Breaking Nova (Breaking Nova, #1)

by Jessica Sorensen

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 arm 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?

• ISBN10: 1455582719
• ISBN13: 9781455582716
• Publish Date: 7 October 2014 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

One of the most emotionally wrecking novels I have read in quite a while, I was transfixed by the story it told. Full of beautiful tragedy and overwhelming sadness, Breaking Nova, absolutely ripped my heart in two. Nova and Quinton left me aching in every possible way the two of them could. This is probably one of the most realistic and humanly gorgeous novel's I have read in quite some time. It was absolutely worth every tear, every single frustration I had, and every chewed up emotion that I experienced after being wrung out from such a compelling and wonderfully written intense book.

Why have these books been missing from my life?!

[a:Jessica Sorensen|4601855|Jessica Sorensen|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1388093087p2/4601855.jpg] has definitely cornered the market on writing some of the most realistic and human New Adult contemporary novels that I've ever read. [b:Breaking Nova|17672770|Breaking Nova (Nova, #1)|Jessica Sorensen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1376496716s/17672770.jpg|24672201] gives you a glimpse into the gritty, edgy, and dark world of violence and drugs. Both Nova and Quinton, who are suffering from their own personal tragedies that have taken over and consumed their world, coloring it black from the inside out, absolutely break my heart in the best possible ways. Struggling with their issues and drowning in their own hell, these two fall together and fall apart further than either of them ever intended. It's terrifying and incredibly saddening to watch as they continue to make one bad decision after another, breaking each other and themselves to pieces.

It's the perfect struggle of guilt, intense overwhelming pain, hatred, and darkness overtaking these two characters. It plunges them into depths that neither of them really seem to care, because caring is to feel something and neither one of them wants that. Drugs are their way of turning off the world around them, numbing themselves the pain that sneaks in and threatens to overtake them, and it's ultimately their way of running away from their problems instead of facing them head on. It's Nova, who is pulled out of this sea of tempestuous agony by the revelation that life is what you make of it. You can make it hard and miserable or you can survive through the pain and live another day. Living in this world is hard and painful, but it is also strong and worth every bit of the fight that comes along with it.

It's ultimately what saves her and she believes that she can save Quinton too, but not before she saves herself.

From the first book in this series to the last book, [a:Jessica Sorensen|4601855|Jessica Sorensen|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1388093087p2/4601855.jpg] has captivated, wowed, and wrecked me in so many wonderfully painful and beautiful ways. The Nova series is definitely one of the best written, gritty, and realistic outlooks on what life is like when you're a druggie strung out, when you're so broken that you can't see your way out of the dark, and finally when you do reach out to take the helping hand offered to you. It's been quite a while, since I've immersed myself completely, wholly, and so emotionally into a series that has completely overtaken my days and nights because I simply didn't want to put it down.

If you are looking for a complicated love story filled with tragedy, painful reminders of how good life was like before the pain settled in, and what life could be like if you let yourself open up and let go of what's eating you up inside - then this series is the one for you. If you're looking for perfectly happy-ever-after endings where everything is peaches and roses, nobody dies, and everybody gets what they want in the end without having to endure the scars of painful tragedy then this isn't the series for you. Whether you choose to pick this book up and read it, I'll leave that up to you.

For me, I'd read it again every single time, in a heartbeat because easy, carefree, and always bubbly happy isn't always what life is about.

[Cocktails and Books]

This was my first Jessica Sorensen book, but I promise it won’t be my last.

I don’t know how to start this review. This book has left me so messed up, angry, and hurt. This book deals with some very real and dark issues. It made me open my eyes and really see what’s all around me.

Its every girls dream to grow up, fall in love, marry the man of her dreams, and live happily every after, but that’s not reality. Nova’s dad dies when she’s very young and shortly after his death Nova meets Landon. Nova and Landon become best friends and she believes that they will eventually marry. But Landon had a dark side that he kept hidden from everyone including Nova. To Nova, Landon was her EVERYTHING, so when he takes his own life and Nova happens to be the one to find him, her whole world implodes around her.

She once dreamed of being a drummer and doing something with her life, but after Landon’s death she doesn’t know how to go on and ultimately she turns to drugs, alcohol, and the wrong kind of friends. This book takes us on Nova’s journey to self-discovery and reinvention.

While Quinton is a secondary character in Nova’s story he plays an integral part. Quinton is no stranger to death and he truly believes he doesn’t deserve to live. Nora meets Quinton thru her friend Delilah. Nova sees the pain and sorrow in Quinton’s eyes, but she doesn’t not know how to or if she can help him. She sees Landon in Quinton and at times that’s a good thing and other times its just not. When your lost, alone, afraid, and broken you have no clue how to help yourself let alone another lost, alone, and broken soul.

If your looking for a book with HOT sex, hot alpha males, and a happy ending than this book is NOT for you. This book deals with very dark, very real issues and readers please note that you will cry and you will cry UGLY. If you don’t like books that deal with death, drugs, drinking, and meaningless sex than please don’t chose this book, but if you like a book that will open your eyes, frustrate the hell out you, and bring forth every emotion in you, than please pick up this book.

Readers beware this is the first book of the series and there is a cliffhanger, but please believe me when I say this book is worth every tear I shed. Thank you Jessica for making be see the world around me without my rose colored glasses.

I can not wait for the second book (Quinton’s story), but honestly, February is a LONG way away.

Reviewed by Carolyn for Cocktails and Books

[Rowena]

Couldn't get into this one because of the excess drug use and all of the depressing crap. I couldn't connect with both Nova and Quinton and just when I thought that'd change, they'd do something that would make me want to fuki slam them and then I'd be done with them all over again.

It's not for me.

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Breaking Nova is another intense, New Adult romance from the awesome Jessica Sorensen. It's not my favorite, but I definitely like it a lot better than the first two books of her The Coincidence series. Breaking Nova follows nineteen year old Nova on her first summer break from college. She's returned home, but what should be a happy reunion with family and friends is bogged down with awful memories. Her boyfriend committed suicide the year prior and Nova was the one to find him. Now she's moving through her days in a mental fog, at least until she meets Quinton, another damaged soul. Then she's moving through her days in a literal fog, since she gets into smoking weed with him and his cousin. Quinton also lost his girlfriend the previous year, but to a car accident, where he was driving, and now he doesn't think he deserves happiness or any kind of fulfillment in his life. I'd like to say he meets Nova and is healed by the power of love, but that doesn't happen.

Breaking Nova and I got off to a bit of a rough start. While I was thankful that the main issue wasn't sexual abuse, like just about every New Adult novel out there, I wasn't really sure how I felt about it being the aftermath of death. Nova's story is quite tragic, since she not only found her boyfriend hanging, but also witnessed her father die when she was young. She wasn't directly involved with either, but it understandably hits her hard. I get that. Quinton on the other hand, I had more trouble understanding. Yes, he was driving, but his girlfriend was the idiot who climbed out of the car window while he was driving down a windy road (this is in the prologue, so not a spoiler!). He wasn't drunk, he wasn't high, he was only driving (albeit too fast). It was her drunk, stupid self who got herself thrown from the car. And I really do not understand this whole "I promised my dead significant other that I'd be alone and miserable for the rest of my life" thing. Why would they want that for you? Why would you even think that they'd want that for you?! I kind of get the guilt thing, since he was driving, but his so called promise? No!

Luckily around the halfway mark, I finally settled into Nova and Quinton's story and enjoyed it more. Breaking Nova deals very heavily with drugs. Like I said, Nova gets into weed when she starts hanging out with Quinton and friends. They all use it as a way to escape their lives for awhile, however, for some it turns them onto harder stuff. I actually found Nova's friend Delilah and her boyfriend much more interesting than Nova and Quinton. There's something very not right with their relationship and it's tainting everything around them. I wish we had gotten more of them. Perhaps in the next book? Although based on that epilogue it seems like the sequel will focus primarily on Nova helping Quinton with his addiction and emotional damage.

I liked Breaking Nova, but it started off really boring and kind of annoying. It does pick up, and I liked the direction it was going. At the end Nova is in a better place, and I was proud of her for not throwing her life away for a boy. Especially a boy who chooses drugs over her. While I am interested in what happens with Quinton, I almost wish that this had been a standalone of Nova's progress. It would have been refreshing to see the two love interests not end up together, because one of them can't get their life together. Love doesn't magically fix all problems, while depressing, would have been a nice change from the NA formula.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.