Get The Whole Picture of Addiction In "Other Broken Things"

23257336 Title:  Other Broken Things
Author:   C. Desir
Format:  ERC
Length:  256 pages
Expected Date of Publication:  January 12, 2016
Publisher:  Simon Pulse
Rating:  4.5 Stars

Nat's not an alcoholic. She doesn't have a problem. Everybody parties, everybody does stupid things, like get in their car when they can barely see. Still, with six months of court-ordered AA meetings required, her days of vodka-filled water bottles are over.

Unfortunately her old friends want the party girl or nothing. Even her up-for-anything ex seems more interested in rehashing the past than actually helping Nat.

But then a recovering alcoholic named Joe inserts himself into Nat’s life and things start looking up. Joe is funny, smart, and calls her out in a way no one ever has.

He’s also older. A lot older.

Nat’s connection to Joe is overwhelming but so are her attempts to fit back into her old world, all while battling the constant urge to crack a bottle and blur that one thing she's been desperate to forget.

Now in order to make a different kind of life, Natalie must pull together her broken parts and learn to fight for herself.  -Goodreads


My Thoughts
Addiction has been said to be "the great equalizer".  The chase for the next high or the taste for the next drink sees no color, class, creed, or even age limit. 
So when a night of partying that results in an accident and DUI charges, lands 17-year old Natalie with a rehab stay, probation, and six months of court ordered AA meetings.
The fact that she is a "nice girl"  with "everything going for her" and "from "the right side if the tracks" means far less than the glaring fact that she is , in fact, "an alcoholic". 

Authoress, C. Desir walks unafraid into the world of addiction, family dysfunction, and the search for "one's sober self" in Other Broken Things.
While the fact that the story's protagonist just happens to be a white, upper class, well educated, 17-year old girl does have the power to nettle the nerves.  The even harsher truths, that she has been both drinking since age 11, and has made a daily habit of it for years prior to her DUI, are truly incensing.

Watching this young woman make her way through the fear and denial of her past, while coming to terms with the roles that the people, places, and things that made up the components of her unsober life, is an eye opening experience .
When you add in her relationship with the much older Joe, from AA, the heartbreaking secret that she carries from the night of the accident, and the almost tyrannical way that her father runs things at home.  The money and affluence that she seems to enjoy is shown to hurt a lot more than it helps.

Truthfully, I am loathed to include Nat's relationship with Joe into the negative column of the checks and balances of her life, but due to the fact that they meet in AA, and neither of them proves very stable, I can't.
Here also lies the reason behind this read not receiving the 5 stars that it should have.  After being so careful in crafting all of the other aspects of Natalie's life. The main reason for things not working out for Joe and her boils down to the difference in their ages!
Really?????? .
There is also the ending rush to tie all loose ends into a nice, but unnecessary 'happily...' bow


Christa Desir 
About C. Desir
I'm a YA author who loves dark contemporary books. Novels include: FAULT LINE (Oct 2013), BLEED LIKE ME (Oct 2014), TWELVE (Jan 2016), and LOVE BLIND (May 2016).

I am also a feminist, rape victim activist, and romance novel editor. I live outside of Chicago with my awesome husband and our three small children. 

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