Shattered

I love when an author approaches a sensitive topic with knowledge. Skylar Heart knows how to write thoughts and ideas with clarity in each topic that she approached in this book. The story had heavy emotions about mental illness, pain, abuse, and death. Hunter and Lizzy are trapped in darkness. Hunter is blinded by pain from the death of the women he thought he was going to the spend the rest of his life with. He is drowning in guilt, believing it was his fault. He is hiding his pain with drinking, and fighting random strangers at the bar. Lizzy has been an anorexic for most of her life, and she's trying to overcome the abuse from her ex-boyfriend. They recognized each others brokenness, connected through art, and became each others salvation. The plot was realistic and intensely tragic. It was easy to feel connected to both Hunter and Lizzy pain. The story builds gradually and you learn about each character as they're struggling in everyday life. Skylar Heart created strong vulnerable characters that touched my heart. The details of each character painted a clear picture in my mind too. I experienced Hunter and Lizzy's emotions with them, and I felt like I was fighting their struggles with them. There was a few things I wish were different. There wasn’t a very strong HEA. I was rooting for them the entire time, but the last chapter they still had a fragile relationship. I wanted to know, for sure, that they would be able to make it after everything they had been through. I was also wondering what happened to Lizzy's friend, Hanna. She seemed like she was dropped half way through. That being said, I enjoyed this book, and I'm excited to see what else Skylar Heart will write. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an ARC of this story.