Breakable by Tammara Webber follows the same storyline, essentially, as the previous novel, Easy. Only it’s like Easy’s opposite in every way. Easy was about Jackie, Breakable is about Lucas. Easy was awesome, Breakable is a messfest of creepernatural behaviour. Instead, Webber should write a novel on how to ruin a romance in three easy steps. Step one being obsessive stalking. Step two is a monotonous origins story for Lucas that holds as much interest as an inflatable kiddie pool. Fun for five minutes before quickly becoming a waste of space and resources.
I know I sound harsh. Okay, that I am just plain harsh, but I don’t feel it’s without recourse. After all, I have essentially had one of my favourite new adult novels cruelly snatched from my warm, safe memory of loveliness. This, new, creeper twist to the tale is a mess. And rather like ostentatious flatulence, it pervades everything with its stench. All my old nostalgic recollections of the novel that breathed new hope into me for the genre. All the fondness I had for the characters and the triumph of a normal, healthy relationship has been ripped away.
Lucas has been ruined forever for me.
No longer is he the cool, hot, awesome college boy of my imaginings. Now he’s an emo, whiny stalker who spends so much time fascinated with Jackie, that the entire novel becomes unforgivably droll. What’s Jackie doing right now? Does she like me? Is she scared of me? Is that her getting an orange mocha frappacino for her first coffee of the day? What perfume is Jackie wearing?
This is the story’s biggest fault. Jackie is not an interesting character to the reader because we’ve already been in her head, already know what she’s thinking. The allure with Easy was that Lucas was a romantic interest amongst other concerns that Jackie had in her day to day life such as passing her classes and not getting sexually assaulted. Lucas has no great story to tell and in doing so, his story becomes so uneventful and predictable that I spent five whole minutes whacking the book against my bed. That was a lot more fun than reading this book, by the way.
My advice is, don’t do it. Don’t do it to yourself. You will almost certainly regret it forever. My only hope at this point is to suffer some horrific brain injury that causes an amnesia, forcing me mentally and emotionally go back to a time before I read this book.
Yup. And maybe I’ll wake up married to Channing Tatum. Ha!
Cathryn
THIS!!!! 1,000 TIMES!!!! I don’t want to ruin my love for Easy and Lucas so I WILL NOT be reading this. Authors PLEASE STAHP writing the second book from the other POV. It almost always sucks!!!!
Kat – Sorry for all the shouting. It just really pisses me off.
Kat C
After the disaster that was Midnight Sun I’m honestly surprised these POV shift novels have made such a comeback and most noticeably in NA fiction. I do wonder if this Four collection for Veronica Roth will spring more for popular YA. It’s interesting that reading this one shifted your entire perspective on a character.
Jackie
What a disappointment. I love Easy, and Lucas was an awesome character. Now he’s turned into a mere shadow of his former self..A complete opposite of how he was portrayed in the other book. I will not be reading this one.
Amber J.
I wish I had waited for your review (and others’) before I bought this book. I pre-ordered it only because I automatically assumed it would be as good as Easy.
It’s weird how an author can write a good book and turn right around and give us a substandard story. Or maybe it’s just the curse of the “alternate POV” lol.
Wandering Meander
Wow. I loved Easy. I’m glad I won’t be wasting my time reading this. And seriously – what’s with the “Let’s write the same book from the other person’s perpective?” If you did it right the first time (which she did in Easy), then you don’t need a second book. Ugh.
Rochelle Sharpe
Thank you so much for posting this review. I loved Easy so much. I don’t read much NA, and I don’t plan on reading a lot, but I thought I might continue on with this series. Now I won’t. I loved Easy and don’t want it to be ruined. Thanks for making the sacrifice for the rest of us!
Summer
Ewwww. Yeah, I’ve seen AMAZING things about Easy and need to read it someday (I’ve read Fangirl, my one and only NA and I have this irrational fear of ruining NA in general by another book), but I KNOW I won’t be reading this now after it. I hate when authors change your POSITIVE perspective of a character in an unnecessary way. Ugh. Thanks for sparing us all, now we know not to read this one!
credoroza
Well holy crap! I always love how you do your reviews, so honest yet a tinge of sarcasm, sometimes humor to offset the stab to heart! You seriously are one of my fav’s.
Now, I loved loved loved Easy. So when Breakable came out, I snatched it up.
It’s still sitting unopened in my kindle, have,’t had a chance to read it yet and now I am scared!
Oy decisions decisions decisions…
To All the Books I Forgot to Review: The Comic Con Contemporary Kick | Cuddlebuggery Book Blog
[…] This is an example of when a companion novel doesn’t build on the awesome of an already existing story. Easy is one of my favorite books of all time. I loved every page, but Breakable? I barely remember what happened. Landon’s POV isn’t as interesting as Jacqueline’s and was a chore to read at times. Other times, when he does have some interaction with Jacqueline, he comes over very stalkish, which I was disappointed to see. Still, I did relatively enjoy it more than Kat did. […]