If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?
When seventeen-year-old Stacy looks in the mirror she can see and talk to her future self. “Older Me” has been Stacy's secret support through the ongoing battle with their neurotic mother, relentless bullying at school, and dealing with her hopeless love for her best friend, Mark. Then Stacy discovers Older Me is a liar. Still reeling from that betrayal, Stacy buries herself in her art. But even that is taken from her when her most persistent tormentor uses her own work to humiliate her - and threaten her last chance with Mark. Stacy’s reached breaking point. Literally.
Aimee L. Salter’s debut YA novel BREAKABLE is a heart-wrenching story of survival and self-discovery with a magical realism twist.
BREAKABLE’s main character is 17 year old Stacey who has the unique gift of being able to see and speak to her future self in the mirror. This future self is six years older and is trying desperately to help younger-Stacey through the trials of High School life and attempts to alter their future by giving younger-Stacey indirect hints on how to change the outcome of their lives.
Despite younger-Stacey’s incredible gift, she is subject to a slew of horrendous bullying. A target from people who used to be her friends in middle-school and quickly turned into enemies once they caught her talking to herself in the mirror. From then on she is treated to a daily onslaught of verbal abuse and even physical abuse from one of her overtly egotistical male tormentors. She learns quick that her attempts to stop them by telling her mother or teachers is futile--her mother betrays her trust and emphasizes that she must have done something wrong to evoke that kind of treatment from her peers. Things only get worse when her best and only friend Mark (who also happens to be the boy she’s madly in love with) starts dating one of her sworn enemies and is completely oblivious to the torture she undergoes on a daily basis. Throw in an old flame who only thinks she’s good for one thing and we’ve got a recipe for an incredible and heartbreakingly real story.
The bullying depicted throughout BREAKABLE is absolutely shocking, heartbreaking, and cruel--at times I found myself putting the book down for a second to catch my breath, wanting nothing more than to punch Stacey’s antagonists in the face. Salter doesn’t sugar coat the High School experience for a girl who isn’t in the “IN” crowd and the raw perspective is a fresh take at the YA genre. In following Stacey’s story, readers are in for a real awakening on the effects bullying can have on a person and how it can be just as detrimental when the people closest to the victim don’t notice.
Salter gives us an underdog heroine to pull for and incredibly evil antagonists to hate. Stacey’s story will leave you questioning how well you can really know yourself and if you had the opportunity to change your future, would you be willing to risk it all? Breakable is an emotionally fueled read with Stacey’s journey to self-discovery filled with social land-mines, family betrayal, and survival amongst the greatest of odds.
Aimee L. Salter is a Pacific North-Westerner who spent much of her young (and not-so-young) life in New Zealand. After picking up a Kiwi husband and son, she’s recently returned to Oregon. She writes novels for teens and the occasional adult who, like herself, are still in touch with their inner-high schooler. Aimee is the author behind Seeking the Write Life, a popular blog for writers at www.aimeelsalter.com. You can also find her on Twitter (www.twitter.com/@AimeeLSalter) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/AimeeLSalter).
Aimee’s debut novel, Breakable, releases November 4th for Kindle, Nook and in paperback. You can add Breakable to your to-read list on Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18377058-breakable
