A complex family saga wrought with drama, secrets and emotions. With two characters *I think* were written for the reader not to like, and one to feel empathy towards, I was wrapped in the deception of a possible love triangle of a married woman and the hurt and fallout from losing a child (tropes I normally do not care for nor read). The story opens with a trial and continues to fill in the blanks of what happened with a dual timeline. I appreciated the dramatic unraveling of truths and revelation secrets, as well as the character developments and dynamics. 4.25 stars

4 stars-
Broken Country started off with a bang, immediately pulling me into the story. However, as the novel progressed, the pacing slowed way down. The author spent a lot of time exploring Beth's backstory, and while I usually enjoy multiple timelines, this one didn’t work as well for me — the past timeline didn’t feel like it added much to the present-day events.

This book was much more character-driven than I typically enjoy. There were also multiple sex scenes that, in my opinion, didn’t add anything to the story. They weren’t overly explicit, but I personally prefer closed-door romances, so after a while, they just started to annoy me.

Without the ending, I probably would have rated this book around 3 or 3.5 stars. However, the ending truly redeemed the reading experience for me — the twists and how everything played out touched me emotionally. I found myself gasping, crying, and then crying some more.

In the end, despite my frustrations with parts of the book, I’m really glad I read this story. The emotional payoff was powerful!

thanks to netgally and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I've had this ARC on my Kindle for many months, and I've tried multiple times to make my way through it, but I finally had to admit I really did not like anything about this story. I hate to DNF a book, it always makes me feel like I failed, and secondly, I don't want to submit a negative review, but after so many attempts to read it, I just had to stop.

I honestly just did not like Beth, at all. Full stop, period, end of. Just nope. She's basically the only one we hear from, so she knows everything, but the author chooses, as Beth the narrator, to withhold lots of information until further along in the book, which made me feel almost like I came into the story in the middle of it and was supposed to just know what was going on. For example, Beth keeps talking about Bobby, but there's no initial explanation of who Bobby is. I understand why an author withholds information and just gives it out piecemeal, but sadly between the time jumps between past and present, and not having some piece of key information, I just struggled too much with this one.

I really am not a fan at all of love triangles or infidelity and this book has both. I felt like Beth only married Frank because she knew he had been in love with her for a long time. He didn't deserve what Beth did with Gabriel. Just nope.

Sadly, this was my first read by Ms. Hall and it was not a winner. It was also a Reese's Book Club pick, which should have been my first clue not to read it. My track record of liking the book club picks has been very dismal. We apparently just have very different taste in books.

What. A. Ride. Another phenomenal debut.

This book is hopeful, heartbreaking, suspenseful, and romantic all at once. It addresses tragedy and love head on & with gusto. It is a challenging yet completely immersive reading experience.

A short list of things I liked:

- Quick chapters make it easy to fly through.
- Complex, messy, flawed, realistic characters.
- Multiple POV & Timelines (done very well - not confusing at all IMO).
- The plot twists actually got me! Predictable things happening in unpredictable ways….literally my definition of a perfect twist.
- Frank. ♥

I also very much appreciated the concept of having more than one meaningful love in your lifetime — it just feels so real. So many books lean into the 'soulmate' and 'one true love' trope, but real life can be more complicated than that. You may love more than one person throughout the course of your life - and that doesn’t lessen your current love/relationship - but it can shape who you are, both individually and as a partner in future relationships. Love may look differently each time, but it is and was still a form of love. I really, really loved that representation.

(That said, there *is* a particular trope/trigger in this book that I strongly disagree with — it was genuinely tough to read and made me dislike the characters - but it’s a big part of the story’s unraveling. Just to be clear, that’s *not* the type of meaningful love I’m referring to above. I’m specifically referencing loving more than one person in the entire duration of your lifetime.)

Please check trigger warnings before reading, as there are several heavy themes.

Thank you Simon & Schuster for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Absolutely riveting. *Broken Country* masterfully weaves together a tender, complicated love story with the taut tension of a thriller. I was immediately drawn into Beth’s world—the slow unraveling of her carefully built life felt both inevitable and heartbreaking. The past and present timelines were blended beautifully, and every revelation had real emotional weight.

The atmosphere of the village, full of old resentments and fragile loyalties, added a rich sense of place that made the story feel so real. I couldn’t put it down—the stakes kept rising in a way that felt both suspenseful and deeply personal. The final choices Beth faces are devastating yet believable, and the ending stayed with me long after I finished.

Highly recommend for readers who love emotionally complex stories with both heart and bite.

This book has received so many excellent reviews that is hard to know what more to say. I was thrilled to be given an early copy and savored this one that did not disappoint.

The story is very well told. The places felt so real to me and I absolutely immersed myself in the settings. The characters were people with complexity, loss, those they loved and more. I cared for these characters and wished the best for them, even as I knew that there were death and a trial, so I knew not all would be well.

The novel is told in two time periods. Readers follow the main characters as their lives evolved. This dual perspective worked well.

All in all, this is a beautiful, wrenching story that I highly recommend to readers.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.

This is my favorite book of the year! I loved the mystery, the drama. The writing is so wonderfully developed that I think of Beth, Frank, and Gabriel as real people.

I purchased this book, it has received nothing but rave reviews and is the sweetheart book of spring publishing- I’ll add to this later but it is a must read.

The novel primarily takes place in two time periods - the mid 1950s and the late 1960s. We start in the late 1960s and we discover that a farmer is dead and the executioner is not yet known. Our protagonist, Beth, lives on a farm with her husband, Frank, with Frank's brother working on the farm with them.

The three are visiting their fields when a dog runs onto their farm, chasing and endangering their sheep. The brother-in-law shoots the dog and we are introduced to our remaining characters, Gabriel and his young son. We learn Gabriel is the man Beth loved as a young woman. Also, we are introduced to the fact that Frank and Beth lost a son a few years earlier at the age Gabrielle's son is now. It is at this point the story of the love triangle begins.

The story is a first person account narrated by Beth. It jumps back and forth between the two time periods. In the earlier one, the reigniting of the relationship between Beth and Gabrielle is told, resulting in an affair and Beth's bonding with Gabriel's son, reminding her very much of the son she has lost.

The novel is well paced and the reader is drawn into both timelines. The author does a good job of making the main characters well rounded without bogging down the reader in exposition and making them all empathetic.

We come to the inevitable conclusions in each timeline, learning how the original relationship between Beth and Gabriel ended, the circumstances surrounding the death of Beth's son and which of our farmers was killed and the events leading to that.

The book is not without its flaws. A minor character that breaks up Beth and Gabriel's relationships is written in stereotypical fashion and is one dimensional. While empathy is generated for all three main characters, it is largely focused in one. However, these flaws are considered minor and do not take away the reader's enjoyment of the story.

The story concludes with a time jump to the 1970s where each surviving character's fate is satisfactorily concluded.

Overall, a solid 4 stars. There are some minor flaws but nothing that detracts from an overall enjoyable story.

Loooooved this book! Was unsure about it because of the time period and setting but ended up being absolutely great. I truly enjoyed every character

Thank you BookSparks #partner, for the finished copy of Broken Country in exchange for my honest review.

There’s a reason everyone has picked this one for its book club – it’s this month’s @reesesbookclub pick, it’s a @barnesandnoble book club pick, I’ve seen other online book clubs pick it – this one begs for discussion once you read it. There is just so much to unpack. ⁣
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I love books like this – they are hard to pinpoint what genre they fall into, really crossing over into many and feeling like they belong in them all. It’s not an easy read by any means, but boy does it grab your attention and hold it all the way through. A family saga with mystery elements and a romance unlike anything other, this is one book that will definitely be staying with me. There’s a reason this book is everywhere and I can say the hype is real for this one! I don’t want to say much about the plot itself because I think you need to go into this one as blind as possible. Just know that the story is heartbreaking, the writing is gorgeous and the characters are written in such a way that you will be desperate to know all their secrets.

My favorite books are those with characters who make decisions that I question - it adds intrigue and always takes the story into a place more interesting. This story made me emotional in its young love storyline and also again in the adult marriage and how much the husband was willing to sacrifice for his love. It was heartbreaking and emotional and real. Despite not being English, I could relate to making decisions based on where you come from, the ability to settle in ones life and be ok with it, and the deep bond of first love.

This was such an amazing book! The story telling, the plot, all of it was such a heartbreakingly powerful masterpiece.

There are books that you finish reading and you have to sit there for a while to process it. Books that will stick with you for a long time. I know Broken Country will stick with me for a while.

Beautifully written. Heart wrenching. Filled with so much love and sadness.

The story of 2 young people from different sides of the track, head over heels in love with each other. Gabriel and Beth believe that they will be together forever. Life, and his mother, have other plans for them. When they see each other years later, those feelings are still very strong. Gabriel, divorced. Beth, married to a man that has worshipped the ground she walks on since they were 13 years old. But it’s so much more than a love story.

Thank you Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for an ARC of Broken Country in exchange for my honest opinion.

Broken Country by @clarelesliehall is an epic tragedy and love story unfolding over years and years. I couldn’t put it down! I was drawn in from the very first page. This one published March 4th! Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced ereader copy.

I really enjoyed this book. Loved the characters. I didn’t see the ending coming. Highly recommend!

I absolutely devoured this book. The pacing was slow yet delicious. It held such mystery yet was beautiful in its unveiling. I fear the hype is real with this one.

I did dislike the main character, Beth immensely. She was flawed and made terrible decisions but I understood some of them and her intent. However, as a mother my heart broke so much for her. But one character that made up for Beth’s annoyance was Frank. We are not worthy and he was a saint!

With a love triangle, a murder mystery, and unthinkable grief this story is sure to engross you and keep you turning those pages to the very end!

reviewing this after the archive date may be beside the point….I actually thought about the book daily long after reading it. The universal themes of what we do for family/loves with intention and reflexively and the way life might turn around and go forward after tragedy were so well and uniquely told. I do want to listen to the audio as well as the narrator has so much empathy for the hopes of a young woman and how they play out in her reading that hearing the story seems so worthwhile. A top book of the year so far..seems classic in its writing, plot and structure.

A beautiful, tragic love story where the main character must choose between her husband and her high school love. Would be a perfect book club pick.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It’s beautifully unique but also has hints of so many beloved books—Where the Crawdads Sing, The Notebook, and even a twinge of the Great Gatsby. What an intrinsic emotional journey, and man so many unpredictable turns. What a gift.