Shatter 

True Believers #4

Erin McCarthy

304 pages

Published by Penguin Books

Release date: 2th of September 2014

From the USA Today bestselling author of True, Sweet, and Believe comes a tantalizing New Adult novel about finding love in the most unexpected ways…

Kylie Warner prides herself on being optimistic, but after finding her best friend in bed with her boyfriend and flunking chemistry, her upbeat attitude has taken a dive. Even an impromptu hook-up with her sexy new chemistry tutor only brightens her mood slightly. After all, it’s not like she’ll ever see the tattooed scholar again…

While he’s a whiz at complex equations, Jonathon Kadisch has trouble when it comes to figuring out women. So when Kylie tells him that she’s pregnant after their night of passion, he’s at a complete loss. He’s prepared to be a good father—unlike his own deadbeat dad—but he’s less prepared to fall for the genuine and alluring blonde bearing his child.

With emotions running high, Kylie wonders if Jonathon’s devotion is out of growing love or looming obligation. And when heartbreak threatens to tear them apart, Jonathon will have to fight for the only girl who’s ever made him feel whole…

HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!

Wow! Talk about drama and themes and feelings and dark stuff!

Shatter was not what I was expecting though that is not clearly bad. It is darker, it focuses on more serious themes such as unwanted pregnancy, the dangers of unprotected sex, and above all more mature. 

Truth is Kylie is a character that cannot catch a break: her now ex cheated on her, she meets Darwin and gets pregnant from a one night stand and her life changes. Also Jonathon is a man whose life changes when meeting Kylie. Unlike the other novels, their personalities do not change due to their romance. Kylie’s personality remains the same throughout the novel: she is insecure, she overcomes the less positive things in her life and above all keeps the same attitude. One minute she is crying and letting emotions run her life, the other she is happy because she finds good in some things.

With her unwanted pregnancy, McCarthy explored a new world in New Adult. It looked like a Harlequin novel plot, but then there was something else, some sort of darkness and desperation, the reader follows Kylie into the depths of her emotion roller-coaster. We feel sorry for her, she is a good person, she has a positive attitude, so why are bad things happening to her? And there comes a lesson that could be too soon for an YA novel, but it fits in a NA one: life changes and sometimes you lose control over it. With twenty one Kylie wants to be a mother, she accepts her child and while not the way she planned, she has the capacity to raise a child.

As the baby is a non-present character, it is the element that brings Jonathon and Kylie together and apart. Jonathon is there for her when she mostly need, though he says the wrong stuff sometimes. He is a character with many faults, indeed, but he knows when he says the wrong words, he regrets them. He struggles to be a different man and by following his feelings, we get to know that he is a good man. With faults, but human above all and truly if he didn’t make mistakes, he would be a cardboard character. He would be unrealistic.

Shatter brings us a more serious tone to a ground-breaking series in the New Adult context, creating a more human side to her characters who deal with their fears and unexpected events in life. Wonderful dialogues full of life, descriptions that will make you blush, even if it’s just a kiss and human characters make this series the best NA there is.