Severed Heads, Broken Hearts by Robyn Schneider: The Review

Severed Heads, Broken Hearts

by 

Robyn Schneider

Title: Severed Heads, Broken Hearts

Author: Robyn Schneider

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Buy This Book: Amazon

Seventeen-year-old Ezra Faulkner believes that everyone will experience their own personal tragedy. For Ezra, the junior class president and captain of the tennis team, this comes in the form of a careless driver slamming into his car; shattering his knee, his tennis dreams and his seemingly perfect life. Ezra no longer feels like he is part of his popular crowd of friends or the life he was living before the accident. When he returns to school he finds himself falling back into a friendship with Toby Ellicott, the boy, who up until his own personal tragedy age twelve, used to be Ezra's best friend. Through his friendship with Toby, Ezra finds himself signed up to the debate team, hanging out with Toby's eccentric friends and getting to know the mysterious new girl, Cassidy Thorpe. Soon Ezra is beginning to see that maybe his accident didn't destroy his life but actually helped to really start it.

I loved this book. L.O.V.E.D it! 

To the point where I really just want to be able to scream that at people but I'm not sure that's appropriate. I was actually really excited when I received this book at work because when I had read the back I thought it sounded ridiculously interesting. So I was happy to find that this book didn't leave me disappointed and actually made me fall in love with it! 

Now I am really trying to do a review of this book that doesn't just have me screaming at you all through the blogosphere READ IT!!! Even if that is all my brain is telling me to do right now. So I shall at least try to coherently write down some of my thoughts and feelings on this book; because I really do have a lot of them. 

I have to start off by saying that thanks to this book I now have a new author to look out for. As soon as Robyn Schneider releases another book I will be buying it. So I guess I will be virtually stalking her in order to catch any mention of a new book. The cover of the book shows part of a review from Publishers Weekly that says "I couldn't help but think of John Green's novels - I think his fans will eat this up.". As a fan of John Green I do have to agree with that, I did eat it up. I loved the fact I found another author who manges to write characters that actually make me laugh out loud (even if this does get you odd looks from people on public transport).

This book had me laughing right from the beginning. The story of how Toby met his moment of tragedy was so hilarious to me that I choked on the juice I was drinking and almost spurted it out of my nose. I wish this were not true, and my poor burning nostrils at the time also really wished it wasn't true but it was. I think I was guaranteed to love Toby after that, and I did, I really did. I think that was one of the reasons I loved this so much; it gave me so many characters to love. Which is something I really adore in a book, I mean it's part of the reason I will always hold Harry Potter so dear to my heart. While we are talking about loving characters I must say:

Cassidy Thorpe, I love thee.

Cassidy Thorpe had me as a fan the minute she turned up to the debate tournament in a Hogwarts uniform. I could picture it so clearly and I adored her for it. I think the debate group as a whole was one of my favourite things about this book. I enjoyed all their back and forth, their quick witted jokes and the crazy things they got up to. I am jealous that I don't get to go to the Floating Movie Theatre, which are film screenings that are held in secret in different locations of their school. As I was reading it I was just thinking that it sounded ridiculously epic and that I wished I could go.

If I had to say one thing I didn't like about it, it would probably be the end. I saw the revelation coming and it just didn't end how I wanted it to. I guess I was left feeling dissatisfied with it. I think it's partly to do with the fact I am still reeling from the Dexter finale and I just want something, anything, to end how I want it to end!

This book had everything that I needed and the fact it didn't end the way I wanted it to didn't make me love it any less. I would highly recommend it and urge you to all go out and read it. I loved the fact the characters had me laughing from beginning to end, they all had such individual personalities which most books I have read lately have been seriously lacking. If you read or have read it I would love to hear what you thought.

4/5 Stars

P.s. I  must admit to over thinking some things way too much when reading a book. Ezra has a poodle named Cooper who he got from his aunt when he was nine and the dog was eight. Now at age sixteen the dog is still running about, chasing rabbits and this bothered me. I'm sitting there thinking that poodles average twelve years and that it is highly unlikely it would be so fit and healthy. This actually bothered me for about another three chapters and I suddenly realised: I THINK TOO MUCH!