jay

Katie cheated on her boyfriend with their mutual best friend. It was an accident. Katie was drunk and Mitch was there for her when Isaac wasn’t. Two weeks later when Isaac finds out, everything Katie has worked for falls apart. He leaves her on the side of the road with a rainstorm brewing. As Katie wonders what to do next, she feels the locket that she’d taken earlier from her grandmothers jewelry pile start to heat up. Next thing she knows, she’s been taken back two weeks to the night of her biggest mistake. Katie’s been given a chance to redo the whole evening and keep Isaac from ever finding out what happened simply by making sure it never does.

I cannot tell you how much I wanted to like this book. I liked Princess of Thorns quite a bit and I absolutely loved Ms. Jay’s two book series Juliet Immortal and Romeo Redeemed. These three books are the reason why I finished “The Locket” but I honestly wish I hadn’t. There were so many times when I almost stopped reading, but decided to give the book just one more chance to redeem itself–it never did.

Katie is possibly the most annoying main character that I’ve ever read. She’s so whiny the whole time. All she can think about is getting back with Isaac when he doesn’t even seem like the best guy. He’s not very considerate of her and it doesn’t seem like they have very much chemistry. It’s so obvious that she should just get with Mitch and have that be it, but for some reason she’s completely focused on being with Isaac. I don’t see it. There were also a lot of times when Katie’s inner dialogue would turn to self-loathing. Just…not attractive and not fun to read.

Another thing was that every time Katie would go back in time, there would be random things different about her town or her backyard or the people she goes to school with. These changes would upset Katie so much that she’d get nauseous and throw up. I don’t get it. THIS DETAIL WAS COMPLETELY RANDOM and not necessary to the book. At all. There was no explanation as to why things would be different by her traveling back in time. If there had been an explanation then this would have been a different book and possibly a different review.

I’m sorry if this review comes off as a rant…I was just so disappointed! Her other books were so good and this was a complete dud. Don’t read unless you like poking yourself in the eyes. The other books that I mentioned, though, I would wholeheartedly recommend.

Overall Rating: 1
Violence: Moderate. Some gore, not explicit.
Sexual Content: Moderate. Mentioned but not explicit.
Language: Moderate. A couple of scenes with brief, strong language.
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate. Some scenes with teenage drinking.

Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson

Jessa is heartbroken when she finds her boyfriend, Sean, cheating on her with a girl nicknamed “The Boob Job” (for obvious reasons) just days before they’re all supposed to leave on a class trip for Italy. Jessa’s best friend, Carissa, compiles a set of instructions designed to help her get over her broken heart while abroad. Every day Jessa opens an envelope that contains a challenge for her to complete before the day is through. At first she’s not convinced that these instructions are going to accomplish anything, but slowly she begins to find herself and realize that Sean wasn’t who she needed after all.

First of all, this book hit me hard with the travel bug. Reading about all the places that Jessa and her classmates were traveling to really made me want to travel to Italy. I mean, I’ve always wanted to go to Italy, but especially after reading this book. Anyway, I liked Jessa’s character quite a bit. Obviously she had a hard time with the breakup, but it never felt like she was seriously thinking about getting back together with Sean even if the opportunity presented itself.

The secondary characters were really great too. I liked Carissa for being a good friend even though she had her own flaws. Her friend that went on the trip with her was a great character as well (forgive me for not remembering his name). Then of course there’s Dylan Thomas and the character not-so-affectionately nicknamed “Cruella”. Just a really good cast of characters. It seemed like they all had depth–something that I find seriously impressive! How often do you have such a large cast of characters that all seem like they could have books written about them? Not often, my friends.

I don’t remember anything that I disliked about this book. It was an easy read, not too much depth, but enough that you feel for the characters.

Overall Rating: 4
Violence: None (does a glass of soda to the face count?)
Sexual Content: Mild. Kissing.
Language: Mild (this is another one that I don’t quite remember…sorry!)
Smoking/Drinking: Mild. Possibly some underage drinking, not a focus.