L. D. Crichton

Written in duo Points and Views, All Our Broken Pieces brings together a teenage girl trying to hide her OCD and a teenage boy trying to hide because of his scar from a fire years ago.

I was a little iffy about this book. It sat on my TBR shelf for over a year and I just didn't know if I wanted a teen angst read. I finally picked it up this past weekend because I saw it had amazing star reviews on Goodreads and I knew it had to be good. It didn't disappoint!

The characters are believable and so well written - greatly flushed out. I instantly began rooting for both of them to succeed in what they wanted.

Lennon and her battle with OCD, I thought, was well written and represented. I don't have OCD, but I do battle with mental illnesses and sometimes the thoughts and "reasonings" are hard to put into words. L.D. Crichton was not only able to put it into words, she painted pictures with them.

"I get anxious. I think about terrible things. Awful things. Things that no person should ever think about, or at least admit to thinking about. And once I think them..." I pause nervously. "Once I think about them, it consumes my brain and eats at it like some kind of cancer. The thought dominates every single waking moment, over and over and over again. Like being forced to watch a gruesome movie in your head with your eyes wide open. The only way to make it stop, to get relief, to silence the goddamned thought, is to do things in patterns of five or whatever stupid, irrational, illogical idea my mind has in store."

I also really enjoyed Kyler's character; his "not a care in the world" attitude he put on because of his scar but that is completely different from the one people who really know him know. The way that he falls in love with Lennon is what made me smile the most. And then his understanding he has for her and the "fight for their love endlessly" love made me root for them all the more.

I loved watching both characters grow and evolve throughout the story. With their love and respect for each other, they learned to accept themselves more and more and strive to do things outside their comfort zones. I was always proud of them when they did that.

I didn't feel like their romance was the super fast pace, insta-romance that a lot of YA books tend to be. Did they technically fall in love quickly - kind of? I mean, I felt like the author did a splendid job at pacing the duo realizing their love for one another. Plus, they are teenagers and it is first love... it kind of feels that way doesn't it?

This is a story where the characters (both main and side characters) will stay with me for such a long time. Lennon and Kyler's story is a great example of a novel with well written representation of love, acceptance - both of yourself and others, patience, understanding, and encouragement.… (mehr)

I think I may be one of the few people who wasn’t like...all about this book so I’m willing to acknowledge that maybe I’m just a jaded bitter hag. But falling in love doesn’t cure OCD (look I get it, that was never explicitly said but I mean come on.) And I’ve dealt with more than my fair share of angsty boys and none of them talked quite like Kyler (he was a lone CW character just tossed into this book)

Don’t get me wrong. I devoured the book in one sitting. I enjoyed it. Lennon’s description of obsessive compulsive disorder seemed pretty spot on to other descriptions that I’ve read about (and from my own experiences with anxiety which while not the same do have some parallels). But. Look. I rolled my eyes when I had to read Romeo and Juliet in high school and I rolled my eyes here too. The “star crossed lovers, they’ll never keep us apart” vibes have just never been quite for me.… (mehr)