Breaking the Cycle

Breaking the Cycle, by B.B. Swann, is a wonderful coming of age on the wrong side of the tracts tale. Andrea hopes to get a track scholarship to escape her solitary life, living in a trailer with her out of work, hard drinking dad. She loves her job working with Judy in her salon, knows that the salon life is not for her! Then Gio walks into her life. Heartbreaking and hopeful.

Breaking the Cycle is a heartbreaking but empowering read about never giving up and letting circumstances stop you. Characters are very relatable.

This story follows Andrea. She’s trying to do everything that she can to not end up like her parents. Her dad is an abusing drunkard and her mom ran away with her drug dealer. Then she meets Gio. A great guy with an amazing family and Andrea doesn’t think she fits in. Gio somehow breaks down Andrea’s guard and gets her to go with him. But she still has her doubts.

I loved the emotion and pain in this book. Gio helps Andrea figure out what she wants in life. Before him, she only wanted to find some way out of her life. After him, she realizes that she has to make her life better. I loved the sarcastic way Andrea talked and how she wasn’t afraid to defend herself or speak her mind. The book is surprising and every move that anybody makes is unexpected. It’s an amazing inspirational novel that I would recommend to anyone. One more thing I liked was that it is completely clean. No mature scenes or dirty language.

If you liked this book, you will also like Sarah Dessen, Simone Elkeles, and Kasie West.

I wrote this voluntary review in exchange for an ARC copy.

Breaking the Cycle was an interesting story of abuse and getting away from it. Andrea may not know what she wants to do after high school, but she knows one thing for certain, she does not want to stay under the same roof as her abusive father. She believes her best option is to get an athletic scholarship to college and leave her father and the trailer park far behind. Andrea has a part time job at a hair salon at the mall. One day she meets Gio, who also works at the mall, and they start dating. Andrea has a hard time because she has bought into the idea that she is not good enough because she lives in the trailer park. With the help of her boss, Judy, and her friends, Andrea begins to see possibilities in her life. The romance between Gio and Andrea is very sweet and Andrea's relationship with her boss, Judy, is very supportive. I was quickly drawn into this story, set in the 1980s, and I really enjoyed the writing style as well. I would definitely recommend this book to my older students, as there are some detailed scenes of abuse.

The 80's are back! The 80's are back! Time to tease my hair and see what this story has for us.

This book is book 3 of the Breakin in the 80's series. While there are characters that are from the first 2 books, and a backstory, you can read this one without reading the first two. I did purchase the first 2 to read at a later date!

I don't know why, but I always feel like books that take place in the 80's are going to be a gleeful reminder of what life used to be. While this book does have traces of nostalgia (going to a bookstore in the mall?! I miss you!) it reminded me that there were hardships back then that you may not have been aware of with the lack of social media. Andrea's story was one of living in a trailer with her abusive dad, a mom who abandoned the family, and her focus to break the cycle of abuse. She wanted out of her life and saw the only way out was to get a scholarship to attend college. Meanwhile, she was working in a salon at the mall. This is where she met Gio.

Even with the heavy subject matter, I enjoyed reading this book. There were many layers to Andrea, as we got to see the different relationships she juggled, with her dad, mom, Gio, and her ex-best friend who has come back into her life. Even though Andrea had one goal in mind, the world showed her that sometimes there are other choices out there. I found myself rooting for her and Gio, and hoping that she would get her happily ever after!

One thing to note: I have seen in other reviews people saying that there were chapters with only one word. I think this was intentional to show the passage of time where Andrea did nothing. It made sense to me (I don't want to say too much more as it's one of those moments where you should read it first and then you'll understand what I mean!)

I feel like this is such a cliche to say, but the ending made me scratch my head. I'm going to try and navigate this thought without spoiling anything.

This book really took us on Andrea's journey. Highs. Lows. Goals. Fears. The good. The bad. The ugly. And the moments of fun she never thought she could have. As we got closer and closer to the end, I couldn't wait to see all of the decisions she would make. I know that some books won't jump into the future to see what became of the choices she made, but I thought we would see more than we did. Is this something that will be shown in another book? Did I really take this crazy journey only to see half of the choices she made? I was left wanting a little bit more.

I still enjoyed reading this one. Has anyone tried the first 2 books of the series?

Breaking the Cycle (Breakin' in the 80s #3)
by B.B. Swann
Its a great young adult book for this generation. Growing up in the 80's and 90's I found this book demonstrating phenomenal reality for the time it was set in. It reminds me of many books that read at that time. I like the forward thinking idea that trade school is a option even in the 80's. Something the youth of today need to see as viable. College is not the only option. I wish we could push that in education.