Review: All the Broken Places

 All the Broken Places by Anise Eden

Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Paranormal, Psychology/Therapy, Suicide

★★☆☆☆
*I received this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
All of Cate’s problems are in her head. That may be her greatest strength.

Cate Duncan is a promising young therapist, dedicated to her work. But after her mother’s suicide, she is seized by a paralyzing depression. To save her job, Cate agrees to enter a program with Dr. Angeline MacGregor, run by her stern son, Ben, and housed in a repurposed church. Cate doesn’t quite understand what the program entails, but she soon learns that the skills she will develop there may not only help her learn how to cope with her own problems, but will also lead her to a much greater purpose.

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Honestly, I didn’t like this book. There were just so many issues I didn’t like.

For starters, the romance. Maybe I’m weird about how I like relationships to be or what I think a relationship needs but, having a reason for liking the person is way up there on my list. What the characters in this book have is lust. They rarely talk without arguing or with Cate thinking about how she dislikes him or what he is doing to her. Then she goes into how she likes him and etc. I just don’t know why she likes him. We are given no reasons. She just looks into his eyes and bam, love.

This also brings me to how I disliked the characters. Cate is very back & forth with things. She is overly dramatic but, considering the stuff she is going through, it makes sense. Then she is told to stop being dramatic. She doesn’t believe in paranormal things even though she has certain powers herself and has used them repeatedly.
Ben really seems socially inept. Or perhaps that is because of the situation he has to deal with, aka a person who keeps trying to leave his program.

The other characters are pretty quirky and interesting but, that is why they are there. I did love Kai although I don’t at the same time because I feel we have to like Kai.

I didn’t feel connected to the story and was really waiting for *something* to happen and catch me. The book seemed mellow and slowly moving to me.

My biggest complaint is how they handled sex. Every time it was brought up Cate would blush. In fact, at one point even Ben was relieved they didn’t have to talk about her friend-with-benefits. As an Adult book trying to talk about some serious issues, I couldn’t believe how juvenile the whole thing was. I’m a firm believer in ‘if it is too awkward for you to talk about, you aren’t old enough/mature enough to do it.’ Seriously, an ‘I’d prefer not to talk about it’ is fine but, to completely shut down even when doctors are telling you it is fine and it was helping you? This is the point of the book where I felt like giving up the book.

As a positive, it is an easy read and goes by quickly. It sheds a positive light on Psychology and how dealing with problems is something people may need help with, and that is okay.

Recommend it? No but, there are quite a few people who really enjoyed this book so, don’t let my opinion keep you from trying it out.

Goodreads