A contemporary romance novel in which main character, Penelope Marx, is introduced to the world of heartbreak, and she realizes that it comes in many more forms than people originally think.
Summer is a time for swoon-worthy romance reads, and that's exactly what I've been up to! While I hadn't had much luck as of late finding fantastic romance reads, I finally found one worthy of the high 4-star rating! This romance novel featured a great story line, a complicated and dramatic love life, and a slow-burning but still heart-wrenching love story. Read on for my review!
‣ The narrator, Penelope (Pen) Marx was downright hilarious in a shy-and-antisocial, awkward way.
Throughout the story, I found myself actually laughing out loud. And honestly, that's pretty awesome that Meg Leder was able to make me laugh like that. It's tough: trying to get your humor understood through a book. And it's tough: the pressure of portraying it in the perfect way so that it doesn't fall flat on readers' "ears" if you get what I mean. Writing humor is a scary thing because it's pretty hit or miss. There's not much in between. And I felt like the narration of Penelope Marx was a complete and total hit. She was a hilariously relatable character to read and it was very enjoyable, adding to the overall appeal of the story.
‣ The love story was absolutely and positively To-Die-For.
The past two contemporary romance novels that I've read this week have been relatively low-rated. And I rated them low because they were missing key aspects of a typical great contemporary romance. One of those key aspects includes the swoon-worthy romance that makes the readers' heart beat faster in the climatic moments and their stomach flood with butterflies when they sense something may be coming. The Museum of Heartbreak had this swoon-worthy, heart-racing, stomach-flooding-with-butterflies romance that I've been waiting for. And that's the feeling when reading a contemporary romance book that I absolutely love. That's what makes the novel turn from an okay read to a fantastic read.
“As I glanced around my room, sliding my dinosaur back and forth on its chain, I though that maybe that was the point--that instead of happy endings, you get beginnings. Hundreds of little beginnings happening every moment, each of them layering into histories deep and tangled and new, histories you count on to remain, no matter what changes the world throws at you.”
‣ It focused on all kinds of heartbreak which I thought was important.
There are so many forms of heartbreak. Sometimes people forget, but heartbreak isn't only about a significant other breaking up with you or leaving you or cheating on you, etc. This story helps people realize that. Heartbreak comes in various sizes and shapes, and one of them is the size and shape of a heartbreak done by a break up, a desertion, or a cheat, but the others include loss (whether it be the loss of a person or thing), and nostalgia (whether it be old, cherished memories, or special souvenirs of a happy past). I loved how this story focused on all the types of heartbreak: objects, dating, memories, and friendship.
‣ Honestly, I love a slow-burning love story, and the effect it has on readers, but maybe this was too slow?
The love story maybe was too slow. Don't misunderstand, I love the wait and I love the angst that comes with that, but this was the type of slow where it seemed like the romance came out of nowhere. It seemed as though the author tried to make it slow and not give things away throughout the novel, but it was so slow that the lack of hints just made it seem as though the love story and the romance came completely out of nowhere.
“Just because someone isn't at their best doesn't mean you write them off forever."
This is a new segment I've decided to add to my reviews. I recently realized that I was adding things to my "What I Disliked" list such as characters or reactions to situations -- But these types of dislikes were GREAT additions to the story and didn't lower my rating of the story, but instead probably caused the rating to be raised in my opinion. There are dislikes I have with many stories such as the writing, instant-love, etc that actually lower my rating, and those are the things that deserve to be added to the dislike list. But"The Rant Review" is a new segment where I will rant about things I didn't like or don't agree with and will tell you what it caused for the rating (whether it caused the rating to go up, down, or stay neutral). Without further ado, let's get on with The Rant Review!
‣ The first love interest (there were kind of two I would say) was certainly and utterly trash.
What Did This Mean for the Rating: This character was so realistic and I related to the way this character acted and treated Pen. Therefore, the authenticity caused my rating to go up.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the fact that Meg Leder created the characters in a realistic way, even if some characters were annoying or just terrible people. This character was one of those people she created to be very unlikable. And she succeeded in making him unlikable. He was a liar and deceitful and just plain awful. I felt sad the main character had to deal with him and the effects he had on her emotions and her confidence in herself.
‣ Cherisse was totally petty, spiteful and just plain awful, and therefore, I guess so was Audrey by association.
What Did This Mean for the Rating: While these two characters were extremely unlikeable, it didn't lower or raise my rating of the story in any way. Sure they made me angry, but not angry enough to where I wanted to lower my rating.
Cherisse was rude to Pen throughout the entire book and did things to her that were unacceptable, even if she was not friends with Pen and didn't owe her a single thing. And Audrey was Pen's friend, but also Cherisse's. But Cherisse did some pretty terrible things, and Audrey stood by her side anyway, even when those absolutely terrible things were directed towards Pen. If I were Pen, then after everything Cherisse had done to me, I would not want to even try to be friends with Audrey anymore if she chose to still be friends with Cherisse after. I just wouldn't even deal with it.
Concluding Thoughts
In conclusion, I was finally impressed with a contemporary romance read that I'd prepared for the summer, so that's good. I have bought a couple more romance novels for the summer and hope to get to those soon, and hopefully they are just as good or possibly even better than The Museum of Heartbreak was! I would definitely recommend this to others looking for a good young adult, summer romance read.
The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder
288 Pages / Paperback
Published June 7th, 2016
Publisher / Scholastic
Rate / ★★★★☆
In this ode to all the things we gain and lose and gain again, seventeen-year-old Penelope Marx curates her own mini-museum to deal with all the heartbreaks of love, friendship, and growing up.
Welcome to the Museum of Heartbreak.
Well, actually, to Penelope Marx’s personal museum. The one she creates after coming face to face with the devastating, lonely-making butt-kicking phenomenon known as heartbreak.
Heartbreak comes in all forms: There’s Keats, the charmingly handsome new guy who couldn’t be more perfect for her. There’s possibly the worst person in the world, Cherisse, whose mission in life is to make Penelope miserable. There’s Penelope’s increasingly distant best friend Audrey. And then there’s Penelope’s other best friend, the equal-parts-infuriating-and-yet-somehow-amazing Eph, who has been all kinds of confusing lately.
But sometimes the biggest heartbreak of all is learning to let go of that wondrous time before you ever knew things could be broken.
