corny, boring, no surprises

Me giving this two stars hurt because in all reality I enjoyed the characters. They were all very real in their struggles. I specially liked Maddy, who I felt was very realistic. I also like how inclusive this book was, featuring a variety of LGBT+ and also people on the spectrum. With that being said I cannot bring myself to give this more then two stars cuz the plot itself was just very hokey pokey. The happenings in the book were just vastly forgettable and the final culprit was just extremely predictable. Sadly the author feels the need to reference this character a million times when they’re supposedly not part of the equation. Plus it’s really quite simple: if you think about it there’s only one person who could know everyone’s secrets and how to hurt them. Also the ending was SOOOOOOOO dragged out I was so over it. That being said there is one part with Maddy that was stunning, very well written and a great idea overall of how to play up her main issue and make you nervous about it, while also developing her character. In conclusion this is about a 2.5 in reality but since Good Reads doesn’t allow half ratings I decided to give it a two star just cuz I felt the plot was way too uneven and the setting way too cliche. The author could have made it work, but then the things the characters would say to one another were also super cliche and forced so I decided to bring it down instead of up when deciding between 2 or 3.

Even If We Break is a thriller about 5 friends who visit their friend's cabin to play a RPG when things go horribly wrong. I had a lot of hope going into this book but ended up being quite disappointed. One thing I loved was the queer and autistic representation but other than that the book lacked substance. The book is split into (5) different POV's but it's unorganized. In some chapters the characters go on about things not relevant to the plot and often repeat certain things such as their feelings towards each other and the situation at hand. Over and over and over. It gets boring. There was also little to no character development. The characters remained ultimately the same as they were at the beginning of the story. Then there's the plot itself. The plot twist was obvious from the beginning. Although that's not necessarily the sign of bad storytelling, it made me lose my interest in the story. And again the repetition did not help this book in any way, instead dragging it out to lead to a lackluster reveal and unsatisfying ending. The villain and their motives lacked depth and the characters reactions to the big reveal was short and underwhelming.

I really enjoyed the premise of this story, but unfortunately for me the characters didn't really do it for me. I am a bit of a character-driven reader and if the characters in a book aren't great, I'll enjoy the book a lot less. I also wasn't really a fan of how flashbacks were just inserted into the story at random (I know that's how they often work, but it didn't really work in this story imo) because they completely took me out of the story. What I did love, though, was the role playing element of this story and honestly I wish there had been more of that (view spoiler)[I mean I know why it stopped, but honestly I could read a book about these characters doing a round of their role playing game without any of the drama happening (hide spoiler)] (view spoiler)[The one thing that kind of made me lower my rating, was the reveal of the villain. I suspected Liva from the moment she disappeared, but I was willing to believe something actually happened to her. When it was revealed that it was in fact her, I just felt kind of disappointed, especially after she revealed why she did it. It was just absolutely ridiculous, wow. (hide spoiler)] So yeah, awesome premise but it just fell a bit flat for me due to the characters.

2/5 stars and trust me when I say that is GENEROUS. Cheers to you if you enjoyed this book, but I could barely get through it. Call it whatever you want, but if I start a book, I need to finish it. I rarely dnf and I wish I was a person capable of it. Did I need to continue reading this book even after I realized 100 pages in that I hated it? No, absolutely not. With that being SAID, I did push through and realized… I still fucking hate it. All the characters were written so similarly that countless times I had to go back and check who I was reading about. The “twist” was very predictable and the villains motives were so bland. Not to mention, so much of it felt forced. I am all on board for trans/disable/autistic/etc character representation, but holy shit please do them justice. Author made everyone so boring and cliché that I was rolling my eyes throughout the entire thing. Even after the main twist at the end, we had chapters that were pretty much the same thing written out three separate times to fill more pages. Whenever something slightly interesting happened, I was thrown into a mediocre backstory that did little for the plot. In my opinion, if an entire novel is going to be about just ONE DAY, it should be detailed and action packed… this was not it. Just skip it, I promise.

I'm honestly surprised by the reviews I've seen after finishing this book because I thoroughly enjoyed it and even stayed up late to finish it!! This book was exactly what it said on the tin in the best way possible. I thought the plot was intriguing and exciting, the characters gripped me until the end, and my heart was pounding at some of these scenes because I was worried more characters would start to die. I think this is a great thriller and a good quick read that will hold you and refuse to let go until you see how it ends. The unfolding of the interpersonal relationships and backstories of each character not only helped the book shine but helped drive the plot and motive forward for several characters and it felt like everything came together nicely. I definitely want to read Marieke Nijkamp's other books now because this one I'll be thinking about for a few days!

“Asking for help isn’t failure, it’s strength. It means you trust yourself enough to be flawed and to learn. Because here’s the secret: You don’t have to be infallible. You don’t have to know it all. No one is and no one does.” I just wanted to share this specific quote because it really hit me and made me do some thinking. It’s so important to allow yourself to be vulnerable and accept our flaws so we can receive and ask for help when needed. The only reason I didn’t rate this book higher despite loving how it was written and the characters that were represented (especially trans and nonbinary characters being the main focus for the romance aspect of the plot - which I hardly ever see in books) was the fact that I knew who was behind the killings from the get-go. However, I still really enjoyed this book and would read again.

Tbh I kinda wished they all died, not because I disliked them, but because I just wanted them to shut up and focus on the fact someone is, you know, trying to murder them? Also props for the author for literally telling the reader who the killer is, must be D&D school of subverting tropes.

sucked dick! it was so bad omg. i was bored the entire book and it was kinda cringe. only reason i gave it one star is bc it had a lot of representation which was cool

This book sounded so good to me, but I ended up really hating it. I felt like the story was all over the place and while there was a lot of stuff happening in the story it just seemed like it dragged on forever.

Even if We Break sounded like an amazing thriller, but unfortunately it let me down. I loved the concept of how it started and the setting. It really kept me at the end of my seat. Unfortunately, around the halfway mark it ended up being more about the characters and their pasts. While this was interesting and I loved this diverse cast of characters, it took away from the game setting, thriller elements and suspense. I guess I just needed more of that!

Let me say this: it is not the greatest, most mysterious and most mind blowing thriller/mystery ever. It is quick to read and I love the writing, what amazed me was character development, life lessons, realisations and wise words that just hit me about anxiety, future, trauma, identy finding. So I don't know for me it just hit personal, that's why I enjoyed it a lot!

Review to come

This was extremely suspenseful, which was just perfect. My attention wasn't completely grabbed throughout the whole of the book, and I felt my attention straining a lot of the time.

This was an incredible thriller that really had me spooked at times. I didn't spend much time thinking about who was behind the things that were happening until about 200 pages in, at which point I figured it out and then later found out I was right. The story was interesting and I really enjoyed it, the way the role play game fitted into the story was really fun. There was a lot of diversity in this small set of characters, which is what drew me into the book in the first place. There's trans rep, nonbinary rep, bisexual rep, chronic pain rep, and autism rep. It was an enjoyable book that succeeded in freaking me out a few times!

I really enjoyed this even though I guessed the identity of the killer but what let it down for me was the ending. I expected a reason for it all but there didn't seem to be one and it was such a shame. All the way through it was really atmospheric and I could definitely see it as a horror/thriller film but it was just that ending. 3 star, 1 star lost because of that end.