Title: Another Little Piece of my Heart
Author: Tracey Martin
Release date: December 1, 2013
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 304
Source: Netgalley
Reading level: YA

What if your devastating break-up became this summer’s hit single? In this rock-and-roll retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, music can either bring you together or tear you apart.

At her dying mother’s request, Claire dumps Jared, the only boy she’s ever loved. Left with a broken family and a broken heart, Claire is furious when she discovers that her biggest regret became Jared’s big break. While Jared is catapulted into rock-star status, another piece of Claire’s heart crumbles every time his song plays on the radio.

The summer after her senior year, it’s been months since the big break-up, and Claire is just trying to keep her head down and make it through a tense trip to the beach with her family. But when Jared shows up, and old feelings reignite, can Claire and Jared let go of the past? Or will they be stuck singing the same old refrain?

Another Little Piece of My Heart is an ebook original from Harlequin Teen and I was rather disappointed with it. I’ve come to expect some things from Harlequin Teen’s books: characters that are easy to relate to, hot sexy times, and good writing. While the writing was up to par with Another Little Piece of My Heart, the rest was lacking.

While I enjoyed reading Another Little Piece of My Heart, there was nothing about it that made me love it and in fact, as soon as I stopped reading, I forgot almost everything about it. None of the characters were memorable, the writing was only mediocre, the story was rather predictable and immature, and the romance was not nearly as steamy as I’d hoped.

Claire and Jared seemed too good to be true at the beginning of the book. Their relationship was perfect, except for the fact that Claire’s parents didn’t believe Jared was good enough for Claire. Claire dumped Jared at the request of her mom and her life was ruined from that point on. Jared’s, on the other hand, only got better. Both of them went to different extremes because of their breakup. Claire hated Jared for benefitting from her dumping him and Jared hated Claire for dumping him. Of course that’s not how either of them really felt.

Claire was immature and I felt that she never should have broken up with Jared. Jared didn’t handle things the right way either. They also didn’t handle their reunion very well. They never seemed to grow or learn from their mistakes. There was very little character development throughout the book.

Overall, if you have nothing else to read, pick this one up. Otherwise, I’d say pass. It’s a cute romance but there really wasn’t much else to it.

What others are saying about Another Little Piece of my Heart:

Nick’s Book Blog’s review: “I got out of Another Little Piece of My Heart exactly what I expected ; a cute book that gave me happy feels by the end.”

Swoony Boys Podcast’s review: “Another Little Piece of My Heart has page after page filled with music, first loves, and growing up.”

A Bookish Escape’s review: “Another Little Piece of My Heart, by Tracey Martin, is a beautiful and bittersweet debut about first love, following your passion and dreams, and most importantly being true to yourself.”