Review of Broken by A.E. Rought

Author: A.E. Rought
Release Date: January 8th, 2013
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
3.5 Stars - I liked it

Synopsis:
Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.

The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

Review: 
I was intrigued by the idea of a modern story telling of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein.   The writing itself is poetic and well done.  The story felt a little flat in the beginning, seeming to be a little to twilight-ish.  Once I got through the first half of the book and the seemingly unending teenage drama, it started to grow on me.  I like to be surprised by books, and I hate predictable endings.  Broken was a little predictable knowing that the boy with the scars was the "Frankenstein", but the true ending and depth to the madness that surronded his death did a great job of surprising me.  I like the writers style of writing.  I even liked the incorporation of the family drama and dialog between the teenage daughter and her mom.  A lot of YA novels leave out the parents and their interactions as if they play no part in the teenagers lives at all. I think it is good to add the interactions to give the story more depth. 
It was creepy, dark and entertaining once you get past the first part of the book, and I did enjoy it. 

Synopsis and Photo Courtesy of Goodreads, and e-ARC provided by Edelweiss