Breaking Beautiful

Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf, 2010 Walker & Company

     In a small town in northern Washington a summer tragedy has the whole town reeling and one out-of-place high schooler shattered. Allie grew up all over the world with a military dad, but now that he's retired they live in her mother's hometown. Pacific Cliffs seems like a refuge and a place to call home, but when the hottest guy in school sets his sights on her, her summer friendship with Grandma's neighbor--her only real friendship--is torn away.
     Trip is the town's golden boy: his mom is the heir to the town's fortune, his dad brought the tourist industry in when the town's economy collapsed. He played football and was well-liked, at first his relationship with Allie was like a dream. But soon he either couldn't control his temper or didn't care and Allie became his plaything.
     What he called small gifts, like a cell phone and jewelry, became ways to isolate her from her friends and to keep her tied to him. Soon the gifts became attempts at apologies when he would bruise her and demean her. Allie didn't want to tell anyone--he made sure they didn't see the dark side--no one would believe her.
     But when Trip dies in an auto accident the night of Cotillion and Allie is found on the side of the road bleeding and bruised, Pacific Cliffs mourns its shining star. Everyone wants to know what happened that night: why they were on the cliff road? why Allie survived and Trip didn't? and most of all, why did Trip go over the edge? Allie tries and tries, but can remember nothing more than images of red swallowing her and trapping her.
     Allie struggles to escape the abusive patterns Trip beat her into--self-demeaning, refusal to bring attention to herself, refusal to create friendships and have him hurt the people she loves--and she struggles to remember what happened that night. What does her old friend have to do with it all? Why were they on that cliff road? And why won't the town let her move forward from the darkness?
     Breaking Beautiful is a story of intimate partner abuse, and one that isn't often told. Allie is only saved by the death of her abuser, but in turn trapped by the shell he created for her and the close-knit community he lived in. The story is not appropriate for younger readers, but older middle and high school students can easily relate to the story and will enjoy the mystery that keeps you guessing.