
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Michelle
ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review

Shattered. To be broken into many pieces. So what happens when everything you loved and cherished is taken away from you in a blink of an eye? A fatal crashed that changed and altered the lives of six families. What happens when the lives of three innocent people are taken away abruptly from you? What happens when friendships are torn apart due to anger, resentment and what ifs? And what happens when the love of your life died right by your side? Can the pain and memories be erased? Can a shattered heart be ever pieced back together or are the shards of glass better left broken?

There are five stages that makes up the framework of learning to live and let go of the ones we lost. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Each stage of grief is not on some linear timeline that must be followed in the exact order since we all deal with death in different ways. And in Tiffany King's newest installment to the Fractured Lives Series, Ms. King once again shatters our hearts as she leaves a devastatingly beautiful tale of learning to love again in A Shattered Heart. In this heartbreakingly touching and beautiful, heartstrings will be pulled as readers are immersed in the story of Kat Darby as she learns to cope with the loss of her first love.
Two years ago, six lives was forever altered due to a tragic car accident. Three may have survived but the friendship was left torn and created a rift when Zach, Mac, and Kat drifted apart as they went on their separate ways. Each of them were left with physical and emotional scars as a daily reminder of the three friends they lost that day. For Kat Darby, losing the love of her life, Dan was just like death itself. It left her broken. Shattered beyond repair. His death and memories will forever haunt her because Kat Darby may have lived that night of the accident but she was slowly dying inside with her grief, denial, and anger. Anger the she lived. Anger that her friend Mac was able to move on. Anger that Zach was no longer physically the same. Anger at herself for letting go of Dan's hand. As anger and denial consumes Kat, will she ever find it in herself to live again?
"I wanted to be the reason you started living again."
When Kat returns back home after a year of running away, she comes face to face with Dan's younger brother, Brian. As much as she tries to avoid him, Brian worms his way into Kat's good graces. He allows her to see that there is much life to live and not to waste a single moment of it because Dan would hate that for her. As Brian and Kat begins to spend more time with each other, feelings begins to develop and that scares Kat because she feels it as a betrayal to Dan. Can Kat learn to let go of Dan and love again? Can a shattered moment and heart be put back together again?

When Kat returned back home, Brian wanted to be the person that Kat leaned on for support. He wanted to be her friend. And in a sense, he wanted to be so much more since he holds a special place in his heart for Kat. I absolutely loved Brian's character. He was sweet, understanding , patient, and the right person she needed in her life. Together, they were able to find healing and closure but most importantly Brian allowed Kat to feel again and erase all the sad memories.
"Is it wrong your face has already started to replace his? That you're the last person I think of before I go to sleep and the first thing I think about in the morning? Is it wrong I resent the memories for making me sad when ones about you have the power to make me so happy?"
The friendship and chemistry between Kat and Brian was so tangible and palpable that you couldn't help but root for Kat to realize that she can learn to love again. Soon the anger that Kat had bottled up was no longer an issue once she learned to accept that this crossroad in her life just took an alternate route. A route to start all over again. Heal. Rebuild friendships. And most importantly to love again.
I loved how Ms. King poured so much heart, emotions, and soul into A Shatterd Heart. This book was brimming with raw emotions and intensity that I felt every ounce of pain, heartbreak, anger, hope, loss, hurt, and love coursing through the book. A Shattered Heart is just not an ordinary love story but a story that inspires healing, hope, love and second chances. I love a book that can make you FEEL the raw and vulnerable aspect of loss, grief, regret, and emptiness. Ms. King did an amazing job with this book as she was able to juxtapose and weave elements of love, heartbreak, anger, second chances, and acceptance. Ms. King was able to showcase a book that reminds us all that nothing is truly shattered. A broken piece can be glued and pieced back together. A heart can heal. And the biggest glue to piece back the shattered pieces is LOVE. Love can truly heal and Ms. King reminded us all to not lose sight of hope. A hope that second chances and new beginnings exists. There is no hurt so great that love can't heal it. So if you are looking for a book that is so gripping, poignant, heartbreaking and yet profound then I highly recommend you to read A Shattered Heart by Tiffany King.

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