BLOG TOUR - REVIEW, EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: Breaking Nova (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 chest 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?

My Thoughts:

To see something like that - to see death. It's the kind of thing that scars people on the inside. And not just small scars, but long, thick, jagged ones that never go away. The kind of scars that alter the appearance of things, change people. Ruin them.

Just reading the prologue of Breaking Nova completely clues you in for the type of book you are about to read. It is not fluffy hearts and flowers. It is tragedy and loss. It is devastation and grief. It is heartbreak. 

Nova Reed and Quinton Carter have futures that look bright and happy. Both in serious relationships and very much in love with their respective partners. But life can be ripped apart in the blink of an eye and you're left to pick up the pieces and try to go on. Sometimes the pain and guilt is just way too heavy to carry. Nova and Quinton are at such low points in their lives when they meet. The last thing that either of them want is to get involved but they can't help the connection that is there between them. Can two people who are so lost save each other or will the weight of grief and guilt be too strong?

When I read the synopsis for this I thought I was going to get a book about two broken people who save each other. I was desperate for them to be each others balm. The salve you put on wounds to make them better. But the wounds that Quinton and Nova carry are just so damn deep that at the point they are in their lives I don't know that there's enough salve in the whole freaking world to make these two work together. I don't think i've ever read a book that had two more broken, damaged and destroyed characters before. These two are just drowning in their grief and loss. It eats at them almost every minute of every day.

I don't want to feel it anymore, everything that comes with living after everything is lost. I want to leave. I want to escape.

Really, what I want to do is die.

Breaking Nova weighed me down so much with it's heaviness. There was like this big giant block of dread sitting constantly on my chest. Everything was just so dark and sad. I got to about ninety percent in the book and I just had to take a break. It was a big part of the story and my heart was just so heavy I couldn't read any more. But it wouldn't get out of my head. I couldn't seem to get away from it. It just kept playing over and over.

When I read a book, I want to get inside the pages and experience it all. All of the emotions. I want to feel them. If you want a book that is going to make you feel on so many different levels, then Breaking Nova is the book you need to read. I rode so many emotions. Angry, sad, desperate, happy, pain, grief, concern... I could go on and on.

“You're like my favorite song, Nova. The one that I never want to forget. That I want to play over and over again.” 

You're probably wondering if there were any sweet moments in this book. Yes there were, but if I'm being honest, that's not what this book is about. The subject matter is very weighty. There is death and it's very heavy on drug use. Not just the occasional user, but users who are trying to block the world and all it's pain. It is all there in black and white on each page. But when those sweet moments came along I clung to them because the darkness of the book made the sweet all the more special. 

Jessica Sorenson can write the socks off a hell of a lot of authors. Her books are fantastically well written and Breaking Nova is no exception. It is dark and gritty. It is heartbreaking and gut wrenching. All I can ask that we don't have to wait forever for the next book to be released.

5/5 Amazing, Heavy, Gripping Stars.

Excerpt:

Halfway through it, Nova shuts her eyes and starts swaying her hips to the beat, her lips matching the singer’s. “I love this song,” she says with her eyes shut and her hands are on the back of her neck.

My eyes trace the curves of her body and the enthralling way she moves. “I love watching you,” I whisper so softly I know she can’t hear. I dig my fingertips into my palms, trying to resist the compulsion to place my hands on her hips and move with her.

As the song keeps playing, though, I become more and more hypnotized by her, and the way she lets herself go, when usually she’s so contained. For the briefest second I’m glad I’m there with her, which makes me feel confused and guilty, because I should want to be with Lexi. Thoughts are drifting through my head, in long sequences that don’t match, yet they do when they’re put together in a different order, and suddenly, for a fleeting, guilty, irreversible moment, I’m glad my heart decided to beat again.

I step forward, not sure what’s driving me, but I give in to it regardless. I wrap my arms around her and pull her nearer, closing my eyes as the sound of her voice caresses my ears. She leans back against me, and we sway together as the music encases us. I wish I could keep my eyes shut forever, because then I’d never have to go back to reality. I don’t try to kiss her or feel her up. I just hold her and let our bodies stay linked, wanting to know her and understand her more than I have with anyone since Lexi. For an instant, I have something to hold on to again, a reason to keep breathing, to live.

Author Bio:

The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessica Sorensen, lives in the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.

Author Links: 

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