Fracture ~ Megan Miranda

Author: Megan Miranda
Publication: January 17, 2012
By: Walker Children's
4 STARS! (read this book ASAP)


I love this cover!

Delaney Maxwell should be dead. By all accounts no one survives a fall through ice, spends eleven minutes in freezing cold water without dying or at least sustaining major brain damage, but Delaney does.  What happens in those eleven minutes not only changes Delaney's life, but the lives of everyone around her.   

Fracture is an intense story about life and death, love and loss and the discovery that there is in fact a difference between being alive and truly living.

Delaney and Decker, the boy she's been BFF's with since forever, were on their way to meet up with friends when he decided they should take the shortcut across the lake.  She protested, he scoffed and then he left her to join the others. What happened in the next instant changed both of their lives forever.

Decker and Delaney are always together but they aren't "together" even if kids at school have begun to wonder.  Delaney has noticed that Decker isn't riding the ugly train and she's heard the boys' whispers that neither is she but it's Decker and to think of him as anything other than her BFF would just be weird...right?  But "Decker" is whose name she screams as she falls through the ice and Decker is the one who pulls her out, trying desperately to save her life.  Decker is the one who stays at the hospital anxiously waiting, believing, willing Delaney to wake up. (We *hearts* Decker, just in case you're not paying attention.)  When she finally does, his relief is overshadowed by his guilt which is bittersweet and heartbreaking.  He tries so hard to do what's best for her and their friendship but can feel it splintering more each day.  *swipes tears*

Delaney surprises everyone by not only waking up from a coma after nearly a week but coming out of it seemingly unscathed, at least by all outward appearances. That's short lived when strange things begin to happen inside her body, like how she feels drawn toward the sick and dying.  Her doctor passes this off as a side effect of the eleven minutes she spent under the frozen lake but Delaney knows it's something more.  She feels it like a warning.  Fearing those around her will think she's gone crazy, she decides it's best to keep these "warnings" to herself but that's becoming harder to do.

Delaney's life fractures a little more with each passing day...her relationships with her family and friends; how she views the world and especially how she views herself.  She struggles to piece together who she was with who she is now but nothing makes sense to her anymore and she feels alone, until she meets Troy.  He's mysterious yet familiar and he claims to understand Delaney in ways that no one else can.  (He's also not riding the ugly train.)  She feels a pull whenever he's around and as much as she initially wants to avoid him (and Decker wants her to as well) she can't.  Then there's Decker, who knows her better than she's knows herself, or at least he used too.  He seems to want things to go back to normal but Delaney doesn't know what "normal" is anymore and the closer she gets to Troy, the greater the divide between she and Decker grows.

When the bottom drops out from under her again, Delaney will find herself in yet another fight to survive.  Decker was her savior last time.  Will he be there to pull her through this time or will she be forced to save herself?

*Personal note:  I read this in about 4 hours & when I was finished my initial reaction was: OhMyDECKER!  I LOVED HIM!  *swoon*  I also enjoyed Troy but a girl only has so much room in her heart, ya know?  I'd also stopped after the first chapter to read "Eleven Minutes: Exclusive Tie-In Story (FRACTURE)"  which is from Decker's POV and probably had a little something to do with the TEAM DECKER high.  ;)  Click the link below and then follow the directions.  I promise, you will.not.be.disappointed.

http://www.facebook.com/FRACTUREBYMEGANMIRANDA?sk=app_160430850678443

I also shivered  - literally shivered - through the entire under water scene. This was partly because I fell through ice as a child.  When I was in second grade, a friend and I decided to try and cross a man made pond in our neighborhood (which I didn't really want to do but I went along so she wouldn't call me a chicken. She was older and I wanted to be "cool" like her.)  I took a couple of steps along the edge and the next thing I knew I was under the water and had been pulled into the middle of this pond where I couldn't stand. Thankfully, I was pulled out by a man who was nearby and who'd heard her screams.  Goodness knows I couldn't call for help but I do remember thinking I was going to drown.  I will never forget the feeling of not being able to get warm.  Scary stuff!