The Brokenhearted (Brokenhearted Series #1)

by Amelia Kahaney

Overview

Perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles and Marie Lu's Legend series, Amelia Kahaney's The Brokenhearted is a gorgeous, gritty, and imaginative take on the superhero story. Anthem Fleet, talented ballerina and heir to the Fleet fortune, has always been closely guarded by her parents in their penthouse apartment. Lured by the handsome and dangerous Gavin, Anthem is drawn into the dark and exhilarating world on the wrong side of town. But when the couple runs into trouble, Gavin goes missing and Anthem winds up dead . . . only to awaken in an underground lab with a bionic heart ticking in her chest. Now she can run faster, jump higher, fight better. But the only thing that matters to her is getting Gavin back. And when she uncovers the sinister truth behind those she trusted the most, she is determined to use her newfound powers for the ultimate revenge.

Set in the ruined fictional landscape of Bedlam, a Gotham-like city, this tale of heartbreak and revenge is both gripping and cinematic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062230935
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/09/2014
Series:	Brokenhearted Series , #1
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 5.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Amelia Kahaney is the author of The Brokenhearted. She grew up in San Diego, California, and Hilo, Hawaii. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz, she moved to New York City and received her MFA in fiction writing at Brooklyn College. Her short fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Nonrequired Reading and appears in several literary magazines. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son.

Editorial Reviews

Anthem, with her unwillingness to be just another brokenhearted girl, will likely inspire legions of teenage girls to forget the guys and go kick some butt.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Gorgeously written and richly imagined, this heart–pounding, high–octane novel of suspense, romance, and revenge introduces a stunning new voice in YA fiction as well as a new kind of superhero. You won’t be able to put this one down.

NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Aimee Friedman

An urgent dare–ya through a darkly, wildly imagined future. Go ahead and try to predict the hairpin turns and steep reverses as you race through this sharply–conceived urban odyssey.

Adele Griffin

10/14/2013
In an atmospheric, adventure-laced debut, Kahaney launches a series in which a wealthy ballerina becomes a superhuman vigilante in the corrupt, crime-ridden city of Bedlam. Seventeen-year-old Anthem Fleet falls in love with a boy from the wrong side of town, but he's soon kidnapped and held for ransom. After Anthem suffers an accident that results in a mad scientist replacing her heart with a bionic one, she uses her newfound superhuman speed, strength, and stamina to track down and fight the criminals who have disrupted her life. The further she takes her crusade, the more she becomes a symbol of hope, even as she discovers some uncomfortable truths about Bedlam's secret history. Kahaney's graceful world-building allows the setting to emerge as a character in its own right, while hinting at intriguing developments to come. Strong characterizations and an enveloping plot are only mildly undermined by some light soap operatics and logistical implausibility, with the majority of the narrative fueled by Anthem's steady development as an action heroine. An Alloy Entertainment property. Ages 13–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

12/01/2013
Gr 9 Up—Anthem Fleet, 17, has everything going for her: a wealthy family, a dreamy boyfriend, and a budding ballet career. But just like the dystopian society in which she lives, the teen isn't as perfect as she seems. One night, she and her friend leave their pristine neighborhood and head to the dangerous South Side. There, at a nightclub, Anthem meets Gavin. After an intense, brief romance, they sleep together. In the morning, though, her world changes forever. Gavin is kidnapped and Anthem wakes up in a filthy, blood-soaked laboratory with a jagged scar down her chest and a bionic heart that gives her special powers. But will her new abilities be enough to confront Gavin's kidnappers and save herself? Kahaney has created an uneven package here. On one hand, there are clichés and plot contrivances at regular intervals. For example, Anthem discovers she can float/fly and yet she only uses the talent when it's convenient to the plot. There is also a melodramatic moment when the heroine declares, "I would gladly die here and enter the next world with Gavin." It's rather silly. On the other hand, there are many excellent moments in the writing. For instance, when she is pathetically pining over Gavin, Anthem's friend bluntly tells her, "The world doesn't need another brokenhearted girl." The scenes of Anthem's mother dealing with the grief of losing a child are also particularly moving. Faults aside, with the dystopian angle, the fast-paced action, and the stellar cover, this novel is bound to float/fly off the shelves.—Laura Lutz, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City

School Library Journal

2013-09-01
In a futuristic society solidly divided into the haves and have-nots, a ballerina from a wealthy family finds romance, danger and deception when she crosses class lines. Seventeen-year old Anthem Fleet lives in Upper Bedlam, on the right side of the tracks. The wrong side is the South Side, where poverty is the norm, along with widespread crime sponsored and supported by the Syndicate. Coaxed by her best friend, Zahra, a fun-loving bad girl, she slips out of her family's high-rise penthouse to crash a South Side warehouse party. Here, Anthem meets a tall, chisel-cheeked South Sider named Gavin, and soon, the entranced Anthem is skipping her ballet practices to see him--and drawing the attention of the Syndicate, which kidnaps him from the bed where they lie sleeping. Distraught, Anthem runs through the perilous streets, only to fall off a bridge, suffering fatal injuries. But death is not her end: An underground doctor brings her back to life, illegally implanting Anthem with a mechanical heart that endows her with superhuman powers and enables her to begin a dangerous quest to save Gavin. No matter that no heartstrings will be tugged here; the action and subplots provide a strong and steady force to push readers forward. Some stunning revelations coming out of left field will cause jaws to drop. A ripping if unsubtle page-turner. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews