A contemporary young adult book featuring a First Nations main character, this was an interesting book that had a lot of potential and was not afraid to tackle some very difficult subjects.
Louise Wolf is a senior in high school, navigating the waters of her first real relationship, when a casual remark by her boyfriend reveals that he is not the guy she thought he was, Suddenly single, on her own terms, she decides to devote more time to her work on the school newspaper, where she is paired with new student Joey, While their relationship is somewhat abrasive at first, controversy soon sees them presenting a united front. The school's production of The Wizard of Oz soon becomes a bone of contention with some parents and students, simply because the teacher has given some prominent roles to ethnically diverse characters. As hostility increases, and a campaign of bullying and vandalism escalates to dangerous levels , Louise and Joey become closer, while Louise is determined to support her younger brother, who is one of the targets of the bullying campaign.
This book really had a lot of potential, and I admire the way the author tackled some very difficult subjects, but I found the writing style detrimental to my enjoyment of the book as a whole. The whole thing felt very disjointed, rapidly jumping from one thing to another without any real attempt to connect them for the reader, and quite often this happened at a point where I was expecting to really dig in to what was going on between the characters. It was disappointing that every time it felt like it was time to really get into a topic, e.g. following an argument between two characters , the action cut to something completely different, It's a pity, because I loved Louise as a character, in fact I loved her whole family.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Well done YA with some many fantastic teaching opportunities for us. I loved the own voices aspect, as well as the many topics brought up that kids have to face in high school.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

This was one of my most anticipated books for 2018 and I'm so sad that I wasn't a fan of it. Since this book touches on such an important topic, I had such high hopes for it and it didn't live up to them at all.

The writing wasn't good in my opinion and felt more like I was reading a to do list than a story. Things would be said that would upset Louise and instead of a conversation being started to talk about it, she would just get upset and then the scene would end. The characters in the story weren't likable at all. Usually I can look past that, but with story having unlikable characters along with poor writing made it not for me at all.

I wasn't a fan of the romance at all. The chemistry wasn't there for me at all. It definitely seemed to pop out of nowhere. Teens can fall for each other quickly, but this one just seemed too unrealistic.

While the story had promise, it never delivered. Was definitely hoping for more from this because of the topic it was centered around.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. The writing was just so jarring for me.

The storyline is great. It is like home for me because I grew up in Oklahoma and am enrolled member of a tribe there. I enjoyed reading about places and things that are familiar to me, but the characters and plot were really hard to get into because the writing was just not working for me.

The book deals with some tough issues, a person of color is cast in a role in a school play that gets people riled up and ultimately teaches them lessons about prejudice and racism.

It is a much needed book for the world. More books like this should be out there. Unfortunately, this one didnt connect with me in a way I would have liked it to.

I was provided an ARC by NetGalley, and I'm ever so grateful to have had the chance to read this book, and I can't wait to recommend it to our teen readers. I loved this book for so many reasons, but especially for Lou, the main character and a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, as she struggles with love, discrimination, family, and friends. The word "struggle" was key to this book, as Lou didn't get through things easily. She faces micro-aggressions and discrimination from her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend as well as from friends and parents. She doesn't handle the break-up well and isn't always there for her friend, Shelby. She makes missteps with her new boyfriend, Joey. Lou was so real. I loved the relationship with her brother, Hughie, and the fact that he was a theater kid. The school play gives Leitich Smith the chance to educate her readers. As the school prepares to mount the play, "The Wizard of Oz," readers discover that L. Frank Baum was a racist. At the same time, the theater department chair comes under fire for her decision to cast the play in an inclusive fashion. Hughie struggles with his newfound knowledge about Baum and whether he should remain a cast member or give up his hard-earned and well-deserved role as the Tin Man. This book was such a great blend of Own Voices, romance, high school drama, journalism, realistic teen fiction....everything about this book just seemed real and honest and necessary.

I don't know why I could not get through this book... It took a great deal of effort to reach the 100 page mark... The topic/plot is soo great.. but.. IDK.. whats the problem.. it feels one dimensional.. So I am DNFing the book.

This book is an important exploration of what a Native American teenager experiences. Louise loves being with her other Native family members and friends, but also struggles to maintain that identity in the face of prejudice at school and among white people in general. Her struggle between the two worlds is realistic, along with her fear of being rejected for who she is. I loved Lou as a character. The plot could have been a bit stronger as it tried to tackle a few too many issues at once, but I look forward to recommending this to teen readers.

There are a lot of entry-points for readers to be able to relate to the storylines in Cynthia Leitich Smith's Hearts Unbroken. Briefly summarized, these entry-points are tribal affiliation (and being a minority exposed to casual and sometimes blatant racism), school drama-production and student journalism. I recommend this book especially for older teens, perhaps 9th or 10th grade and older.

This book touches on such an important matter and underrepresented voice; however, I feel that if this had been about anything else, it would not have been published. The writing was poor: it read like a laundry list of things that happened with moments of dialogue to break it up. Nothing was fleshed out. Within the first ten percent of the book multiple Native American stereotypes had been mentioned (by a white character making a comment about it), and Louise would be upset and then end scene. I know people go around saying racist or insensitive comments but this was just weird and seemed like the author was doing a sort of info-dump of all negative things people think about regarding Native Americans.

I would have loved to seen Smith pick one or two of the issues presented and develop a strong story and character around that instead of trying to tackle all of the racial things people say in one go.

Reading this made me realize how little I’ve read where the MC is Native American. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!

This is a fantastic book with a strong female lead who knows who she is and refuses to compromise herself or her culture for a relationship. I love how this Cynthia Leitich Smith takes on microaggressions in a way that fits organically into a larger story while still getting across how it feels to be the target. Hand this to fans of Hate, Love, and Other Filters.

I couldn’t get into this... Maybe it was the writing, maybe the characters or even both.. I can’t really place it. I appreciated the effort though, and it had a promising concept. This just didn’t live up to my expectations; it wasn’t really for me unfortunately.

I need more books like this. More books about Indigenous American teens written by authors who are #ownvoices. Excellent book.

I really loved this contemporary YA romance with a Native (Muscogee) heroine! I love the complicated intersections at play here--and I love that as a reader, we 100% get why Louise is a little bit self-righteous, and I love that we get to see her learn to see where other people are coming from a little bit; but never to give up her own pride in her culture or her desire for justice.

It's also a great read for fans of teen journalists & teen theater kids.

Hearts Unbroken opens with Louise Wolfe breaking up with her popular jock boyfriend after he insults Native people. This begins a transformative year for Louise, who is a proud member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Told in a slice of life style, Smith goes through the first half of Louise's senior year with ease while jumping from many different issues and events.

First, Louise's freshman brother has been cast in a leading role in the school's musical, which causes a controversy since he is not white. In response, a parent group forms to boycott the theater program because of their casting choices. Then the Wolfes and the other cast members of color being receiving notes telling them to go back where they came from. Meanwhile, Louise has joined the school newspaper and is trying to tell stories about bullying and student workers. Also on the school newspaper is Joey, who is half Lebanese, and a new love interest for Louise. In addition to all this, Louise deals with friendship issues, slut-shaming, and her own prejudice.

Louise is not perfect. She is flawed, but a strong and likable YA character. She rightfully has lots of feelings about being Native and she is starting to see the discrimination and prejudice she will have to fight against her whole life. While this could just be a normal YA novel showing the ins and outs of a high school senior's life, this is also a glimpse into the life of an underrepresented group of people. Through Louise's eyes, we see how it feels when a team has a Native American mascot, or when a child goes trick-or-treating in an elaborate headdress.

This was a great story of one girl's life and how everyday actions can impact someone. At times, it moves from event to event too quickly and my only complaint is that I wish the transitions were a bit smoother. I am reviewing this from an ARC, so with some editing that could be fixed. I would definitely recommend this to all realistic YA fiction readers.

Full review on Goodreads. I was so not into this one. I try to read a diverse smattering of literature, but this one did not even feel diverse. Yes, the native issue and racism is addressed, but, not really. Nothing sucked me in. I was disappointed.

4.5 stars
I absolutely loved this book.
It taught me a lot about Native Americans.
It has a cute romance with realistic problems and issues.
Louise her family, especially her brother Hughie, is adorable.
I really enjoyed the issues the school news paper tackled.
In conclusion, I very much recommend this book to everyone. Especially those who just want a nice YA contemporary romance where they can also learn a thing or two.

Actual rating 3.5

Hearts Unbroken is set in Kansas, and tells the story of a high school production of The Wizard of Oz. When the drama teacher decides to take an inclusive approach to casting (including casting the main character's brother, Hughie, as the Tin Man), a group of parents in their mostly white, middle-class neighbourhood, takes exception. In the meantime, Louise, the main character, has started work at the school newspaper, and is paired with new kid Joey to take on the Features section.

What I liked about this book was that there were actually probably three strands of plot going on at once - firstly, with Louise at the paper and her budding romance with Joey, secondly, with the parents and their dislike of the casting, and finally, with Hughie and his relationship with the play and Baum. This saved it from ever getting dull in terms of plot, for me, and although it might seem a lot, it didn't ever get too crowded with plot. There were a few, more minor, plotlines that possibly went unresolved (Louise's first boyfriend, who she dumps at the start of the book for making bigoted comments about Native people, starts all these rumours about her after the breakup, but supposedly no one believes he isn't just running his mouth, so it's kind of brushed under the carpet when they meet one last time for "closure"), but overall, it was a solid book plot-wise.

Even though the plot was good, it did take me a little while to get properly into the book. I did like it, don't get me wrong, but I was mostly reading it without all that much caring about it. Part of that was because it was written like a series of vignettes rather than a fully continuous story so the plot seemed to start off moving really quickly, and I found that hard to read for some reason. Another reason was probably because I wasn't the biggest fan of the main character before she had her learning moment. She was kind of self-absorbed and a little self-righteous. But she also had some pretty good character development precipitated by her friend calling her out (at exactly the right time in the book, because I'd been getting a little bored before then).

As well as this, the start of the romance kind of bothered me. If only because I couldn't for the life of me see why it started (or continued for that matter). Joey seemed fairly arrogant and self-obsessed and kept boasting about his journalism prowess, and I couldn't work out what Louise actually saw in him. So maybe he was a nicer guy than Cam (the boyfriend she dumped), but there didn't seem to be anything there. Or at least nothing I was shown. I was told she didn't shut up about him to her friend Shelley or her brother Hughie but there was no evidence of that. (Just like, at the start, there was no evidence of Cam getting easily jealous until she mentioned it in one line - and this is the guy she thought she loved? Yikes.) But once the conflict had happened, and they were kind of broken up, I almost liked it more, conversely. Because it made Louise develop as a character.

So, overall, this book was one I liked a lot but didn't quite really really like (if that makes some sense). I did get more into it as it went on, but ultimately not enough to love it.

I'm going to read other books by this author because I enjoyed this novel.
I received an arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Wizard of Oz is so well known among Americans that most can either quote from the book for the movie or both. The movie was shown every year, back before VCRs, and I knew it so well, and sang all the songs. It is such an American story.

But, as this book points out. L. Frank Baum, the author, was a racist. Not only a racist, but someone who believed in genocide of all native people. Although I thought I knew everything there was to know about him, having read him from childhood, the editorials, pointed out in this book, show how much hatred he had for the Indiginous people.

And why is this important? Because, along with Louise’s off-again-on-again love story, there is the story of her brother, Hughie, who is the Tin Woodsmen in the school play, where like the casting of Hamilton, there is no “right” ethnicity for any of the actors. Dorothy is a Black actress. Lousie and Hughie are citizens of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation, just as the author is.

And underlying this, is the racism that boils up in the Kansas town, that a play would have people of color who were usually white.

Louise and her brother have to put up with this hatred, while navigating take usual high school issues.

Louise is working on the school paper, and reporting on these things, but keeping her native heritage a secret from her new boyfriend, because she isn’t sure how he feels about Indiginous people, despite being of Lebanese heriatage.

It is a well written story, with Louise, the narrator, giving a good, natural voice to what is going on around her. And while some parts are serious, there are some funny bits, as Louise tries to explain to her brother how long ago Baum wrote the hateful words about native people.

<blockquote>“About fifty years after the Trail of Tears?”
That didn’t seem to help either.
“Twenty to thirty years before the setting of the first Gal Gabor Wonder Woman movie. Great Granpa Lucas wasn’t born yet, but his parents were alive.”</blockquote>

Good thinking book, where you come away wondering about assumptions.

There is a great line, at the end of the book, which doens’t spoil anything, and I’ll quote here.

<blockquote>”Do Native people believe in Thanksgiving?”
[...] “We believe in gratitude.”</blockquote>

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.