Nova Reed used to have dreams-of becoming a famous drummer, of marrying her true love. But all of that was taken away in an instant. Now she’s getting by as best she can, though sometimes that means doing things the old Nova would never do. Things that are slowly eating away at her spirit. Every day blends into the next . . . until she meets Quinton Carter. His intense, honey brown eyes instantly draw her in, and he looks just about as broken as she feels inside.
Quinton once got a second chance at life-but he doesn’t want it. The tattoos on his chest are a constant reminder of what he’s done, what he’s lost. He’s sworn to never allow happiness into his life . . . but then beautiful, sweet Nova makes him smile. He knows he’s too damaged to get close to her, yet she’s the only one who can make him feel alive again. Quinton will have to decide: does he deserve to start over? Or should he pay for his past forever?
Out of the plethora of Jessica Sorensen books that I have heard of in the past year, it took Breaking Nova to take my Sorensen virginity and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Nova is full of heartbreaking details and ridiculously real emotions. The novel is told from the first person point of view of both Nova and Quinton, in which both of them express how broken they are. Sorensen really did a great job with making the characters so relatable regardless of how hard their individual situations were.
Warning: there are some very emotional topics in this novel and the main one is Death. What death does to those that it leaves behind after an accident or suicide. And how does one come to terms with feelings of fault and how to understand why someone would choose to end their life. I broke out into tears a number of times, so make sure you have some Kleenex with you.
Both Nova and Quinton’s tragedies are explained in the prologue of the novel, and then the meat of the story picks up about nine months later when fate or coincidence or whatever else you can believe brings the two together during the summer. Both of these characters have a ton of layers and I commend Sorensen for making them both so damaged and realistic. I wonder if she really studied some of the theories of grief management and the Kubler-Ross model, because she really employed these really well throughout the novel.
Overall, we know going into the story that Quinton and Nova are going to have a relationship, but I think that the readers’ expectations are wonderfully thwarted and the story takes a turn that is best for the characters.
I cannot wait for the next installment, and to see how Nova and Quinton continue in their story.
4.5 Bards
Moving! 