Sticks, Stones and a Broken Heart

                Sticks, Stones and a Broken Heart, written by Kevon Brown, is a coming-of-age story that tells the novel of a group of kids with different backgrounds who do a lot of growing up over the course of a few months. The main character, Daniel, is new in town and trying to find his way with new friends and a new school. Unfortunately, a few wrong choices result in a horrible tragedy. I found that the first half of the book dragged on as the reader is introduced to the various characters. A robbery within the first few pages made it seem like I was in for an exciting read but then it drastically slowed down. I understand what the author was trying to do with the characters and storyline but the result, for me, didn’t provide entertainment which is why I read a book. A lot of this is due to the editing. There was no division between scenes so one paragraph would be in one setting and the very next one is entirely different so I was often confused as to where the story was at that moment. The positive thing is that the skeleton of a great story is there, it just needs some meat put on it. The characters are definitely believable and the situations are those of teens today. With a few tweaks to the editing, this book could be a part of a high school reading program.