Romance Readers Retreat: Review: Other Breakable Things by Kelley York & Rowan Altwood

*****4.5 Stars*****

There are some books you know going in will leave you a broken and simpering mess and Other Breakable Things is one such book. Being something of a glutton for emotional punishment, I do tend to adore YA books with terminally I'll characters. When I saw this time there was also a road trip thrown into the mix, I practically got whip lash throwing myself into this one.

Luc is on close speaking terms with death. Even after getting a second lease on life he isn't convinced it will take. When it turns out he was right, he decides he's had enough of hospitals and transplants that won't go the distance. He is going to take a road trip to Oregon, where he plans to die with a little dignity left intact.

Evelyn, his best friend, comes along for the ride. Where Luc is ready to give up, Evelyn has only started fighting. She's determined to show Luc there is plenty of life left to live and give him as many reasons as possible to fight. As they travel on their journey to Oregon, Evelyn is falling even harder for her best friend who she has always loved and Luc finds his heart filling with hope for the first time in longer than he can count, but is it enough to save him?

To say this was an emotional read would be the understatement of the century. It wasn't a simple someone is dying, but they're loved so let's hold out hope for an improbable happy ending kind of story. There were a lot of heavy themes being tackled that unfold as you read (sexual assault, euthanasia, suicide to name a few). It's a heavy read that will have you crying, gasping for air, clutching hope and picking up the pieces of your broken heart. If you like to at times get emotionally sadistic with your reading choices, I don't think you'll be disappointed with Other Breakable Things.

Reviewed by Rosemary Feil

According to Japanese legend, folding a thousand paper cranes will grant you healing.

Evelyn Abel will fold two thousand if it will bring Luc back to her.

Luc Argent has always been intimately acquainted with death. After a car crash got him a second chance at life—via someone else’s transplanted heart—he tried to embrace it. He truly did. But he always knew death could be right around the corner again.

And now it is.

Sick of hospitals and tired of transplants, Luc is ready to let his failing heart give out, ready to give up. A road trip to Oregon—where death with dignity is legal—is his answer. But along for the ride is his best friend, Evelyn.

And she’s not giving up so easily.

A thousand miles, a handful of roadside attractions, and one life-altering kiss later, Evelyn’s fallen, and Luc’s heart is full. But is it enough to save him? Evelyn’s betting her heart, her life, that it can be.

Right down to the thousandth paper crane.