Review – The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak

 The Heartbreakers (The Heartbreak Chronicles #1) by Ali Novak

Page Count: 329

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: August 4th, 2015

Rating: 5 out of 5 hearts

Synopsis:

Stella will do anything for her sister—even stand in line for an autographed Heartbreakers CD… for three hours. At least she met a cute boy at the Starbucks beforehand. A blue-eyed boy who looks an awful lot like…

Oliver Perry. Of course Starbucks guy is the lead singer for her least favorite band. Thanks, universe. But there may be more to Oliver than his world-famous charm, because even after she insults his music—to his face—he still gives her his number. Seriously, what is her life?

But how can Stella even think about being with Oliver—dating and laughing and pulling pranks with the band—when her sister could be dying of cancer?

My Thoughts and Review:

I had high hopes for The Heartbreakers and let me tell you, this book did not let me down. Can we just start off by admiring how cute the cover is? I mean who wouldn’t want a guy-a fine looking one-teaching you how to play guitar?

Not only is the cover amazing, but so is the writing itself. Although the plot may seem cliche to some people at first glance, once you start reading the book, you realize it’s not nearly as unoriginal as it sounds.

The story begins when the protagonist-Stella-runs into the lead singer of the hottest band-the Heartbreakers-at a Starbucks. She thinks he’s just your average good looking guy until she attends one of the band’s meet and greets and sees him sitting behind the table signing posters and hugging fans (don’t worry about this being a spoiler by the way because this literally happens within the first two chapters). From then on, they keep having random encounters and the book just develops from there.

Stella has to face a number of challenges that I think everyone can relate to one way or another. Throughout the book, she is struggling to move on with her future education and career, make many difficult decisions, as well as being there for her sister cancer diagnosed sister-Cara. If you enjoy the art of photography, you will definitely be able to understand Stella on a different level because she also likes taking images on her high-tech camera. The only aspect in her life that I don’t thing many of you, or anyone for that matter, can find yourself connecting with is dating a member of the world’s hottest band, but that’s what your imagination is for right?

You can expect some really sweet and adorable moments in this novel, as well as a good amount of heartbreaking scenes. I really enjoyed reading about the character and relationship developments in this book. A large amount of the story did focus on Oliver and Stella, but it also had a lot to do with Stella growing as a person and finding out who she is and what she wants to do with her life.

I appreciated that Ali Novak decided to include the main character’s family in the plot. Sometimes in books, the author often mentions the family a few times and then they’re out of the picture after that and it makes everything seem a bit less unrealistic, but that wasn’t not the case with this. I also like how the author explains the illnesses/scientific words that are mentioned because it really helps the reader follow-through with the novel without having to take pauses in order to Google things.

There was a truck load full of drama in this novel, as well as a good amount of humor. The supporting characters in this book were very lovable, especially the rest of the members of the band-JJ, Alec, and Xander (I love that name). The band was super funny at times and caring during other parts.

“Fine, I can be more mature. Would the lady care for a stimulating round of Twister in the nude?”

“I’m way too pretty for manual labor,” he told Drew.

One major factor that really affected my love for this book was the fact that I am a huge fan of a boy bands-One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer-myself, so I found myself fangirling over some scenes because of that. I would often find similarities between the Heartbreakers and my favorite bands and it really made reading this book that much more enjoyable. Like mentioned previously, Stella has a sister named Cara whom I would consider a fangirl and even if you don’t enjoy boy bands as much as she does or I do, you are probably a fangirl/fanboy in some other fandom so I think you can still understand how Cara felt.

Overall, I would highly recommend this to anyone and everyone who enjoys YA contemporary novels. The Heartbreakers was a magnificent book that was very well thought out and written. I can’t wait for the rest of the series to be published!

If the Heartbreakers were a real band would you listen to them? Personally I would, but let me know in the comments what you think!