Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Beautiful Broken Girls. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Mira Cillo and her sister Francesca are found, wrapped around each other, drowned in the quarry. Days later, when Ben receives a note in the mail from Mira, he embarks on a quest to seven places as Mira attempts to explain why.

Mira's recollections are delivered in the form of flashbacks to particular times and places, which is a good way of imparting background information to the reader. The problem with Beautiful Broken Girls, however, is the fact that the plot should have been compelling but fell flat. Francesca's suffering comes across without passion and Mira's attempts to help her sister are just matter-of-factly expressed. I had high hopes for this book, but the premise never came together in a meaningful way. I never felt like I gained a foothold and found it difficult to keep reading, despite the relatively short number of pages.

Beautiful Broken Girls was unlike anything I have ever read. It was disturbing. It was haunting. It was beautiful.

I love The Virgin Suicides and so when I started reading this and starting noticing the similarities between the two I knew I was going to love it.

We follow two girls who lives suddenly end tragically. Did they fall? Were they pushed? No one knew until Ben suddenly received a note from Mira after her death.

Beautiful Broken Girls is broken down into 7 parts. Each note tells Ben to go to where he last touched a certain body part on Mira. Each location brings him closer to the truth.

Don't pass this book up because you're scared of the subject matter. You truly will miss out on not a phenomenal book but also a very talented and amazing author that weaves a tale of suspense, intrigue, love and loss while still having you begging for more.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the opportunity to read and review Beautiful Broken Girls by Kim Savage. Ben lives next door to the Cillo family, who has recently lost their two daughters, Mira and Francesca. Ben secretly loves Mira and he's devastated by her death. Mira left notes for Ben to find and to help him understand the mystery of the sisters' deaths. The book has a confusing story line that jumps back and forth between characters and from past to present, sometimes randomly. For some reason, Francesca has bleeding holes appear in her palms and the causes of Connie's allergic reaction are never stated. The story is based on possible delusional teens and the consequences when they believe one is a saint and things don't work out as planned. The writing is well done and the characters feel pain and compassion but the story is just not my type, 3 stars.

When Mira and Francesca are pulled out of the quarry, their stiff limbs entwined around each other and rocks weighing down their pockets, Ben makes it his mission to determine what led his neighbors to kill themselves. But as he attempts to avenge the sisters' deaths, he begins to learn that there is more to the story than he'd been allowed to see. The chapters alternate between Mira and Francesca in the months leading up to their deaths, and Ben dealing with the aftermath. Savage weaves a convoluted web of deceit and false assumptions, making it difficult to know which characters are telling the truth or misinterpreting a situation at any given time. The characters (especially Mira and Francesca) aren't necessarily realistic, but they're written to appear as though they're somewhat above everyone else. The mystery surrounding the girls' deaths is plotted out with perfect clues, which are revealed at exactly the right times.

I was really intrigued after reading the description for Beautiful Broke Girls. This was my first book by Kim Savage, though I had been wanting to read "After the Woods" for quite some time.

The story beings in August 2016 after the tragic deaths of the Cillo sisters. Mira and Francesca Cillo rode their bikes, then walked for about 15 minutes in the darkness to the quarry.

Not long after that their bodies are pulled from the quarry.

Their neighbor, Ben was in love with Mira and grieving the loss of her.

Was it suicide? Did they fall? Or was it something else?

Then a few days after their bodies are found he receives a note. It is from Mira. This first note sends Ben on a hunt for seven more notes that will apparently explain what happened. Each note represented a part of Mira's body that Ben had touched palm, hair, chest...The story is broken down in each of these seven parts.

"Everyone wanted to touch us. Including you. So remember the seven places you touched me. It's where you'll find the truth. Start at the beginning "

With each note Ben discovers more and more about the sisters and their strange lives. He finds himself with more questions than answers.

"Everything is in God's plan"

I liked Ben's character and the story-line was interesting, though I ached for him and what he'd been through. I was really into this book at first but then I started to feel a bit overwhelmed. Honestly, it was very different from what I was expecting after reading the description. There was a lot going on in this novel. Magic realism, religion, and saints. It's kind hard to explain as I don't want to give anything away.

The novel has some dark subject matter and I felt some things were romanticized, things that in my opinion shouldn't be. But at no point did I want to stop reading, I was invested in the story. I did enjoy this novel, just not as much as I was expecting. Though some things may not have worked for me, they may not bother other readers.

I do look forward to reading more from Kim Savage, as she is definitely a talented writer.

Thank you to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Kim Savage for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This book was incredibly difficult to get into for me. I persevered through it though, and the next thing I knew it was done. It was written very well, and is a great story. Told from the perspective of Ben and Mia, with a satisfying ending. You definitely leave this book feeling like you know the whole story.

Based on the description of the book provided to me, I was expecting more of a thrilling murder mystery, something that was a little dark and unsettling. However, that was not what I got with “Beautiful Broken Girls”, instead I found a story that was oddly religious and kind of boring.

The beginning of the story does start out exciting, and hooks you into wanting to find out more about the mysterious and beautiful Cillo girls, the local obsession of all the town boys, and discover what happened to them. Initially, I thought this was going to be a story in the vein of 13 Reasons Why, and while there are similarities between them, mainly dead girls who leave clues, readers should not pick up this title thinking they have found a “read-alike”. Unfortunately, when we do get to the revealing of the why, I found it to be very anti-climactic and by the time I discovered reason I found myself not really caring anymore, to be honest.

The story also felt a little unfinished to me. There were several story lines that sort of ended, or were hinted at but never expounded on, which left me with so many questions. Like, was there anything inappropriate going on in the Cillo house, and if not why was the father so creepy and overprotective? Where did the stigmata come from, was it real or created by Francesca and if it was fabricated why? Was she emotionally disturbed or just desperate for attention from her church leader crush? I just felt the story could have been a little tighter and more interesting if these questions had been answered by the author. Ultimately, this one is a pass for me.

hauntingly amazing book that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time

An unusual and thought-provoking read. The beautiful broken girls of the title have a curious hold on those around them. Learning of what happened to them was intriguing, yet a little disappointing. Ben was so keen for there to be more to this story, and the ending felt curiously flat if we look at things from his perspective. This is the kind of book that needs a reread.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Ben Lattanzi, who gets a letter from his neighbor Mira a week after she dies. Ben was in love with Mira but she and her sister Francesca had died in what seemed very much to be a suicide (they had rocks in their pockets) at the quarry. Mira tells Ben to go find her notes to him in the 7 places that they had touched each other, to learn her story now after her death. And so Ben travels to the different places in town where they had touched, but each note he finds only confuses him more and more. Will he ever find out why Mira killed herself?
Overall this was not my favorite book. The story itself had a lot of potential and I especially liked the way the book was set up. Each chapter told Ben’s story of remembering where he and Mira had touched and him finding a new note and trying to figure out what the note means. Then the second part of each chapter is Mira telling her piece of the story from her life over the last year. I liked that format, it was just that for me the story had so many holes and so many extra parts that didn’t have anything to do with the story line. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of flow to the story line, it felt choppy and to be honest it was just overwhelmingly sad. And it felt like there was just a whole lot of extra crazy in the book and the characters. It wasn’t my favorite read lately, it wasn’t a bad story just didn’t appeal to me.

I enjoyed this book. Great suspense. Looking forward to read more books this author.

I'm currently finding it very difficult to review this book because
a) It was harrowing, deep and REALLY REALLY pulled you into the small town setting where two girls went into a lake and never came out.
And also b) While the writing in this book was deep and disturbing and EVERYTHING, I'm just not sure how I feel about the way the story ended.

Mira and Francesca Cillo are sisters. They are girls whose blood runs thicker than anything. What happens to one of them, happens to them both. Boys, Power and even Death.

Ben is the boy next door, and for the longest time, he's been in love with the younger Cillo sister.

A month after her death, he gets a letter addressed to him, a letter from a girl who jumped off a cliff with her sister and never flew up. It tells him to go to the seven places he touched here, the seven places where they hid what they were from prying eyes if he wants to know why.

If he wants to know why two beautiful girls with their whole lives ahead of them took their own lives.

Like I said before, what REALLY pulled me into the book was the writing - Kim Savage REALLY upped her game from After The Woods, and her writing KEPT ME HOOKED. It was heart-wrenching, filled with pain and beauty and unfairness and the underlying concept that WE DIDN'T KNOW EVERYTHING. I LOVED every minute of it - and I've never felt this was about writing style before. Ever.

Beautiful Broken Girls alternates between Ben's narration in the present and Mira's or Francesca's in the past - explaining how Ben finds the notes that Mira left him and what he thinks while it flashes back to Mira and Francesca, filling in the blanks.

For the first five notes, I WAS IN LOVE. It was a definite five star read, but soon after, I pieced together the ending and it all seemed kind of... off to me? I can't explain it, lest it ruin the book for you, but suffice to say that I wish the ending was something else.

A HAUNTED, HEART-WRENCHING BOOK WITH BEAUTIFUL WRITING THAT WILL LEAVE YOU THINKING ABOUT IT FOR A LONG TIME AFTER.

I tried really hard to like this book. It has such an interesting plot, and I got into it very quickly. But just as quickly I felt a lack of development and detail in the story that made it difficult to read. I think there was a lot of opportunity to explain some things or to develop characters, but that didn't happen. It felt entirely like dialogue and nothing else.

Did not finish. Written fine - just not a fan of religious type books, or those dealing with the undertones. Atmospherically beautiful from the first 50% that I did read though!

Kim Savage’s Beautiful Broken Girls is riveting but flawed

BEAUTIFUL BROKEN GIRLS by Kim Savage, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Feb. 21, 2017, Hardcover, $17.99 (young adult)

In Beautiful Broken Girls you meet Mira and Francesca Cillo are perfect by most people’s standards. They’re beautiful and popular, albeit overprotected by their father. They might be a little odd, but people don’t seem to mind too much. The world seemingly revolves around them until the night they disappear, drowning themselves in the quarry lake.

Days after Mira and Francesca’s deaths, Ben receives a letter from Mira. The letter sends Ben on a quest to find notes in the places where the two of them touched. You see, even though the Cillo girls appeared untouchable, Ben had broken through. He touched Mira’s palm, her hair, her chest, her cheek, her lips, her throat and her heart. As Ben collects Mira’s notes, he comes to realize how little of the girls he really knew. The Cillo’s had their secrets, and some secrets are better left alone.

Beautiful Broken Girls unfolds in the present and the past. You get to know the girls as they interact with friends and family, and Ben as he struggles to accept the position Mira has put him in.

I didn’t particularly like or care about the characters in Beautiful Broken Girls. Francesca seemed over the top; Mira too complacent; and Ben just kind of a mess. And yet, I couldn’t put the book down. It’s an unusual conundrum. I usually don’t spend my time on characters I don’t find compelling, but in this case, it’s the work as a whole that stuck with me.

What it comes down to is the masterful storytelling of Kim Savage. I read her novel After The Woods, in one sitting. The same is true of Beautiful Broken Girls. Kim has a way of capturing you and pulling you along for the ride, even if you don’t like where it’s going — as was the case with After The Woods — or question motives — Beautiful Broken Girls.

There’s a lot going on in Beautiful Broken Girls, and context can be slow in coming at times, but it’s still a strong mystery. Though I found myself swept up in Kim Savage’s story, it’s not one I’m likely to reread. I’d check this one out from the library before purchasing to make sure it’s something you really want to own.

Wow, if I'd known this book was going to be that good I would've read it a while ago. This book turned out to be fantastic, with plenty going on seeing the mystery unfold with each letter. The beginning was so great that as a reader I found it hard to put down.I loved getting that back and forth with past and present when it came to the girls. Then there was the different point of views,switching around getting to see things that were happening from different perspectives and seeing the secrets that were being kept.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I first picked up this book because I never read the description of. It had a beautiful cover enough to peak my interest, and I was also able to get a copy to review that I ended up decided to read this. With how interesting it turned out I'm going to end up going to the store to get myself a copy because a book this good needs to go on my shelves to reread some other time. Highly Recommend!

A book where everyone is broken. Great story development.

Beautiful Broken Girls is a gripping novel about one boy’s quest to find out exactly why his ex girlfriend killed herself. Told in 3rd person and between Ben and Mira, Beautiful Broken Girls takes the reader on a heart wrenching and mystical journey as Ben uncovers clues about why Mira and Francesca committed suicide.

*************************************************

I went into reading this book not knowing how deep or how mystical this book was going to be. I certainly wasn’t ready to read, from Mira’s perspective, the events that lead up to her and Francesca’s suicide. I also wasn’t ready to read about what happened to Ben when he was 9. Talk about being blindsided by that (want to know what, read the book). I also wasn’t ready for the reason behind Connie’s death. That was definitely something that took me by surprise.

Honestly, I felt awful for Ben. What a shock it must have been to get a letter from Mira after she died and then to go on that quest to the 7 places where they touched (palm, hair, chest, cheek, lips, throat, and heart) would have done a number on me too. And the way those notes were written!!! If the author hadn’t of included Mira’s side of the story, I would have jumped to the same conclusion as Ben did.

I did feel bad for Mira. She did seem like all she wanted to be was a normal girl but she had Francesca to take care of. Francesca who spoke in tongues, who had fits and who developed an unhealthy crush on their church’s youth advisor. Mira was the one who took care of her and I could see it draining her. Which kinda explains why she committed suicide. The real reason was heartbreaking once it was revealed (again, read the book if you want to find out). I will say that I did think it was kinda mean to send Ben on that quest to find the notes. But at the same time, she wanted someone to know the truth. I think she chose Ben because a) she was in love with him (or in love with him as she allowed her to be) and b) she knew that he would go the distance to get the notes.

The end of the book was very surreal and left me with more questions than answers. I wish that there was an epilogue or something to show what happened to Ben after he got the notes and did what he did. But at the same time, I am glad that there isn’t one and I get to use my imagination about what happened to him.

How many stars will I give Beautiful Broken Girls: 4

Why: This book was heart wrenching to read. It outlines the events leading up to a double suicide while also telling about Ben’s quest to find Mira’s notes and to find out the reason the girls committed suicide. This is definitely a book to read with a tissue and an open mind.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Older teen

Why: Mild Violence, language and the suicide theme

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

I was so excited to read this book. The cover is beautiful and the synopsis was intriguing. The first couple of chapters were really good. From that point on it was a downhill slide.

What had the potential to be a great book became just plain weird. I had absolutely no sympathy for any of the characters. None of them were fleshed out and were totally unrelatable. In fact, the entire book lacked any depth at all. The story jumped from one direction to the next leaving me wondering what had just happened.

A line from the book states, "It was all anyone needed to know, that the girls weren't crazy, just good. Too good for this world." Nah, I'm pretty sure that they were absolutely, unequivocally crazy. I am also questioning my own sanity since I continued to read this even after see the direction the book was taking.