My review of Shattered: A Daughter's Regret by Melody Carlson

Everybody does it—sneaks out of the house now and then. It’s harmless enough, right? Cleo Neilson is the only one who knows why her mother was in a seedy part of town that one night, but she’s determined to keep the secret that’s breaking her heart. Walk through this teen fiction novel of grief, guilt, faith, and forgiveness. You won’t forget the journey.


My review:

I told myself I would just take a peek at the story and go back to reading something else on my kindle. Well, I couldn't stop until I finished the book! That's a good story.

Shattered made me cry. Several times. It was a beautiful story and so tragic at the same time. I loved how realistic the author made the daughter's issues, especially when it came to guilt over what happened and blaming herself. How she dealt with the pain using pills for a crutch to get her through the tough spots was well done. Her increasing dependency on them was well done, too. I loved how the various stages of grief were naturally included in the story. They were shown in such as way as to help the main character understand the different cycles of grief that she was going through. I loved the new guy in her life and how supportive he was. That crazy aunt started to grow on me, too. 

This story was throughly engrossing and a fantastic portrayal of how guilt and self-blame erodes who you are inside. The author did a great job showing how guilt and regret can destroy so many things in your life. But the author doesn't leave the reader with a hopeless feeling. Carlson uses the people in Cleo's life to draw her out and get her to face her demons. I loved how her being honest and disclosing the truth about her feelings of guilt actually freed her soul to heal. This was so well done. There were no pie-in-the-sky resolutions and healing was shown as tough work, which I appreciated. There are plenty of unrealistic stories in the YA genre. This novel was not one of them. For that reason, and the fact that I was so moved by the story that I cried buckets several times, this book is making my best fiction list for 2011.


Shattered was published by NavPress and released in March 2011.