All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen

PIECES
All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense, YA
Length: Full Length(331 pgs)
Age recommendation: 13+
Rated: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lupine

What if your life wasn’t your own?

Liv comes out of a coma with no memory of her past and two distinct, warring voices inside her head. Nothing, not even her reflection, seems familiar. As she stumbles through her junior year, the voices get louder, insisting she please the popular group while simultaneously despising them. But when Liv starts hanging around with Spencer, whose own mysterious past also has him on the fringe, life feels complete for the first time in, well, as long as she can remember.

Liv knows the details of the car accident that put her in the coma, but as the voices invade her dreams, and her dreams start feeling like memories, she and Spencer seek out answers. Yet the deeper they dig, the less things make sense. Can Liv rebuild the pieces of her broken past, when it means questioning not just who she is, but what she is?

What starts out as a very mysterious and hidden plot eventually turns into a roller coaster of intrigue and deceit as Liv tries desperately to unravel her past after a tragic accident claims her memories.

I really enjoyed the plot; I thought it was the best part of the book considering how I am usually able to guess how things will turn out, and the author kept slamming doors of possibility in my face as I kept guessing and being wrong. It’s a wonderfully done piece. My only complaint would be the obnoxious girl who, of course, ran the school and was the popular one. She was rather stereotypical, when it comes down to the mean girl type.

Liv was an excellent main character. She had a great development, and I enjoyed watching her try and fit back into the real world and her new life after such a little time to recover. She had curiosity and spunk that made me giggle, and she usually had a reason to cry, so wasn’t a whiny heroine. She possessed strength, especially in the end, when she finally discovered the real reasons behind her mental battles and odd dreams.

Spencer was as equally well done for a brooding teenage boy trying to erase the mistakes in his life and redo his world. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about him and what he did for Liv in her destroyed life, picking up all the broken pieces and gluing them back together.  A good book that has me looking for more from this publisher and author.