Tuesday 17 November 2015

Teaser Tuesday: Breakaway by Kat Spears

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
To play along just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Breakaway by Kat Spears.

Breakaway – St. Martin’s Griffin

“That’s the problem with you rich kids,” I said, hearing myself turn snide. “You’re never prepared for life when it happens.”
— Chapter 23

“If you kiss me, I promise I won’t hit you,” she said.
“Wow. That was almost … romantic,” I said.
— Chapter 26





There are a great number of things I want to say about this book, but the first thing that comes to my mind and vehemently demands to be said is “unexpected”. I don’t quite know what I was expecting from Kat Spear’s new book and therefore I cannot with all certainty say if the story honestly surprised me ... but it’s fair to say that this was quite different. Sure, there is the troubled male character I already knew she can write well, but his troubles were very different from those of Jesse “Sway” Alderman. For one instance, they are not self-made, at least not all of them. No one can choose the family and circumstances they are born into or whether or not they are the in the centre or on the margins of the family’s attention. But a few things are influenceable, like the choice of friends and how they are treated.
When is anyone ever truly prepared for the moment life happens? Yes, there are measures one can take to cushion the blow, but in the end if one wants to live, it will be necessary to find an acceptable balance between the amount of hurt one is willing to risk and the possibility to experience life. There are some hard truths in this book. There is no guarantee for a fulfilled life, no matter how much it is deserved or struggled towards. Sometimes reality is just furiously unfair. And I also think that is why this book is able to elicit so many different responses, because for example either the reader recognises and accepts that it is a contemporary depiction of one possible truth or they reject the story for its very nature. I have to admit that it took me a while to accept the end as it is very true to the story: where it begins right in the middle of something it also left me as a reader feeling as if I was yanked right out of it again. The edges are very frayed and raw. Life, as depicted, is messy and seldom neatly tied up, not matter where or when the observation begins or ends.
And while I know that it is extremely unlikely that it will all turn out well with rainbows and unicorns for all the characters, I really hope that they will be able to find a way to live their life to the fullest within the mostly limiting parameters they find themselves in. There is always hope and the aspiration to make to most out of the hand one is dealt. Anything less makes characters in stories and people in general uninteresting.

Writing this actually helped me appreciate the book more. It probably won’t make it onto the same shelf as Sway, but I understand the story better. Has there been a book that suddenly clicked for you the longer you thought/wrote about it? Let’s hear about it and your teaser in the comments!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I had to laugh at the second one. And the first one makes me wonder what happened in that scene to make her blurt that out.

Here's my TT - http://fuonlyknew.com/2015/11/17/teaser-tuesdays-136-h20/

Kym said...

The "almost romantic" line made me chuckle. :-)
Here's my Teaser for this week: http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/teaser-tuesdaysfirst-chapter-first_17.html

Juli Rahel said...

These two teasers are really interesting and show two different sides of the book! Your review also helped me understand the book! And I'm happy to know I'm not the only one who appreciates books more after having written the review! Thanks for sharing :) I hope you have a great weekend!
My Tuesday Post
Juli @ Universe in Words

Anonymous said...

Sounds intriguing, good teasers!

Anonymous said...

Is this a romance or a coming of age type of book? The teasers are quite different so it's hard to tell. Thanks for sharing. Here's my TT: http://wp.me/p4DMf0-11y

Literary Feline said...

The second teaser made me laugh. This sounds like an interesting book, and from your comments, definitely a different one. Sometimes writing helps me organize and make sense of how I feel about a book.

JLS Hall said...

Two excellent teasers! I guess no one is ever really "prepared for life" -- rich or poor doesn't matter. Sounds like an interesting read.

My TT: Murakami

Julika said...

Laura, the book is actually written from a guy's point of view. ;) Just mentioning this to prevent unwanted surprises.

Ms. M., I’d say that it is more of a coming of age story than a romance although there is a love story in it. It’s just not the main foucus. Hope that helps!

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