Broken Beautiful Hearts

December 11, 2017
Peyton Rios thinks that receiving a letter from her first-choice college to play Division I soccer is the start of a perfect day. But things go south after she confronts her boyfriend, Reed, about his use of steroids as a shortcut to becoming a professional mixed martial arts fighter. Reed loses his cool and pushes her down a flight of stairs, wrecking her knee and destroying their relationship. Soon after, Peyton’s mother insists that she move away to live with her uncle. The only things on Peyton’s mind are recovering from her injury and getting ready to play soccer in college, but her plans are derailed when she meets Owen, an MMA fighter like Reed who has his own secrets. Garcia’s suspenseful romance will keep readers turning pages, eager to find out if Peyton is vindicated and ends up with the right guy. Amid steamy moments and swoony descriptions of falling in love, Garcia (The Lovely Reckless) tackles a serious issue head-on, drawing from her own experiences with an abusive boyfriend. Ages 15–up. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House.

YA veteran Garcia (The Lovely Reckless, 2016, etc.) gets hearts racing with a well-paced novel of romance and the sweet science.Peyton is a biracial (Cuban-American and white) high school senior in Washington, D.C., who was just offered a spot to play soccer for her top-choice university program when an injury turns all her plans on their heads. This was no accident on the pitch, though: Peyton was pushed down a flight of stairs by her abusive mixed martial arts-fighting ex, landing on her knee. In the aftermath, in which her ex denies any wrongdoing and she receives anonymous threats, Peyton escapes by moving in with a beloved uncle and his twin sons in rural Tennessee. Though her hope is to focus on school and healing, fate has other plans as another up-and-coming kickboxing and MMA fighter, Owen, becomes an inescapable presence in her life. Peyton is wary of fighters and even more dubious about her own instincts, struggling with anxiety and post-traumatic stress related to her father's death and her own assault. Though some readers may find the frequent alpha-male posturing thrilling and romantic, it becomes tedious after the third testosterone-fueled fight takes place only halfway through the book. If the reader can stick out the brooding and violence, the conclusion is satisfying. Owen is white and there is diversity among the secondary characters.A tense buildup with a suitably happy ending. (Sports romance. 15-18)

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March 1, 2018
Grades 10-1 After Peyton discovers her MMA fighter boyfriend is using steroids, their confrontation goes terribly wrong. Reed pushes Peyton down stairs, shattering her knee and ruining her dreams of a college soccer scholarship. What's more, no one believes the truth about Reed, including his sister and Peyton's best friend. While Reed becomes more frantic and stalks Peyton, her mom uproots her to small-town Tennessee to recover. There she meets Owen, a boy with secrets of his own, and finds herself drawn to him, despite knowing she should stay away. Peyton is a strong, well-rounded character dealing with grief over her soldier father's death and recovering her soccer dreams. The supporting male cast is full of testosterone, ready to fight at a moment's notice, even when the girls tell them they can handle themselves. Lots of fists fly as arguments and fights over relationships happen, and Peyton and Owen's relationship is more lust than love. But the overall theme of overcoming past injury and rebuilding your life is strong and worth reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Peyton's dream of playing college soccer is jeopardized when her 'roid-head boyfriend Reed, a mixed-martial-arts fighter, shoves her down the stairs then denies it. With her knee wrecked and Reed stalking her, Peyton leaves DC for small-town Tennessee, where a new relationship awaits--and where mean-girl cheerleaders are annoyingly clichid. Still, the suspenseful romance targets serious subjects: domestic violence, steroid use, grief.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)