I'm not sure how to feel about this book, partly because it was not what I was expecting at all. I was expecting a light, fluffy romance, not a book that dealt with so many sensitive topics. Rape, depression, and self harm are all discussed at length, and at times, this truly was an ugly story.

Mason, our main character, was the typical high school poster boy. Quarterback, attractive, has everything he wants. That is, until he breaks his wrist, and is benched. Over his recovery process, he has to confront the darker sides of himself, and challenge conceptions he's carried his whole life.

I understand that Mason is written to be an unlikeable character. In fact, at times, there is no way to like him. This worked great for the topics discussed, because it really showed another side to the issues. At times, it just became a bit much. I had to put the book down several times, just to take a break from his constant demeaning of women. His character arc was done really well, and definitely leaves you thinking.

Lace, on the other hand, was a fairly interesting character. She's the only girl who gets any development at all, which is quite disappointing. I would've love to have seen more of Mindy or Tiffany, but oh well. I would've loved to have seen more of her, but this book was more about Mason confronting himself than their romance.

This definitely was a thought provoking book. It falls super far from what I normally read, but I don't regret reading it. I really love the way the end handled things, it didn't just resolve things perfectly. Things are left unresolved, just like they are in life.

Thanks to Shay Siegel and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for a new honest review

With a nice plot and well written characters, this book can be considered a good one time read. If you are a lover of young adult romances then this book is certainly the one for you.

This is my first review for a book and I think if I would have seen it at a bookstore, I would have bought it based on the description, however I would have maybe regifted or donated to a library.

The book is based on a 16/17 year old Mason who is the BMOC (Big Man on Campus) who could get any girl he wants and he just disposes girls like objects. Mason meets Lace in an elevator when they are both going in for doctor's appointments. Throughout the story, I was rooting for Mason to grow and be the best version of himself, but Mason just kept stumbling due to peer pressure and being around boys who are the definition of toxic masculinity.

Lace is in a way your manic pixie girl who is struggling with mental health issues. I will give major kudos to the author for writing about mental health. Specifically when Lace explains to Mason how it is like to have anxiety and depression and relating it to an invisible disease and how often not even something traumatic has to happen for you to feel such emotions.

Between the peer pressure, the toxic masculinity, and Mason not knowing what consent is (even though his parents are constant preaching about being a decent human) Mason is not.

I really wanted to like this book, but somehow Mason made it very unlikely.

A major thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read Fractured!

I know some people who loved Fractured, but ultimately, I just couldn't connect with it. I found the main character, Mason, unlikeable, and for that reason alone Fractured was really hard for me to get into. I found him manipulative, and that he just seemed like toxic masculinity wrapped up in a person. In addition, as a sexual assault survivor, I felt so uncomfortable when reading about how Mason and his friends viewed women. The fact that he was 16 and still didn't understand what sexual assault was, was quite frankly, horrifying to read. I really wanted to like this book, and I think it could've been done well if the characters had truly grown and were developed. I felt like Fractured trivializes rape culture, and Mason's self-victimization made it so much worse. If this had just been a story of getting back on your feet, gluing your pieces back together when you're fractured/broken, I think it could've been done well. But by relying on stereotypes, and using underdeveloped characters, it really just fell flat for me.

My favourite part about this book was the character development of Mason Vance. Mason was so used to having everything handed over to him. He was the star QB of his high school's football team, and every girl wanted him. But after an injury, and experiencing his dream crashing down before him, he realized what kind of person he was and how he needed to change. Also, Lace's impact on him really made him the person he became at the end. This book brings up the idea of the rape culture, which I believe is important to mention, because it is a very common issue in society today, especially with high schoolers. This book gives readers the message of staying true to oneself, and learning how to respect people. DEFINITELY A GREAT READ!

I really don’t know where to begin with this review. There is so much I didn’t like about this one and my thoughts are just everywhere.

I guess let’s just start with the main character, Mason, because he is not good at all…

I’m not one to cringe when it comes to books because it rarely happens but he had my eyes rolling hard. There is nothing I liked about him. He doesn’t understand what sexual assault is. He doesn’t care about women besides what they can do for him. I didn’t like him one bit. He is a dillweed. Plus, all his friends are basically a carbon copy of him. No, thanks!

The only part of the book that I think was done okay was the talk about self-harm. Everything else, it was hard to get through.

I understand that Mason is the stereotypical football jock who gets what he wants. There are actually guys out there like that. The thing is, I just don’t feel like he ever learned. He also picks up Lace who has troubles of her own and doesn’t care about her well being. If he did then this would be a completely different story.

I also wasn’t a fan of the ending. It was pretty open-ended and those types of endings just aren’t for me.

Overall, I did not like it. I kind of expected something different from the blurb and got something I could care less about.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and publishers for providing an eARC!

I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, I really did not. While I found the story interesting and wanted to see how everything turned out in the end which lead me to pretty much read it straight through, I had a really hard time with the characterization and the way that some of these heavy and serious topics were handled. While I think that author did a fairly good job of writing from the viewpoint of what we typically think of when we think of a high school star football player, there was so much toxic masculinity within the characterization of Mason and his friends that it made it really difficult for me to sympathize with him in any way. In fact, I spent the majority of the book scoffing, rolling my eyes, or shaking my head at the things Mason and his friends said, especially when it came to how they discussed girls.

The way that all of the girls in this book are portrayed and discussed is absolutely disheartening and upsetting. Especially in the wake of the Me Too movement. I understand that the author was showing how teenage boys can see girls but it was honestly disgusting. I cringed every single time Mason or one of the other boys started talking about a girl because I knew that some degrading comment was going to follow. 250+ pages of that is really exhausting. The womanizer trope is already so overdone and honestly just frustrating and not something that needs to be continually put out into the world but then you put that trope onto a 16-year-old character and it makes it even worse. It's been a while since I was a teenager, but I'm honestly so tired of media portraying teenagers as so much older than they actually are. While I think it's a bit naive to think that teenagers don't ever drink or have sex when that's pretty much all your character does besides play football that's when it seems to be pretty unrealistic. And what parents know about this and turn a blind eye to it? It's no secret that that is what Mason does with his free time and besides his parents telling him to "show some respect" or "be home by 11" they don't discipline him at all, so he continues to do these things because there are no consequences for his actions.

But honestly, the most frustrating thing for me was the trivialization of rape culture and the main character's utter oblivion to what sexual assault is. I woke with teenage boys, and boys who are younger than this character is and absolutely all of them know what sexual assault is, so there is no reason for this character to be so oblivious. The scene where Mason and Lace are making out and she continually says no and he "didn't know whether I wasn't processing it or just didn't care" is honestly horrifying. He didn't stop until she literally shoved him and he finally took a second to actually look at her like she's a person and notices that she was shaking and sobbing. Especially after what she had told him about her experience with her brother's friend. It was a horrible scene to read. Then when he takes some time to actually research sexually assault and he says "but no one ever told us how easy it was to cross that line without realizing you were doing it. Why didn't anyone tell me?" the fact that he's 16 years old and doesn't understand that if you have to continually try to convince someone to do something means that they don't really want to do it is concerning. The self victimizing that Mason continues constantly was so frustrating to read. I also felt like every time he took 1 step forward in actually growing and changing, he took like 15 steps back. Yes, making mistakes is part of life and growing up, but the fact that he had this realization of how badly he'd treated girls in the past and how it was horrible and then proceeded to do it again was incredibly frustrating.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

"Fractured" is a young adult book centered around Mason, a high school athlete, who starts hanging out with a girl named Lace after his arm is injured and he can't play football for a while.

I thought that the story was okay at first, but the halfway point was where I started to dislike it, due to the fact that Mason sexually assaults Lace. From that point on, I disliked the book.

Sadly this one just didn't work out well at all. It was shameful with girls being ok with being taken advantage of. This was a book of a guy manipulating girls to no end. And I ended up having to put it down before I finished. I can not recommend this one.

This book is just... not good. Like, the type of not good that I can barely even find the words to describe. The writing is juvenile, cliche, and has almost every terrible teen trope to ever exist thrown into it.

I cannot fathom how this book would ever be published. I would never recommend this to anyone, in fact, if I could get back the 2 hours I took to read it, I would.

It's not enough that this book is overwhelmingly mediocre, it's deeply problematic as well. I'm genuinely angry about the way it trivializes rape culture and makes it seem like toxic masculinity is some sort of personality trait a teenage boy can simply just grow from, without any regard to the those affected by it... I'm completely disgusted. I was actually legitimately triggered by Mason's self-victimization multiple times, and I shudder to think of some teenager who doesn't know any better reading this and not be able to see what a toxic mindset this book perpetuates. Not only is the plot full of depressingly harmful ideation, it's genuinely just not well written too. It boggles my mind that this story will be put to paper, because honestly, I think the world would be better off if it wasn't.

Fractured is a book about a high school football star that gets hurt. While he is is recovering, he meets Lace, a girl who has her own 'fractures' that she is working through. While this seems like a story we've all heard before, it is not!
I enjoyed this book very much. The voice and plot of this book seemed much more realistic than many of the other YA books I've been reading lately. The way Mason talked made me feel like he was a real teenager. Lace's feelings and issues were very realistic as well.
The only part I didn't like in the book was that all the girls were throwing themselves at Mason throughout the book. I found this to be a bit overdone and not how it really happens.
I would recommend this book to fans of YA, A Walk to Remember, Friday Night Lights.

This is more a 2.5* than a 3.
I feel the main character “Mase” was way to overboard on sex and what it means to a young boy. To be bragging at the age of 13 just isn’t what I want my son to read or my daughter for that matter.
I understand why the author went so extreme with him as far as him turning his thinking around but it was just too much. While reading it I was thinking about myself at that age and couldn’t even imagine being around someone like that.

This book affected all of the emotions I had. As an athlete, I could relate to the impact an injury has on a person and the weight of stress that it can bring down onto a person who is relying on that sport as a way out. I loved the characterization throughout the entire book and found it moving how the characters worked together to enact change in each other's lives. I also loved how to very different characters came together and were able to heal each other in a way that was not expected. I have read similar books to this with the same overall themes, but I found this one to be extremely well written with a proper tone and plot line. I would highly recommend this book to all teen / YA lovers.

Oh wow I have to say this book got to me on so many levels! It’s a process just like the characters portrayed. I loved this Book!!!

The story was great, but there’s just so many missing pieces and parts that I felt the author penned this the same I way I tend to speak with friends- getting side tracked by some other story. I do think this would be better if it was revised and added to

Fractured by Shay Siegel ​

Oh wow I have to say this book got to me on so many levels! I could totally relate to lace and how I’ve had to explain the reason behind my scars or why I stooped that low to do that! I could never find the words to make it seem like it wasn’t as bad as everyone thought! It’s a process just like the characters portrayed. I loved this Book!!! Even though the characters didn’t get together there is always hope for a next book! You can’t lose people like that!!

5 Stars

Overall I enjoyed the story and though it was realistic, I wish there was more to Lace and Mason’s relationship. He has a character development but it would have been strengthened if we see more about why or how Lace affected him so much.

Fractured by Shay Siegel a five-star read that will fracture opinion. I don’t know where to start, or end this review as it’s a difficult one to write, as to be honest it didn’t deserve five-stars for chunks of the story, but then it deserved so many more in others and honestly if even one person picks this up and realises that they are not alone in feeling like you have no excuse in feeling the way you do then the author deserves five-stars in my eyes, as so many people try to put the words on a page and make it resonate with people feeling that way and this author manages it in one passage. It also may make some readers understand how their actions can affect others and this author has managed that in bucketful’s, It made me go from feeling like Mason the main character was someone I knew a long time ago and someone I was glad I left behind to making me want to reach out and see if he has changed and if not get him a copy of this and see how it would change him and make him realise just how one event can change lives. There are other characters in this story that I didn’t enjoy, and I would have liked to see more girls like Lace maybe without issues, but sadly I know the realities of life today mean that there aren’t many girls like her, and even less without her issues, there are too many young ladies who will happily bow down to boys and culture is just reinforcing that. I know it is not a popular opinion to have and I wholeheartedly believe in the me to movement, but I worry if it is starting early enough. I hope that if some read this they will see themselves and even those around them may recognise some of the signs and promote a more healthy persona, it’s a long uphill battle, but hopefully if its more recognised it will become more common place. It almost reminds me of a pop song a few years ago where there was a reference to young women selling themselves for a pair of red bottomed shoes, and I remember my older friends laughing and not being able to comprehend that this was life in this current climate, they all felt that after girl power young women would have all the power and I laughed so hard I nearly chocked to death, I pointed out that yes some women do have power, but there are still so many who will anything to be popular no matter the cost, as popularity is now ranked in likes and re-tweets and there is always a cost and power has a very high cost that a lot will be willing to sell for popularity as awful as it sounds sadly it is a reality and has been for some time. The ending will leave a lot wondering, but I liked that undefines, it allows me to make my own decisions, I would like to see these characters again and would happily come back to see an older Mason and Lace, see how Chad turned out, did he learn from his brothers mistakes? Or did he make his own to learn from. I will just end this with the note that no mater what you read about this story, go into it with an open mind and an open soul and you will get from it what you need, I think that is the only way as it will fracture opinion and I am sure it will fracture some hearts as well, lastly don’t be put off as it deals with some darker themes as they are very well done and are never discussed in graphic detail, so it’s not glorified, just real.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of fractured in exchange for an honest review.

I hope you believe me when I say I wanted to like this book. Teens bonding and growing after personal tragedies? That's the exact type of story I love. I've just never read a book about rape culture and the importance of respecting women that also happened to be so women hating.

Meet Mason, our womanizing protagonist. He's the it boy. Football legend with a list of hookups so long he can't even guess at a number. Mason breaks his arm and his perfect life is thrown off kilter. Enter Lace.

Lace is unlike any girl Mason's ever met. She doesn't throw herself at him. She's artsy and deep instead of vapid and bubbly. Lace is manic-pixie incarnate. I do like how this book handles the end of their arc, but everything before that ruined it for me. Mason constantly talks about how different Lace is. Lace never challenges him. His womanizing male friends never challenge him. The slew of girls he sleeps with never challenges him. Because in this narrative, Lace very much is like other girls.

So, what about those other girls? At times the book portrays womankind as constantly doing everything they can to try and seduce men, at others it acts like women have no sexual urges what so ever and that no one Mason's hooked up with was actually into the sex and that they all must have just wanted an emotional connection or the status of dating him.

I'm sorry, but you just can't frame your 'women should all be respected' message in a book with 1 remotely developed female character who we're constantly told is not like the rest of women. That's not how this works.

Stars: 2 out of 5 stars

I had a bit of trouble with deciding how to rate this book for the reasons below.
1) Things I didn't like:
a) At the beginning of the book, Mason had little respect for women
At the beginning of the book, I wasn't having a great time and seriously considered abandoning ship.
b) There isn't much that sets the book apart from every high school cliche
I couldn't find anything different about the book, and it seemed like every high school movie cliche mushed together. Moreover, being inside of this high school boy's head wasn't a pleasant expirence. The main character didn't have the least bit of respect for women, so I was disgusted and bored. It almost seemed like it was a play on every John Huges-movie-cliche.
c) Being in this boys mind (at times).
(enough said)--> But I'm going to say more. I didn't feel that this was an accurate representation of how the majority of high school boys interact with, if not view and thinks of, women. (for M.'s friends too)
Then Lace was introduced. I was intriged, and that was probably on of the only reasons I didn't quit reading in the beginning.
2) What I did like:
a) The ending
The ending is beautifully written, and it's obvious the author is also a poet in this scene.
b) The changes Mason goes through
I'm not going to say much here because that would take away from the story.
c) Lace
I found it easy to connect with her and I think her characterization works in the author's favor.
I was going to give this book one star, but decided to give it two for two reasons. Reason A- the changes the main character went through and the ending.
I don't think I can get over Mason's original view of women enough to give this book a better rating than I gave this book. Reason B, -I did feel the book deserved more than one star because it has the potential to be a much better book if the author were to provide a more realistic representation of how high school girls, if not view, interact with women (at least)
Trigger Warnings: Yes. This book does talk about depression, drug abuse, and discuss/have a few scenes about rape.