Review: Best Kind of Broken (#1, Finding Fate) by Chelsea Fine

My Thoughts

A witty, warm and vulnerable story about loss and love,
fear and forgiveness … about being lost and finding your fate
in the arms of the person that feels like home.

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Synopsis

Pixie and Levi haven’t spoken in nearly a year when they find themselves working―and living―at the same inn in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time, they were childhood friends. But that was before everything went to hell. And now things are… awkward.

All they want to do is avoid each other, and their past, for as long as possible. But now that they’re forced to share a bathroom, and therefore a shower, keeping their distance from one another becomes less difficult than keeping their hands off each other. Welcome to the hallway of awkward tension and sexual frustration, folks. Get comfy. It’s going to be a long summer.

My Review

This book was a breath of fresh air. A cool breeze sweeping away unnecessary heaviness, leaving an honest vulnerability in its wake. Raw, yet subtle. Intense, without force. This is a very different style for Chelsea Fine (as compared to the Archers of Avalon books), but it was captivating and moving nonetheless. She delivered a story about loss in a deceptively quiet way, threading humor and lightness to a situation that had splintered the lives of two people in love. Two best friends. A fateful night that had long ago fractured a family irrevocably and scarred these two individuals inside and out. But fate … and perhaps the unrelenting love of those around them … thrust Pixie and Levi together over the course of a summer, stirring to life their story which had been broken and paused for just over a year.

“This is life. This is what we have. We can mourn over the broken pieces or we can cling to what’s left”.

When Pixie begins working at her aunt’s inn, she never expected to see him. The person that reminded her of all things good and all things that fell apart. Seeing Levi was like re-opening a wound that had never fully closed. It hurt and comforted her to see him. But after a year of pain and sorrow and a sense of existing without really living, a chasm had grown between them. Their only interaction came in form of arguing. And that… they did well. It was the safest and only communication between them.

“Our relationship — if you can even call it that — works because it’s simple. We never talk about the past. We sometimes argue. And we always stay out of each other’s business.”

Both Levi and Pixie have been drowning in their own sadness. Neither really facing what had happened the night that changed the course of their lives forever. Levi withdrew, consumed by guilt and feelings of abandonment. Pixie tried to move on, but she wasn’t really living. She watched her life play on from the sidelines, too fearful to form any kind of relationship that could also be ripped apart by the cruel clutches of fate. Their time together is undoubtedly humorous (I LOVED her inner musings!). They constantly bicker back-and-forth, one-upping each other in an endless game of needless interaction, but through it all there’s an undercurrent of longing and heartbreak.

“… here I am. Swimming in Levi’s deep blue broken sea, and I’m drowning right alongside him, just as hopeless and helpless as he is. Two castaways in an ocean of pain, and we’re not even clinging to each other for dear life. We’re just watching each other drift to the ocean floor, where silence and blackness might swallow us whole and take away the sorrow.”

As a reader I wanted to know what happened that could make these two people that shared a childhood filled with bright memories shatter so irreparably. They both worked to their suppress feelings. And not only the desire.  Pent-up anger continued to rise and and almost break through the surface threatening to say things that should’ve been said long ago. Words that were swallowed and kept them captive to their turbulent emotions and lost in a sea of conflicted thoughts. They’ve been so stuck … and finding each other again means facing the pain from their past day in, and day out. It also means the resurgence of that very real connection they have between each other. And as much as they want to deny it, it’s there. Always has been there.

“…love isn’t something that needs to be said out loud!… It’s something you just know. It’s an unspoken thing. It’s humble and quiet and constant… Real love doesn’t need to be declared or confessed. Real love just … is.”

This is a heartfelt story with a lot of push and pull, told in alternating Levi and Pixie point-of-views, helping us to understand their highs and lows, their tumultuous emotions. The pacing is steady and consistent, keeping me captivated with a sense of vulnerability and honesty in their characters. I loved the inn and the people that gave it life. Overall, this was truly an enjoyable read that left me feeling warm and happy by the story’s end. If you’re looking for a break from an intense, emotional read, this is the perfect book to lift your spirits … a story that reminds us that being broken doesn’t mean we’re irreparable, that bearing scars doesn’t mean we aren’t worthy of love.

“… my heart is broken, but it’s the good kind of broken. The kind that leaves you branded, so you can never forget, and heals over times, so you can see just how far you’ve come. It’s the best kind of broken… Like me.”

Reading Order and Purchase Links

Click the cover image to order on Amazon.

About Chelsea Fine

Chelsea lives in Phoenix, Arizona where she spends most of her time writing stories, painting murals, and avoiding housework at all costs. She’s ridiculously bad at doing dishes and claims to be allergic to laundry. Her obsessions include: superheroes, coffee, sleeping-in, and crazy socks. She lives with her husband and two children, who graciously tolerate her inability to resist teenage drama on TV and her complete lack of skill in the kitchen.

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