Review: Porcelain Keys by Sarah Beard

Porcelain KeysPorcelain Keys
by Sarah Beard
YA Contemporary
February 11th 2014 by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media  

Summary

Aria's life is full of secrets--secrets about her mother's death, her father's cruelty, and her dream to go to Juilliard. When Aria meets Thomas, he draws out her secrets, captures her heart, and gives her the courage to defy her father. But when tragedy strikes and Thomas disappears, Aria is left alone to transform her broken heart's melody into something beautiful. Porcelain Keys is a captivating love story that will resonate long after the last page is turned.


You can read some excerpts here, here, and here.


    

My Review

I just have to say that I think the title of this book fits the story so well! I also love the cover! It's gorgeous and fits the rustic setting the story mostly takes place in. Okay. Now I can move on to my review...

I immediately connected with Aria from the first pages. I felt for her and the situation she was in. I also fell in love with Thomas. He is sweet, intelligent, attractive, and also willing to stand up for Aria and help her through her grief. He is really there for her and she tries to be there for him. I felt for Jed, Aria's father. I felt like the issues between Jed and Aria actually stemmed a lot because they handle grief in much the same way even though I think they don't realize it. I loved the music and how Aria grows and learns to let go through it. I also loved Devin. He is that charming guy that all girls swoon over and he helps Aria find herself again.

I loved the beginning and the ending of the story the most. I struggled a little with the middle, probably because it seemed like Aria was depressed for some time (kind of like Bella in New Moon except more tears). I also thought Aria and Jed weren't necessarily consistent in their reactions to each other for being father and daughter, especially considering their wonderful past before Aria's mother passed away. Then there is Nathaniel, who I definitely like, but Aria moves in with him and that felt just a little weird to me, although makes sense in the end. However, those would be the only things that I didn't like. Besides those things, I couldn't put the book down and couldn't wait to find out how Aria's story would end. 

To be honest I was a little torn because I loved Thomas and I didn't know what happened and I also loved Devin. They both love Aria, but were in different parts of her life. So, there is a little bit of a love triangle, but not in the normal sense. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, but of course I felt like Aria should be with Thomas because he's the one, but there was no guarantee that the story would go that way since I could see it going either. I don't normally like love triangles, but this one made sense to me. The situation was actually a little messy and emotional. I appreciated that the author didn't try to make things too convenient. I guess the good thing is that I was happy in the end, even though it was a little bittersweet.

I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy reading Contemporary YA or NA!


Content: Clean (There were some abuse and alcoholism references.)

Source: From publisher/author, which did not affect my review in any way.


Is this one you'll be adding to your tbr?

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