Break to You, Neal Shusterman
Break to You, Neal Shusterman
List: $28.99 | Sale: $20.29
Club: $14.49

Break to You

Author: Neal Shusterman, Debra Young, Michelle Knowlden

Narrator: Elisa Meléndez, JaQwan J. Kelly

Unabridged: 9 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/02/2024


Synopsis

Bestselling author of Scythe and Challenger Deep Neal Shusterman, here with coauthors Debra Young and Michelle Knowlden, tells an intense yet tender story of two teens, trapped in impossible circumstances and unjust systems, willing to risk everything for love—no matter the consequences. Adriana knows that if she can manage to keep her head down for the next seven months, she might be able to get through her sentence in the Compass juvenile detention center. Thankfully, she’s allowed to keep her journal, where she writes down her most private thoughts when her feelings get too big.Until the day she opens her journal and discovers that her thoughts are no longer so private. Someone has read her writings—and has written back. A boy who lives on the other side of the gender-divided detention center. A boy who sparks a fire in her to write back.Jon’s story is different than Adriana’s; he’s already been at Compass for years and will be in the system for years to come. Still, when he reads the words Adriana writes to him, it makes him feel like the walls that hold them in have melted away.This fast-paced, highly compelling tour de force novel exposes what life is like in detention—and reveals the hearts of two teens who are forced to live in desperate circumstances. 

About Neal Shusterman

Neal Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of more than fifty books, including Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award; Scythe, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; Dry, which he cowrote with his son, Jarrod Shusterman; Unwind, which won more than thirty domestic and international awards; Bruiser, which was on a dozen state lists; The Schwa Was Here, winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award; and Game Changer, which debuted as an indie top-five best seller. He is the winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for the body of his work. You can visit him online at storyman.com.

About Debra Young

Debra Young wrote fantasy, science fiction, and horror. She published stories in The Horror Zine, Dark Fire Fiction, Swords and Sorcery magazine, and Black Fox Literary Magazine and was the author of Grave Shadows, a story anthology. Sadly, she passed away due to complications from lupus in 2024.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tami on April 28, 2025

Neal Shusterman co-wrote this novel with Michelle Knowlden and Debra Young. He said it's a sort of Romeo and Juliet in a juvenile detention center. I was sad to find out that Debra died back in March before the publication of the novel. May she rest in peace. This book is a standalone, but I feel like......more

Goodreads review by Creya on September 02, 2024

It was good, but it wasn’t amazing. I definitely should have felt sad at some points, but I didn’t. This was potentially due to the lackluster writing style; I wasn’t sucked in at any point. Adriana and Jon find themselves imprisoned at Compass, a new detention facility designed to assist juveniles......more

Goodreads review by lily ✿ on August 28, 2024

[2.5 stars]......more

Goodreads review by Julie on June 18, 2024

3.5⭐️ rounded up I was expecting this to be more like the other books by Neal Shusterman I have read. It was pretty different but I really enjoyed it. I loved the background info about all of the kids I. The juvenile detention center, and what their daily lives looked like. I liked how the ‘main eve......more

Goodreads review by Shannon on June 28, 2024

Hands down, the most important facet of this book for me was the discussion of the juvenile detention system. The stories of the kids who ended up there were definitely emotionally provocative, and while this is definitely marketed as a romance book (and it does have a romance plot, no doubt!) that......more