Chapter by Chapter

Even though I haven’t read the original Frankenstein or even watched any sort of movie related to Frankenstein, I do have an idea of what it’s all about. So how excited was I to delve into this dark tale that was a sort of re-telling of Frankenstein? Pretty excited, let me tell you.The story basically revolves around main protagonist, Emma Gentry and her attempt in trying to get over the death of her boyfriend, Daniel. With many months having passed since Daniel’s death, Emma still struggles with coming to terms with her loss and continues to hold her memories of him deep within her heart. That is, until a new student arrives at Shelley High by the name of Alex Franks. Every girl is vying for his attention, but he seems to only have eyes for Emma. And somehow, Alex Franks is all that Emma can think about. Torn between her love and loss for Daniel, and her new found feelings for Alex Emma must come to terms with what her heart is telling her.But don’t think that this is only a story of love. Of course, the main concept is this uncontrollable, undeniable love between Emma and Alex, there is a dark underlying story that surfaces and it is this new information that causes Emma to doubt Alex’s true feelings for her, and also has her questioning what to believe.I found Broken by A.E. Rought to be a pretty good read, and I really loved the characters found in Broken. It had all the elements of a great story…a mysterious new “bad boy”, the ever trusting best friend, the super over protective parent, and crazed maniac. A.E. Rought did a very convincing job of conveying the pain and loss that Emma felt with the loss of Daniel. It was easily believable that Daniel was this huge part of her life that Emma just is not ready to let go of yet. And with the entrance of Alex Franks into her life, it was very interesting to see Emma’s inner turmoil regarding these feelings she’s feeling towards him.Alex Franks was a character that I really loved…pretty much instantly. I always have a special place in my heart for mysterious bad boys, and Alex Franks fit the bill. Regardless of his many scars, he was still a very confident, sweet, determined guy. And the way he would say “Com’ere” had me melting!Even though the story itself was pretty predictable, it didn’t hinder me from wanting to continue reading Broken, and see how it would unfold. And again, although there was whole lotta love in the story, the parts that stood out the most in my mind were the parts involving Alex Franks’ crazy father! What is up with that guy? He totally gave off the creep factor vibe, which is a huge thumbs up to the author.What I did have problems with in Broken was the fact that Alex Franks was hardly called just “Alex”. It seemed like everyone would string both the first name and the last name together…always. I know, minor details, but still. It was also crazy that this intense love that both Alex and Emma feel for each other spans a total of just a couple of weeks. Now, once a huge part of the story is revealed, up until that point it was very much an insta-love type book…but like I said, that kind of gets blown out of the water once a deep dark secret is revealed. I know how it is with over protective parents. Heck, most all of us have had to deal with one or the other or both! In Broken, I found it very annoying how Emma’s mother kept getting mad at her because of the little things! Such as coming home late from school, being rescued by Alex Franks from an obsessed Josh, breaking her hand, going to the hospital to get a new cast thingy. Like seriously! Not every little thing is the end of the world, and I couldn’t done without her over protective ways. I also couldn’t understand why a certain someone was such a crazy lunatic! Unless I was reading way to fast and had a complete brain fart and forgot, I’d like to know what happened that caused him to turn out the way he did, and does the things he does! Are you curious yet? You’ve got to read the book to find out who I’m talking about!All in all, Broken by A.E. Rought was a great read. It was a dark love story involving a mysterious past, young love, and the impossible. I would recommend this book to fans of dark re-tellings and for fans of the story of Frankenstein.