Title: Kiss of Broken Glass
Author: Madeleine Kuderick
Series: Standalone
Genre: YA Contemporary, Issues
Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
Release Date: September 9th 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: eARC received from publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

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Madeleine Kuderick’s gripping debut is a darkly beautiful and lyrical novel in verse, perfect for fans of Sonya Sones and Laurie Halse Anderson. Kiss of Broken Glass pulses with emotion and lingers long after the last page.

In the next seventy-two hours, Kenna may lose everything—her friends, her freedom, and maybe even herself. One kiss of the blade was all it took to get her sent to the psych ward for seventy-two hours. There she will face her addiction to cutting, though the outcome is far from certain.

When fifteen-year-old Kenna is found cutting herself in the school bathroom, she is sent to a facility for mandatory psychiatric watch. There, Kenna meets other kids like her—her roommate, Donya, who’s there for her fifth time; the birdlike Skylar; and Jag, a boy cute enough to make her forget her problems . . . for a moment.


Books written in verse can either be amazing or can lack something for the reader, and sadly Kiss of Broken Glass left something to be desired. I will say that because this book was in verse it made for a very quick read, just over 2 hours, but sadly I was lacking in some other areas of the book.

This book's theme was cutting and the consequences behind getting caught and continuing to cut. But I do think that there should have been more emphasis on the cutting and why Kenna, our main character decided to start. It is hinted at that there was no real reason behind it and it was just a "club" that these girls were apart of, but I wanted more back story. I wanted to know more about Kenna's life and what made her susceptible to this kind of behavior. I think that was my biggest issue with this book and the way it was written because verse did not allow for me to connect enough with the characters and see deeper into their lives. I wanted more from them and I think that so why I did not enjoy this book as much as I wanted.

Characters for me are very important in any story and I felt in this book that they fell a bit flat for me. I couldn't connect enough to them to feel anything for them as the story went forward. For example there was a small love interest but honestly it felt like nothing happened. I mean they were attracted to each other, but they were in a psych ward and therefore nothing could really happen. I think I would have liked to have had no love interest at all because it took away from the real issue and that was self harm and how that effects every aspect of your life and your friends and family.

I will say that the writing within the verse was beautiful and I thought t flowed very well. I think I just wanted full prose for this kind of story. I felt like it deserved more of an in depth look at its characters and the effects of self harm. I also was a bit disappointed in the end because it was so open ended. There was no real conclusion to this story and I think these characters deserved more of an ending, at least I wanted one. I felt like we were left with too many questions and not enough of a resolution to the problems these characters were facing.