Title: Every Shattered Thing
Author: Elora Ramirez
Synopsis
Stephanie fights reality every day. The voices inside, the ones declaring her worth, deem her broken, used and dirty. She is an object. A toy. Something to be tossed aside when bored. Who will believe her if she whispers the truth about her wrecking ball of a family? Eventually, her secret explodes and the person who means the most to her knows just how shattered she is and why she's so afraid. But rescue is closer than she realizes. Hidden in plain sight, her horror hasn’t been ignored by everyone. Racing against the truth of what she faces, forces are joining together and developing a plan to free her from the hell in her own backyard. And while she’s at her lowest point, she’s hit with the beauty of love at any cost - redemption in the face of ruin. Will it be enough?
*Warning: Contains mature content that may not be suitable for
younger audiences*
Purchase links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes and Noble
Simone's Review
*ARC received in return for an honest review
This is the second story I have read and reviewed in the last month that I have found very difficult to read due to the subject matter. I am sure, like me, most people that have read Every Shattered Thing will have had their emotions turned inside out and upside down. This is an intense and very broken story and at times made me sick to the stomach wanting to skim over those heartbreaking and horrific scenes, but I'm so glad I stuck with it.
“Oh Sweetie. Oh Stephanie. I’m sorry. I promised, I know. But I couldn’t help it.
Please don’t leave me. Please.” His earnest words aren’t new to my ears; it always happens this way. He drinks, we get hit, he says he can’t help it.
Stephanie's character will stay with me for a very long time knowing that so many vulnerable children, and adults, go through this every day and that's the cold hard truth, whether you choose to ignore it or sit up and take notice this happens in our reality. What is also so very heartbreaking is it can be at the hands of the ones closest to you, the ones who should be caring for you! Loving you! Nurturing You ! Protecting You!!
“He’s right you know. You’re worthless. I wish I would have listened to him from the very beginning. You shoulda never been born. I shoulda aborted you when I had the chance.”
What a knight in shining armour Stephanie found in Kevin. This guy melted my heart & took my breath away. He gave her courage and strength and made her believe in herself, his love for her was unconditional and pure. He was the one that wanted to Care for Her, Protect Her, and most of all Save Her!!
Kevin pulls me up toward him and cups my chin with his hands. "Promise me that no matter what happens you will always remember this night as something beautiful. Where instead of feeling worthless, you feel loved. Instead of hiding in fear, you fought and won. Instead of feeling hopeless, you remembered what it felt like to come alive."
Even though I found the subject matter very hard to read at times I look forward to reading more from Elora Ramirez.
Simone gives this a rating of...
Elora
Ramirez lives in Austin, Texas with her chef-husband. At the age of four, she
taught herself how to read and write, cutting her teeth on books like Dr. Seuss
and writing anywhere she could find the space--including her Fisher Price
kitchen set, the pages of picture books and Highlights Magazine. Since then,
she's grown to love the way words feel as they swell within her bones. Writing
holy and broken is her calling, and pushing back the darkness and pursuing
beauty through story is her purpose. She embraces the power of story and teaches
women from all parts of the world how to embrace theirs. She has a knack of
calling things out, the truth and the detail, the subversive threads that make
a life a story. She loves hip-hop, wishes she lived by the beach and cannot
write without copious amounts of coffee, chocolate, music, and her husband's
lavender liqueur.
Even though I found the subject matter very hard to read at times I look forward to reading more from Elora Ramirez.
Simone gives this a rating of...
Every Shattered Thing -- Playlist
Music is super important to me and my writing.
If a song or album doesn’t
match the flow of my words, it trips me up and I can’t move forward. While I wrote the first draft, I only listened to
Florence and the Machine because she was the only one who could capture some of
the emotion I needed on paper. Then when I started editing, I relied on Explosions
in the Sky and Mumford and Sons and Gungor and The Album Leaf.
Then in January when I decided to rewrite the
whole thing, I knew I needed some new songs to help inspire. This playlist is,
for the most part, chronological with the book. There are a few songs I would
need to find and play at certain scenes, but usually as I re-read they fit
right in with the plot.
You’ll
notice Florence and the Machine still makes it a few times—and for good reason. I explain some of them
below.
1. Shallows by Daughter
2. Breathe Me by Sia
3. Demons by Imagine Dragons
4. Daughters by John Mayer
5. Youth by Daughter --
When I first heard
this song I knew I had to have it on repeat while editing. Everything about
Stephanie—her conflicted
nature, her hope, her despair—it’s all wrapped up
in these lyrics.
6. Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips --
Kevin’s song for
Stephanie
7. My Immortal by Evanescence
8. Yesterday Was Hard on All of Us by Fink
9. Sweet Lorraine by Patty Griffin
10. Afraid by The Neighborhood --
So much here.
This album is so dark and so haunting a lot of the songs found
their way to the playlist.
11. Touch by Daughter
12. Just and Just as by Penny and Sparrow --
another song for Kevin and Stephanie
13. Satellite Call by Sara Bareilles
14. Smother by Daughter
15. Black Bird by Evan Rachel Wood
16. Home by Phillip Phillips --
I would play this
song whenever I was working on a scene where Jude and Emma interacted with
Stephanie
17. Female Robbery by The Neighborhood
18. Human by Daughter
19. Duet by Penny and Sparrow
20. Love Interruption by Jack White
21.Titanium - feat. Sia by David Guetta
22. Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine --
the scene where she walks out of the hospital with her father? PLAY THIS SONG
WHILE READING. ::chills and tears just thinking about it::
23. Heroes and Monsters by Penny and Sparrow --
I
can’t get enough of this song. Stephanie’s impenetrable hope is found in these
lyrics.
24. Winter by Daughter
25. Cough Syrup by Young the Giant
Cosmic
Love by Florence and the Machine --
I can’t say WHEN I’d listen to this song because it totally gives
away some of the plot, but just...trust me. Toward the end of the book, at a
certain scene, I played this song over and over and over and over because it
helped me capture a bit of the chaos mixed with beauty of rescue.
26. Bravado by Lorde --
We all know by now Lorde
is like, 17 years old. I imagine her and Stephanie being friends, writing each
other back and forth in some type of modern day pen-pal program. This song
would be Stephanie’s response.
27. Brothers by Penny and Sparrow
28. Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey
29. Kill
and Run by Sia
30. Lifeforms by Daughter
31. How
by The Neighborhood
32. Patience, First by Penny and Sparrow -- for
the epilogue
33. Patience, Please by Penny and Sparrow -- for
the epilogue
About the Author
Elora
Ramirez lives in Austin, Texas with her chef-husband. At the age of four, she
taught herself how to read and write, cutting her teeth on books like Dr. Seuss
and writing anywhere she could find the space--including her Fisher Price
kitchen set, the pages of picture books and Highlights Magazine. Since then,
she's grown to love the way words feel as they swell within her bones. Writing
holy and broken is her calling, and pushing back the darkness and pursuing
beauty through story is her purpose. She embraces the power of story and teaches
women from all parts of the world how to embrace theirs. She has a knack of
calling things out, the truth and the detail, the subversive threads that make
a life a story. She loves hip-hop, wishes she lived by the beach and cannot
write without copious amounts of coffee, chocolate, music, and her husband's
lavender liqueur.
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Nice review
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