BOOKS

Welcome to the first-ever edition of Chloe’s Book Club—a new community for book lovers from Chloe Lukasiak and Girls’ Life magazine.

We’re *so* excited you’re here. Each month we’ll be reading, discussing and obsessing over a new book; so if you haven’t signed up already, be sure to CLICK THIS LINK and officially join the club. (We’ll email you with Chloe’s Book Club updates, reading guides, special contests and giveaways, event invitations and more.)

Wondering *exactly* how Chloe’s Book Club works and what it means to be a member? There are so many ways you can get involved—whether it’s solo, on social media or with your whole squad.

Here's a quick guide to everything you'll find inside this post (and beyond). Just remember, *major spoilers* are ahead (so look for the spoiler ratings before you read!).

BROKEN BEAUTIFUL HEARTS — THE BOOK CLUB AT-A-GLANCE
+ The Recap
+ Chloe's Commentary
+ The Party-Planning Guide and Chloe's Discussion Questions
+ The Giveaway
+ Details on how to participate
+ Buy the book — and get 15% off with our B&N discount code!

Our February installment of Chloe’s Book Club stars Broken Beautiful Hearts, a contemporary YA romance from bestselling author Kami Garcia. (You might know her from the Beautiful Creatures series or The Lovely Reckless.)

Broken Beautiful Hearts is a butterfly-inducing love story; and it’s also a thrilling, heart-pounding look at what it means to feel broken—and how to put yourself back together again. It’s about second chances and starting over. And it’s about the importance of honesty—with others, but most importantly, with yourself.

Want to snag a copy? Head over to Barnes & Noble and use the code chloereads at checkout to get 15% off the book from now through February 28, 2018. Want to print a coupon and take it to your local B&N store? Click here to download.

Ready to get started? Read on...

[Spoiler level: Moderate]

Peyton’s story begins with a *potentially* perfect day.

When the high-school senior and soccer star receives an offer to play at her first-choice college, she’s elated—and she can’t wait to tell her best friend, Tess, and her boyfriend, Reed (who happens to be Tess’s older brother). But her thrilled feelings start to fade when she realizes that something’s not quite right—and she just can’t put her finger on exactly what’s wrong.

A dramatic day leads to a party that Peyton never wanted to attend in the first place; a party where she discovers the dark secret that her boyfriend has been hiding; a party where she is pushed down a flight of stairs when she confronts him.

Peyton feels Reed’s palm slam against her chest; she sees the rage in his eyes when he stares down at her. But nobody saw what happened—and nobody, including Peyton’s own best friend, wants to believe her.

Her knee is shattered—and her soccer scholarship is in jeopardy. With her athletic future on the line—and a storm of harassing calls and texts haunting her at home—Peyton goes to stay with her uncle and focus on recovery in a small Tennessee town.

At her new school, Peyton’s plan is to keep her head down and heal—which isn’t easy when her twin cousins (and de facto bodyguards) are two of the tallest football stars on the high school team. Or when she accidentally falls into a feud with the town’s resident mean girl (whoops) or catches the eye of a notorious jerk (ugh).

But when Peyton meets Owen—by literally bumping into him, twice—everything changes. There’s something slightly mysterious about this classmate; but there’s also an instant attraction and kindred connection that neither can ignore.

The problem? Peyton doesn’t trust her heart anymore. It wasn’t just her knee that was broken that day: Her sense of trust in others—and herself—was shattered, too. How could she have been so blind to what her ex was capable of? And if Reed could hurt her…couldn’t anyone? Including Owen?

The series of events that follows brings Peyton and Owen closer together—whether she likes it or not—and puts them on a direct collision course with her past. All the while, they’re *both* keeping major secrets from each other—and when all the truths are finally revealed, Peyton has to decide if love is worth fighting for.

[Spoiler level: High!]

"There’s so much I loved about Broken Beautiful Hearts—but overall, I just found it to be extremely #relatable," says Chloe.

"Let’s start with the mean girls that Peyton was up against—a very typical thing to deal with in high school (or just in general). If you don’t know me already from Dance Moms, let me explain that I grew up as what I can best describe as an “introverted nerd.” I had an incredibly hard time sticking up for myself—and that’s why it was so inspiring to see Peyton not shy away from the bullies. She wasn’t looking for a fight and she wasn’t the one to start it—but she stood her ground and I really admired that.

"And then, of course, Owen. Owen! I loved Peyton and Owen together and really appreciated that they had to work for their relationship. (I find that in a lot of books, the characters seem to immediately just know that they’re supposed to be together and don’t have many obstacles to overcome.) But it’s normal to have struggles, and Peyton and Owen had plenty on their path to true love.

"I also really identified with another one of Owen’s struggles: asthma. (Pssst: I’m not going to say *too* much about his full condition here in case you haven’t read the book yet.) Anyway, asthma is, unfortunately, a somewhat common disease—but that doesn’t make it any less painful. As someone who suffers from asthma…it’s awful. So I was really excited to see that Kami Garcia used Owen’s condition to shine a light on asthma and how it affects the lives of the people who have it; it made me feel even closer to the book.

"A few more random thoughts:

"The twins! They were a nice breather from the heavy plot of the rest of the story and I found them to be extremely entertaining.

"I loved Grace—she is such an adorable character. I was rooting for her and Cameron to end up together!

"And then let’s bring it back to Peyton again. She was such an admirable character and one of the things I really loved was her strength: being pushed down a staircase by her ex-boyfriend…having a majority of her friends turn on her…moving to a new town and a new school…and having to work twice as hard to maintain her scholarship at UNC. Not to mention that her dad passed away just a few years ago. But through it all she remained a kind person and was so determined just to keep her life in motion—it was extremely inspiring.

"The endings of books and movies and TV shows always make me so emotional. I normally end up crying but, after finishing this story, I felt happy and motivated. Overall, I thought this was an excellent book—and I’ll definitely be re-reading it in the future.

"Can’t wait to hear what you thought of Broken Beautiful Hearts, too. Scroll down for a list of ways to get involved—and thank you so much for being part of my Book Club!"

Ready to chat about the book? CLICK HERE to head over to our party-planning guide, where you’ll find easy instructions for hosting a book club meet-up with your crew. Plus, check out Chloe’s list of discussion starters—use them at your book bash or get a digital discussion going in the comments.

One book-loving babe will score the *ultimate* Chloe’s Book Club merch pack, including a Chloe’s Book Club mug, notebook and notepad...plus, a copy of Broken Beautiful Hearts signed by Chloe *and* author Kami Garcia! Oh, and did we mention the gift card to Barnes & Noble? YAS.

Ready to enter—and, fingers crossed, win? Here's how: 1) CLICK HERE to sign up for the Chloe’s Book Club newsletter (you must be on the newsletter list to win!). 2) Make sure you're logged into your GL account, then scroll down to the bottom of this post and click on the pink "Enter" button as many times as you want between now and February 28 at 11:59pm EST. 3) We'll announce one winner right here on Thursday, March 1. Good luck!

So you've read the book and you're ready to talk all things Broken Beautiful Hearts? Here's a quick list of ways you can get involved in the club...

+ ON OUR WEBSITE. Head over to the party-planning post here, then read through the discussion questions and post your own responses or thought-starters in the comments.
+ ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Share your thoughts on Broken Beautiful Hearts using the hashtags #chloesbookclub and #brokenbeautifulhearts on Twitter and Instagram. (Just remember: You have to have a public account for us to be able to see and respond to your posts!)
+ SOLO. Take your personal reading game to the next level by using Chloe's discussion questions as a guide for your own journaling and personal reflection. If you love to read, it could be fun to start a special book diary where you keep track of all your favorite novels—and the personal musings they inspired.
+ WITH YOUR CREW. Host an IRL book club party, of course! Check out the "party-planning guide" section above for deets and links. 

Our besties at Barnes & Noble are hooking you up with two ways to get 15% off your copy of Broken Beautiful Hearts—so be sure share this exclusive offer with all the babes in your book club! Here's how to snag the savings—whether you shop online or at your favorite B&N store.
+ SAVE ONLINE. Click here to find the book on the B&N website. When you get to checkout, type in the code chloereads and hit "apply." Proceed with checkout as usual.
+ SAVE IN THE STORE. Click here to download your 15% off coupon. Print it out, then take it into the store and use it at checkout.

And...that's it! Click the pink button below (you must be logged in) to enter the giveaway. Good luck, book clubbers! —Chloe and the CBC team

by Chloe Lukasiak + The Chloe's Book Club team | 2/6/2018