Review: The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten

Title: The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers

Author: Lynn Weingarten

Publisher:  HarperTeen

Publication Date: 12.27.2011

Pages: 352

Genre: Contemporary, Magic

Series: No

Source: ARC from publisher

Rating: B

Summary (from Goodreads):

When her boyfriend breaks up with her on the first day of sophomore year, Lucy has no idea how she’s going to make it through homeroom, let alone the rest of her life. Enter three stunning girls with a magical offer Lucy can’t refuse. All she has to do is get a guy to fall in love with her in the next seven days, and then…break his heart and collect one of his brokenhearted tears. As the girls teach Lucy how to hook a guy (with the help of a little magic), she quickly discovers how far she is willing to go—and who she is willing to cross—to get what she wants.

Review:

Few books literally make me cringe in the first chapter. Not because the book is awful—far from it—but because I already feel so much for a character that when I see she’s about to become horribly embarrassed, I literally pray the author isn’t that cruel. But if Lynn Weingarten had taken more pity on her lead, Lucy, there wouldn’t be this fun and amusing novel.

Oh, Lucy. This poor, misguided girl. She reminded me of this younger cousin I have—annoying, devastatingly naïve, but I can’t not love her. All her quirks and obsessive tendencies could get grating, but there was something about her that made me cheer for her. I wanted her to win and come out of this ordeal a better person. I won’t lie, I sometimes wanted to slap her, but that would be like kicking a puppy.

I love Weingarten’s way of telling a story. It’s light, airy, and refreshingly unencumbered. Her words come across as playful, but look past the superficial craziness and you can see there is a deeper meaning hidden in those words.

I think this book is a solid read for younger teens. Older teens and adults might be a bit put off by Lucy’s juvenile way of thinking, as I almost was initially. I felt I needed to shift my mindset to a younger way of thinking and approach this as a fun, easygoing story. Once I did that, it was smooth sailing and I enjoyed reading it.

Buy: Amazon