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When Veronica and her friend, Kirk, decide to investigate why, they stumble upon a sinister plot. One of Veronica's high school teachers is crippled by the fact that his dead daughter has never returned as a ghost. Veronica seems like the perfect body to host her. And even if he's wrong, what's the harm in creating one more ghost?
From critically acclaimed Generation Dead author Daniel Waters, comes a delectably creepy and suspenseful thriller. Break My Heart 1,000 Times will leave readers with the chills. Or is that a ghost reading over the page?
This is so not the kind of book to read when you are home alone, but that suspense keeps you into the novel from start to finish. This is a dark novel that is set in a time after something called "The Event" that seems to have killed millions of people in a matter of seconds. Nothing is really said of exactly what happened, but thats the beauty of it, you can make up whatever you want to fill that blank and yet the story keeps going on.
The ghosts are snippets of people in their old lives, like seeing a short film every day at the same time. Veronica has two ghosts at her house, one is her late father, and the other is a very handsome young boy Brian, who shows up in Veronica's bathroom every morning after she takes her shower. Talk about creepy!!
But not as creepy as teacher August Bittner, a teacher at Veronica's school and secretly trying to bring back the daughter he lost years ago. He believes that if he kills a young girl on leap day, her soul will come back and re-animate in the dead girls body. Turns out he has been killing off girls for a while, trying to make the scheme work.
This book is a nail biter and more than once I was gasping in shock at the things that were happening.
Break My Heart has ghosts, suspense, and wildly enough, romance all thrown into one book. Basically its something for everyone, just don't let the ghosts read ahead of you..that spoils everything.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.How would I classify Break My Heart 1,000 Times by Daniel Waters? A morbidly dark Dystopian type read. After what is called as the “Event”, ghosts are popping up everywhere. Ghosts of loved one, ghosts of people from the past…even ghosts of those who have been murdered. The event annihilated millions of people, leaving in its wake, those who now have to live day to day with daily ghostly encounters.
The way in which Break My Heart 1,000 Times opens up, you think that you are watching the everyday morning routine of a regular family, primarily Veronica’s family. But to my surprise, the everyday routine of your father sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper and drinking from his cup of coffee, is one that is being repeated daily by the ghost of said father. I admit that after reading that, I was left with some chills. Not only do we witness her watch her father relive the same moment over and over again, we are also introduced to a ghost that has newly appeared in Veronica’s home. A ghost named Brian, who plays a major role in the events in Break My Heart 1,000 Times.
Where most everyone who has been affected by the “Event” is, more or less, going through their daily motions…surviving another day amongst these ghosts, Veronica is more alive than the rest. But despite her lust for life, there are those who seek to snuff her candle out because of their own hidden agenda. Enter super creepy teacher, Mr. August Bittner. Having lost his daughter, post “Event”, Mr. Bittner is lead to believe that the only way for him to be able to have his daughter, Eva, back he must take a life…on February 29… every leap year, believing that the veil between our world and the world beyond is most thinnest on February 29.
Sadly, poor Veronica’s birthday is February 29 (a leap year baby), and so Mr. Bittner is convinced that Veronica is the key to getting his daughter back, and he will stop at nothing to make it happen…even murder… And perhaps with the help of Veronica’s friend Kirk and her ghostly friend, Brian, Veronica may live to see another day…
The chapters are extremely short, and jump from the point of views of Veronica, Kirk, and Brian the ghost. You would think that it would get confusing, but not at all. In fact, it made the book even that more interesting and addictive. I was always curious to see how long I had to be in this individuals head before I was thrust into a different mind.
I will tell you right now, this book creeped me the funk out at times! Mr. Bittner is one hard core villain that I would never, EVER, want to cross paths with. You know in movies, you are usually safe if you are with someone else (pairs and groups are safe people!)? Yah, it didn’t seem to matter that Veronica was with Kirk, and how safe they felt with each other’s company, that darn Mr. Bittner seems to find his way to try and get to Veronica! Seriously, he is one messed up teacher. He reminded me of that creepy murdere Mr. What’s His Face in the Lovely Bones?
Author, Daniel Waters, weaves a creepy, addictive tale where ghosts are an everyday reality and that even the tiniest spark of hope where a lost loved one could have a chance to come back causes one to go to the dark side…or cause one to re-visit the dark side every four years. A perfect late at night read, Break My Heart 1,000 Times absolutely had me jumping at little sounds in the middle of the night, and looking over my shoulder for … who knows what!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Equizotic
Posted February 12, 2013
DISCLAIMER: I received Break My Heart 1,000 Times as a publisher ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Break My Heart 1,000 Times was one of the best books I've read all year. Keep in mind that I am on book 80 of 2012.
The main character, Veronica isn't your typical Sci-fi protagonist teenager. She's pretty (and knows it), flirty (and proud of it), and extremely moody.
In short: she's not perfect.
Her love interest, Kirk is nerdy and cute, but nothing compared to his tall, muscular friend, James.
Romance
Lets start with the love triangle in this novel. Because, of course, a YA novel needs to have a love triangle.
This love triangle is perfect and creepy. You think it's going to be between Veronica, Kirk, and James, but in reality, you'll soon find that James is not even a runner. Brian is Veronica's other love interest. And Brian is a ghost.
Maybe I should have started by mentioning that this book has ghosts. Oh well.
Brian is one of the super rare ghosts who is coherent. He cannot speak to Veronica, but he can look at her. He can think, and he tries his best to protect her. Veronica has never spoken to him or seen him do more than brush his hair in the mirror, but she has this pull towards him that she doesn't understand.
Throughout the novel, I was rooting for Kirk because logically, he is the only one actually alive. Brian couldn't interact with Veronica, and we find out from delving into his mind that he is madly in love with the deceased, Mary.
Ghosts
Veronica's father is a ghost. He sits every morning at the kitchen table reading the paper and drinking coffee. Then he looks up, smiles, and disappears.
I love the ghosts in this novel. They are everywhere, images of their past selves and hauntingly beautiful. The ghosts in Veronica's world have no purpose. They are what they are and no one knows why they're there.
My favorite part of the novel, I think, was the detective work that Kirk and his professor did. They classify certain ghosts by why their images show up at a certain place or time. It's interesting to hear about the different types of this mystery. This book is a puzzle that never fully gets solved.
Why was one ghost able to grab someone's hand?
Why was one ghost able to point at her murderer?
Why was one ghost able to make a phone call?
It's all a mystery, because we don't know any more than the characters in the novel.
Mystery
A large focus in the novel is on Mr. Bittner, Veronica's History teacher. He is a murderer (no, this is not a spoiler).
One of the reasons this book interested me so was because we knew the entire time who the murderer was. Because of this, we were able to understand his complete thinking. We were able to see his reasoning.
This novel, at times, had me yelling out "No! Don't do it! The voices aren't real!". Everyone at the office gave me weird looks.
The Writing
Daniel Waters' writing in this novel is poetic and beautiful. The way he can jump from one character to another without losing their personalities was breathtaking. It is not easy to write a multi-view novel without all of the characters sort of merging into one giant protagonist, trust me, I've tried.
The book was mysterious. We aren't just told things, we are shown them. We don't find out Veronica's father is a ghost until he just happens to disappear. We naturally assumed he was just her dad, sitting at the table before going to work. Then poof, he's gone.
The Event
Oh, the Event. A term used by many a novel as we are thrust into their post-apocalyptic world.
We are told a few things about the Event, but not what actually happened. It's a mystery in itself that is never fully explained.
Conclusion
All in all, I rate this book 5 stars. Everything was impeccable. It has earned a place on my 'Favorites' shelf. I am completely impressed, and upset that it is not the first in a series.
Alas, it is what it is.
Overview
When Veronica and her friend, Kirk, decide to investigate why, they stumble upon a sinister plot. One of Veronica's high school teachers is crippled by the fact that his dead daughter has never returned as a ghost. Veronica seems like the ...