While Heartbreaker has its undeniable highs, I think it fell rather flat. The story in itself was interesting - the book chronicles the life of Billie Jean Fontaine’s sudden appearance AND disappearance in “The Territory” - told in three different points of view. The premise of the cult like community was intriguing and I loved how Dey took the time to explain some back story (I.e. why and how boys got their nickname, certain teeminology, etc...) but I felt like the dialogue was cliched and cheesy and that the plot tendd to jump around enough to make readers confused. I think this book would’ve benefited from being told in alternating chapters that flashback, maybe under one point of view. I do have to say, I was a bit disappointed in the way that this book was marketed: just because it deals with teenagers does not make it reminiscent of Stranger Things, just because women are undervalued and have limitations does not make it reminiscent of The Haindmaids Tale, and just because there is a disappearance, it does not mean that it is reminiscent of Twin Peaks.

As requested in the book, I will not post this to my website until the publication date of August 21st. It is already scheduled to post that morning (Novellives.com) I will also post it to goodreads and amazon (if you would like.

Heartbreaker is the most character driven book I have read, possibly ever. Here’s the kicker. One of the most essential characters is the setting of the book: The Territory. Turning the setting, remnants of cult in the 1980s, down to one original member, into an essential character of the book is no easy task but Dey does it without skipping a beat. She does it by using the Territory to fill the spaces between heartbeats with a chilling frost that doesn’t let go and keeps you guessing until the end.
Three narrators. Three completely different voices that introduce you to each other, other main players and The Territory through unique lenses all their own that sometimes compliment, sometimes contradict and sometimes, you wish, could be held through a panel discussion because it would heal so many hurts.
First is, The Girl, Pony. The daughter of one missing mother, Billy Jean and her stoic father, “The Heav”. Pony is realistic, somber, wants more, wants out, had enough, has a plan, it has been too much, this is the reality of the territory mixed with bits of daydreams gone by from her mind, heartbreaks, and hopes she can’t keep away about her mom that keep you guessing, keep you wondering, turning the page for more because there are so many gaps and guesses in what she doesn’t know.
Second is The dog of Billie Jean, The Heav and Pony. At once bewildered at being left behind the night Billie Jean disappears, unnervingly certain in her knowledge of the Territory’s origins, prosperity and current state of existence, as well as the crypt keeper of everyone, and everything’s secrets. The dog has managed to be the only thing that has not made or kept any don’t ask, don’t tell vows that bloom throughout the territory. And the dog tells all… of course as you keep reading, you again find, it is through her lens and point of view, which means there is more to come from yet another lens that will shed more light through this intricately woven tapestry. And while she might know secrets of the past and more than most, she has no doesn’t know the one thing everyone is trying to figure out- where did Billy Jean disappear to that October evening?
Third is The Boy, Supernatural. The heartthrob of the territory. The boy every girl wants to marry. Mostly he expresses a lot of regret for mistakes he makes with relationships with his family. Throughout Pony and Supernatural’s telling of events there is a protective but distant acquaintance about them. As secrets unravel the Territory’s existence when Billie Jean disappears, and he learns how many secrets were kept from him, even more than the ones he regretted keeping from others, Supernatural starts finding a path to things that were always missing from his life, and filling holes in the lives of others.
Together, along with a cast of some charismatic, some helpless and hopeless and some broken they walk you through the Territory as if you just moved in or just got lost and wondered by, introducing you to all the locals... famous or infamous hoping to make it sound more enticing than predatory, hoping to keep you around. Truly there’s no keeping down that creepy void threatening to engulf you with a quickness that is telling you to run.
Dey toes the line between clues and madness that are deftly interwoven through flashbacks and current time throughout Heart-Breaker with the precision of a surgeon. Without close attention essential Easter Eggs can be dismissed as perception, mental delusion or just dismissed as off-handed comments that later come back to haunt you and the rest of the characters. Dey proves her talent for being sharp witted, sarcastic, and with a mind for pop-culture references. While singing the likes of Def Leppard, Bruce Springsteen and Air Supply, you will root for these characters, even in their ugliest moments, right up to the last page reveal.

When first reading the blurb of this book, I was completely intrigued. 80's references, a suspense in the fact that someone goes missing and something off about a certain town. It sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, this book was a near DNF for me.
We have a character that is brought in and for all intended purposes, accepted in a place where they don't accept outsiders. This was the first clue that something was off about this town. I wasn't sure if this book was set long ago or just some sort of backward town. It seemed to be the latter. We really don't know where it's located, but it seems to be remote and somewhat cult-like. With the 80's references (Whitesnake, Air Supply, and really the mom's name), I was all in. It made me think of a different time that was more simple. More intriguing. And these characters seemed that way too. The Mom (Billie Jean), daughter, dog, The Heavy, etc. They all had odd names, but lived a simple life that wasn't unlike something of 30 years ago. But they also were a bit of darkness thrown in. Philosophical if you will....

"What is love if not a space for horrors to grow?"

With those snippets of seeing life beyond their town, I always wanted to come back to the story. The 3 narrators all sounded the same, so it was hard to distinguish when we had someone new, but perhaps they all sounded the same (even the 2nd one, which I found completely out of left field, but kind of Stranger Things like) because they lived their lives by some book. Again, cult-like.
This book wasn't exactly for me, but it will appeal to others. It wasn't badly written, but I think the voices of the characters could've shown through more and have been more deliberate. That would've turned their 3 star book into a 4-4.5 star book I think. It had potential that wasn't fully filled. Still, it was original and had a unique setting and premise. The ending was lackluster and fell flat. It seemed to just want to wrap it up as opposed to filling in the blanks, but again, potential.
Give it a try. It IS unique and interesting, just not for me.

What?!? This book was really strange. And depressing. I will say the author did a good job with descriptions evoking bleakness and sadness, but the whole story was just too weird for me.

A very unusual read that is hard to categorize. Billie Jean's story is told by her daughter, her dog (?), and a teenage boy known as Supernatural. The time line bounces around so you must pay attention. The location is uncertain, although it's cold, and the actual date of the events- well that's not clear either. THere's a cult thing going on, with the people in the cult focused on the 1980s. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Try this one for literary fiction that defies genre but does have something interesting to say and a good heart.

A story told in three parts by three different characters, Pony, the dog and Supernatural, this one is definitely in the realm of weird fiction. From the bizarre cult suspended in the 80’s to the hyper-intelligent dog this story in an exercise in mind-bending and suspension of disbelief. It is not a linear, straightforward story as much as a collection of thoughts and feelings. Can someone can please tell me how to rig up my antennae so I only receive broadcasts from 1985? I would be immensely appreciative. If I could just skip the next few years and retreat into The Golden Girls and Wham! that would be ideal.

Pony’s section was the most confusing and frustrating. The story didn’t make much sense to me and I really wanted more in depth and concrete information about the cult and their town. I guess as someone who was born and raised in the cult she likely didn’t know anything different and as such likely didn’t put too much thought into things that she found commonplace. The story doesn’t coalesce into an understandable story-line until the dog takes over as narrator. Yes, you read that correctly. The dog is remarkably coherent and forthcoming about the town and its people and it is in her section that I felt things started to make sense. The last section is from the viewpoint of Supernatural and his knowledge fills in the gaps to make things more comprehensible.

I have to admit that while I was reading this book I didn’t enjoy it very much at all but as I let it percolate in my head for a few days I actually like it a lot more. It has grown on me! I still wouldn’t say that I loved it but I have respect for the inventiveness of the author.

Thank you to Random House for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

The premise of Heartbreaker by Claudia Dey was promising…a cult that is stuck in 1985, a disappearance, part of the story is told by a dog. All the weirdness that will take the reader through a wild ride, and I was excited to see where the story took me. I think if I had received this book 20 years ago I would have loved the insane mess of Heartbreaker. Unfortunately, I no longer have the patience or desire to go down such scattered mess of a rabbit hole. I felt as though I was not able to really connect with the characters and you never really learned where the cult, known as “the Territory” came from. You were just thrown into a confused mess. I tried liking this book, because like I said, I would have loved this book in the 90’s, but I could not wait until I got to the end of the book to get off this roller coaster ride. I hope Ms. Dey finds success with this book and I will check out any future works she puts out, but this book was not for me.

Unfortunately this was not the book for me at all. The synopsis made it sound different than I experienced it, if that makes sense. I was intrigued originally, by the premise of the cult that is mostly cut off from everyone else, but it didn't work for me.

Most things weren't really explained, the dialogue was very choppy, probably deliberately so, but it was hard to get sucked into the story with the dialogue as it was. Also, the mom was such a completely unsympathetic person that I really couldn't be bothered that she was suddenly missing.

Maybe this book needed a firmer editing hand or maybe this is going to be a huge hit and I'm just one of those people that didn't get it. I don't know. I wish the author well with this and I appreciate being given the opportunity to read it after I requested it from the publisher.

Claudia Dey’s punchy, surprising and rather intensely unique Heartbreaker takes a look at the life of Pony Darlene Fontaine, who must go on a rather enormous and heroic quest to discover what’s happened to her mother, Billie Jean.

Dissatisfied with her conscripted life and possibly feeling suicidal, Billie Jean walks away from her family during a cold October evening, taking the family truck but leaving behind her shoes and coat.  She also leaves behind her teenage daughter, Pony Darlene, and Pony’s father, The Heavy, who bears the weight of the community on his back, and who is panicked by Billie Jean’s unexplained disappearance.  But Pony is not willing to sit back and do nothing.  She decides to track her mother down - even though the search may take her beyond the boundaries of the territory - accompanied by her dog, Gena Rowlands (like the actress), a feral, unworldly creature who deeply loved Billie Jean (and with whom she may even have shared a psychic connection) – and Will, whose secrets bind him inextricably to Pony, The Heavy, and Billie.  The wait for Billie’s return is long, heartbreaking and arduous, and each part of the journey is told in a different voice – Pony’s, the dog’s, and Will’s – who, due to the odd naming conventions of the territory, is known as Supernatural (or Supes).

Heartbreaker is a fever dream of a novel, a hallucination, grounded and bitter and a little bit morbid, fantastic and unearthly and confusing and yet enthralling.  Think of it as Winter’s Bone meets Blossom meets Timothy Leary meets the better parts of M. Night Shyamalan.  There’s a lot going on under the surface, and a lot going on under the meta of the novel’s mis en scene.  There are many strange rules and customs afoot; naming conventions for dogs, wardrobe and behavior conventions for people.  As you can tell from the names and themes used here, this is a poisoned love letter to the eighties, much in the vein of Ready Player One, only without much fondness for the nostalgia it displays.  Women wear track suits and people listen to cassette tapes; they brag that they know Who Shot JR and crush on Rick Ocesek from The Cars.  They are stuck permanently in 1985, and no one knows why.  There is a dark, secret reason for all of this, and the book reveals it slowly as if it’s peeling back the layers of an onion.  Consider it a commentary on the latest obsession with eighties reboots.  On the place of womanhood.  About the limitations of cults.  Or consider it one good, cracking yarn.

Pony, Gena, and Supernatural each has something to say, each has something to bring to the narrative pot.  To say much more would reveal way too much about the book and its secret aims, but they’re all compelling in their own special way, with Pony and Supes being very much two relatable teenagers and Gena’s unique wolflike perspective adding something new to the bookending narratives.  The world-building, in fact, is quite fascinating.  I really wish the novel had spent much more time doing it.

Heartbreaker’s biggest flaw is that it’s sometimes hard to follow the thrust of the narrative, which zips and zooms hallucinogenically between anecdotes.  Sometimes this can be disorientating, and it will take reading an entire paragraph to fully replace yourself back into the story as it zooms off onto another tangent.  My only other real problem is the almost storybook nature of the ending, which doesn’t match the blood and guts viciousness of the book in general.

Heartbreaker is a difficult to define reading experience; it’s one of the most unique books I’ve ever read, and while it was sometimes a struggle to get to the end, the experience was richly rewarding. It’s one of the best and strangest reading experiences I've had all year.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

I really like the concept of this book, but I feel like it was poorly executed. The constant back and forth from past events to the present without any indication it was going to happen left me confused a majority of the time. I feel like with an overhaul of the writing could easily make me give a higher rating.

Such a different, genre-bending type of book. The writing was spectacular. The first part was slow, but picked up quickly with the second and third parts. The ending was odd. Actually, the whole story was odd and I'm not even sure how to explain it if I tried, but all in all... I liked this.

I was given an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review

The three star reviews are fair- this book is more concept than execution. You can skip it

This book was nothing like I expected to be, yet it was so much more. It is a bizarre little story, that focuses on the disappearance of Billie Jean Fontaine and is told from three perspectives: the girl, the dog, and the boy. Through these three perspectives, readers can piece together information about Billie’s life before the territory, her life in the territory, and the events leading up to her disappearance.

I was absolutely fascinated and captivated by the territory – which is the name of the area that this cult-like group of people inhabit. They have their own customs and rituals, and their own understandings of the world around them and their place in it. I would love to have an entirely separate book that just explores the cult, because I find it so intriguing.

The writing style of the book may be difficult at first, as it is abstract and jumps around a lot. But I think it is well worth the initial struggle. This book won’t be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of Heartbreaker in exchange for an honest review.

What an intense fever dream of a novel! This is a unique book, not quite like anything else I've read this year. Told in alternating viewpoints (a teenage girl and boy, a mother, and best of all a dog), this novel explores the life of a remote community called simply the Territory. Founded by a religious extremist (although we aren't given too many details), the people of the Territory have developed their own isolated society, a fun-house mirror version of the life they left behind. We get to know four characters and the secrets they are forced to keep from their neighbours. Pony Darlene, a teenage girl, was the standout narrator to me — her voice was fierce and creative. The dog narrator was also weirdly convincing. Though there is a clear plot woven around secrets kept and revealed, that feels secondary to the atmosphere Dey creates, which is haunting and wholly engrossing. I enjoyed the story, but mostly I relished being part of this community and in these people's heads for a while. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately., I just couldn't get into this novel and decided not to finish. I was initially intrigued by the premise of the family dynamics and this cult-like isolated community. However, nothing was really explained and everything was described in such vague terms I couldn't connect with the characters. In any case, thank you for the opportunity to try it out.

It's hard to find a story that hasn't been done before, and this book, while borrowing themes from several other places, managed to capture me as a reader and weave something really intricate. I almost put the book down after the first few pages, admittedly, but then I re-read the synopsis and decided to keep at it... and I'm so glad I did. This story is told from three character perspectives, giving more of the central story in tiny bites as you go along, and showing you more of each narrating character as well.

This is one of those books that keeps you thinking about it when you're not reading it – even now, days after I've finished, my mind keeps going back to it! Kind of dark and depressing, but hey, personally right up my alley. :) The writing is really well done. I'd recommend it.

A strange book, but interesting! I initially found it quite difficult to get used to the strange world of Heartbreaker, which is set in a peculiar town called "the territory" with all sorts of odd customs and rules. Thankfully I managed to get used to it after a while, which came in useful when the second part of the book told out to be told from the point of view of a dog! This is perhaps a hard sell because it is so unlike anything else, but that also makes it very engrossing when you get into it. Reminded me a little of "Wayward Pines" but even stranger.

Heartbreaker was weird in a really wonderful way. I loved the different points of view (including a dog!) and piecing together the truly bizarre world that this is set in. While I wanted to know so much more, in some ways I was glad that not everything was explained. There are some really funny touches, particularly relating to the 80s. There's one very troublesome relationship that the author makes a little more ambiguous than I'd like, but I think that discomfort adds a layer of complexity that works.

3 Stars
Review by Amy
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night w/ Books Blog

Claudia Dey’s Heartbreaker was a one of a kind novel with a witty slant and a deeper meaning.

Teenage years can be difficult, and for Pony, they are even stranger. Trying to make it in an unusual commune with a mom who is inconsistent and eccentric brings even more challenges.

Billie Jean disappears without a word and her daughter and husband go on a hunt to find her. Trying to put the pieces together, and with a bonus perspective from her dog, things get a little dark and unexpected.

Writing the review for this book is a bit challenging for me. The concept was desirable. I love anything with dark secrets, mysteries, vanishing people and weird quirky characters. This seemed to have many of those characteristics, however, it fell a bit short for me. It was written quite abstractly and was difficult to follow. It veered in multiple directions and when the storyline came to light, I really enjoyed it, but there was a lot of deviation from that main storyline that felt unrelatable and distracting.

I really wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. While this one wasn’t for me, I think there are others who would really enjoy it. With an apocalypse or other world feel, it presented an unusual perspective. I think if you enjoyed Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, this is a book that may peak your interest. The literary writing and unique cult-style living had a similar parallel that would appeal to those who enjoy this type of prose.

**ARC provide by author for honest review**

I found it difficult to get through the book. The synopsis intrigued me, but it wasn’t written in a way that really roped me in and after mutilple tries, I just had to put it down. I just wasn’t connecting.