Beautiful Wreck by Larissa Brown
Beautiful Wreck
Synopsis:
In a bleak future built on virtual reality, Ginn is a romantic who yearns for something real. She designs environments for people who play at being Vikings. But when her project goes awry, she’s stranded in the actual 10th century, on a storybook farm in Viking Iceland.
Heirik is the young leader of his family, honored by the men and women who live on his land. But he is feared and isolated because of a terrible curse. Ginn and Heirik are two people who never thought they would find a home in someone else’s heart.
When forces rise against them to keep them apart, Ginn is called on to decide—will she give up the brutal and beautiful reality of the past? Or will she have the courage to traverse time and become more of a Viking than she ever imagined?
Review:
Beautiful Wreck was an alright story, though I almost did not make it through the first chapter. It was my one book club pick for this month and the only reason I did get past the first chapter is the ladies in book club said it got better. Thankfully it did.
The book opens with Jen/Ginn in the future world. The first chapter was horrible. I honestly did not think I would make it through to the second chapter. It was so confusing I had no idea what was going on. I kept re-reading parts trying to figure out what was happening. Really if not for book club I would have just put it aside and never picked it up again. One of the very few books that I wouldn't have finished after starting it. I finally just skimmed the first chapter since it was taking me forever to get through. Then chapter two she goes back in time and from there it gets much better. I liked the back in time parts, I did not like the future parts. They were just not good.
Once Ginn goes back in time she almost instantly is drawn to Heirik. I really liked Heirik. I loved how he was described like a raven and such. He was a great character. Ginn though I never really felt like I knew. I knew she was in love with Heirik, but I don't really know why. I just never really felt like I knew her and she told instead of showed a lot. Heirik though, even though the story is told from Ginn's POV, I felt like I knew him. He really made the book for me.
I did enjoy the setting also. I enjoyed Ginn learning new things and seeing the day to day life on the farm. I did enjoy the romance between Ginn and Heirik even if I did not understand Ginn all the time.
The biggest issue with this book though? The placement of breaks. There were breaks when there shouldn't have been, in the middle of scenes, but no breaks when there should have been so it just went from one scene to the next. It was confusing, especially at first. Ginn would be in the house talking to the ladies, then the next sentence she is riding a horse without a break. I was just like wait a minute, she was in the house just now right? Things like that really disrupted the flow of the story. It took me a minute each time to figure out what was going on and get back into the story. The breaks in the middle of scenes weren't as bad. It just made me pause and think why are they here?
So the story, after the first chapter, was pretty good. Interesting and a good read. I the end was a little...not as good as I had hoped. I hoped to see more of them being together, making their life together. It was just a bit disappointing. Not necessarily bad, I just wanted more. Overall a good read, and with the editing changes it would be a better read.
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