Review | Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard

Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard
Series: Beautiful Broken Things #2
Published On: February 7, 2019
Published By: Macmillan
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Pages: 354
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
Rating: ★★★★★
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Two years after a downward spiral took her as low as you can possibly go, Suzanne is starting again. (Again.) She's back in Brighton, the only place she felt she belonged, back with her best friends Caddy and Rosie. But they're about to leave for university.  
When your friends have been your light in the darkness, what happens when you're the one left behind?

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I often find that when you really loved a book, it is very difficult to gather your thoughts in order to give a review that says more than just 'OMG this book was amazing'. However, I will try my hardest.

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up Beautiful Broken Things and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Going into Fierce Fragile Hearts, the follow up to BBT, I expected I would enjoy it. Yet it still managed to pleasantly surprise me by exceeding all of my expectations. 

While various topics are discussed in this book, and the characters are all dealing with their own problems, the core of the book is friendship. We follow the original friendship group from the previous book - Suzanne, Caddy and Rosie - as they face the newest challenge in their friendship. Suzanne has just moved back as her two best friends are leaving for university and this book does a great job of authentically dealing with the challenges that brings. As much as I adore the original friendship dynamic, possibly my favourite thing about this book was the new friendships it introduces. With her friends away, Suzanne builds new relationships. This throws some new characters into the mix and I loved each one of them.

The characters are the real highlight of this book, just as they were in the previous book. They are real, genuine young adults (well, most of them) navigating life and the various challenges and questions that brings. I often find that characters this age are more what an adult thinks they should be, while these characters feel very authentic and, in some ways, remind me of myself at that age. They are all so well developed and each character shows incredible growth throughout the book. Suzanne's characters growth, in particular, is something that greatly contributed to my rating this book 5 stars. I still tear up thinking about the Suzanne we see at the end of this book compared to the girl we see at the beginning, and even more so the one we first meet. I really connected with these characters, which made for an emotional rollercoaster of a reading experience.

Unlike Beautiful Broken Things, this book was written from Suzanne's point of view. To me, this was the perfect idea as so much of Suzanne was a mystery in the first book. It was interesting to learn more about Suzanne and get answers to some of the questions raised in the first book. I felt I understood her character much more and appreciated her struggles, as well as why she makes the decisions she does.

The characters are very much the main focus of this book and progress the story more so than the plot itself. The plot of this book is not action packed or drama filled, but it is full of difficulties and hurdles facing the characters. We get an insight into Suzanne's life as a care leaver and the struggles that come with living independently for the first time, which is something I have never read in a YA novel before. This is real life for many young people and I think it is important to showcase that. 

This book does deal with some tough topics including abuse and attempted suicide. Suzanne also deals with a lot of anxiety and panic attacks are depicted within the book. I felt the abuse and attempted suicide topics were discussed sensitively, however I do not have experience of these to accurately say how well they were handled. As someone who has dealt with anxiety for a long time, though, I have nothing but praise for the way Sara Barnard portrays it within all of her books. This was no exception, I felt the anxiety representation was incredibly accurate and I really felt what Suzanne was experiencing at times.

Overall, this was an wonderfully written, beautiful story of an incredibly strong young woman learning how to live her life after dealing with a horrific past. It features some of the best friendships I have ever read, involving so many fabulous characters that I just want as my own friends. This has firmly placed Sara Barnard as one of my favourite authors, I want to read anything she ever writes.