All In Pieces // A Book Which Left Me In Pieces And Stuck With Me

All In Pieces – Suzanne Young

Published: 8th October 2016
Source: Bought
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
My Rating:

From New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young comes a heartrending new novel about a girl struggling to deal with anger issues while taking care of her younger brother with special needs.

“Anger-management issues.”

That’s how they classified Savannah Sutton after she stuck a pencil in her ex-boyfriend’s hand because he mocked her little brother, Evan, for being disabled. That’s why they sent her to Brooks Academy—an alternative high school that’s used as a temporary detention center.

The days at Brooks are miserable, but at home, life is far more bleak. Savvy’s struggling to take care of her brother since her mom left years ago, and her alcoholic dad can’t be bothered. Life with Evan is a constant challenge, but he’s also the most important person in the world to Savvy.

Then there’s Cameron, a new student at Brooks with issues of his own; a guy from a perfect family that Savvy thought only existed on TV. Cameron seems determined to break through every one of the walls Savvy’s built around herself, except if she lets herself trust him, it could make everything she’s worked so hard for fall apart in an instant.

And with her aunt seeking custody of her brother and her ex-boyfriend seeking revenge, Savvy’s fighting to hold all the pieces together. But she’s not sure how much tighter she can be pulled before she breaks completely.

The sole reason I read this book based upon Nereyda's review and I have no regrets.

This book was utterly fantastic. I was hooked within the first chapter and didn't want to put it down. It was a really quick read and yet a lot happened within those pages and the characters really stood out to me. I mean, I can remember the characters’ names without having to immediately refer to the summary (you would not believe the number of times that happens to me).

Savvy's lot in life sucks. Her mom has abandoned her and her brother Evan and she is stuck trying to care for him whilst her father is drunk. Savvy is stuck at a school for delinquents due to her anger management problems and she has the threat of her aunt taking her brother away looming over her. Life is tough. Not just for her, but for her friends too. She doesn't have it easy and you can tell. She struggles with the sheer amount of responsibility on her shoulders and she lashes out in the wrong way to others because of her trust issues. I can’t say I blame her. She hasn’t exactly had a good example to follow and she does the best she can.

The fact there is also a romance in this book is sweet but that romance is no way the focus of this book. Cameron is a friend first and he cares for Savvy. The romance is never forced and progresses naturally and I adored that. I would have liked to learn more about him but what we do learn is that he is a genuinely good guy. The contrast between his family and Savvy's is shocking. The contrast between Savvy's family and Retha's is shocking to be fair and Retha is her best friend. She should have realised far sooner there were issues in her family. Savvy has a terrible family life and so seeing her realisation about this fact throughout the book was fantastic. I may hate the trend for absent parents in YA but it is definitely explained well in this book as to why Savvy's parents are absent and that is what I enjoyed, a fully developed story that could explain the major issues in Savvy’s life.

I think the reason this book was so good is because the characters are strong and so is the story. It hooks you in and keeps you reading. I do have gripes about the book, I felt like more backstory for all the characters would have been good, yet what we got is substantial enough, especially considering the length of the book. And I did feel the story may have been a bit rushed towards the end, but then there wasn't a lot more which could have happened so it wasn't off-putting. And I most certainly felt that somethings at the end of the book could have been handled better, but I don't mind the way it went.

In the end, I really enjoyed this book. I stayed up late to finish and I was emotional by the end.

Have you read a book which has hit you emotionally? And what was the best YA book you’ve read recently?