#Thursday Review - Break Me Like a Promise by Tiffany Schmidt (Young Adult, Contemporary)

Series: Once Upon a Crime Family # 2
Format: E-Galley, 416 pages
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

No one is unbreakable.

All Magnolia Vickers has ever wanted was to follow father’s path as head of the Family Business. But new legislation is poised to destroy the Family’s operations in the black-market organ trade and Maggie’s recent behavior has wrecked the business-savvy reputation she’s worked her whole life to build.

She’s given an ultimatum: shape up or step aside.

Then Maggie messes up: she downloads a virus onto her father’s computer, and must sneak it off-estate for repair. When Alex, a tech whiz, uncovers the type of information on the machine, he offers Maggie a choice: her Family can give him a kidney, or he’ll irreparably scramble the data. Maggie agrees, but has no intention of keeping her promise or ever seeing him again. That night Alex shows up at her Family estate with copies of confidential Family files and a shocking revelation—the kidney is for him.

The Vickers aren’t willing to let Alex out of their sight, so he moves onto their estate and Maggie is assigned to be his keeper. A task she resents and he enjoys making as challenging as possible. But procuring black market organs is becoming increasingly difficult, and as Alex’s health declines, she’s surprised to find herself falling for him.

Like it or not, Maggie must accept that if she wants to save Alex’s life and carve out a place in the new legalized organ business, she’s going to have to fight for both.

Tiffany Schmidt's Break Me Like a Promise is the sequel to Hold Me Like a Breath and the second installment in her Once Upon A Crime Family series. This time around the story revolves around 19-year old Magnolia Grace Vickers, the daughter and heir apparent to her families black market organ business. In this world, there are only THREE main families who control the black market organ business; Vickers (Maggie), Landlow (Penny), and Zhu (Ming). 

For those who haven't read the first novel in the series, the story actually takes place FIVE months after Maggie lost the love of her life, Carter Landlow in a brutal massacre that has left the families in shambles. Schmidt does a fairly decent job of summarizing previous events including bring back Penny and Char back for this installment. Maggie is in a very dark place as the story opens. She can't move forward, and she chooses to hide her pain away instead of talking about it. 

Maggie and Carter were lovers, best friends, roommates, and each other's secret crush for years. So many years, in fact, that nobody took Maggie seriously when she claimed she had a boyfriend who she rushed off to see every chance she got. Now that Carter is gone, and her best friend Penelope Landlow is living with a relative in DC, it is up to Maggie to find a way to recover and recover quickly as the fate and future of her families business rides on an Organ Bill slowly making its way through Congress. 

Maggie is given an ultimatum by her father Holt Vickers. Either Maggie can pick herself off the ground, and by all means take off that dirty and disgusting smelling sweatshirt and take a shower! Or, she will get left behind in the shuffle that is sure to be forthcoming. Maggie's determination ends up putting her in a situation where she has to reach out to the most unlikely source for assistance. Assistance that comes with blackmail terms. With the Organ Bill making its way through Congress, Maggie must make her mind up on what side of the issue she will fall.

Organ donation, legal or illegal, is a serious topic folks and one that needs to be handled carefully. Hundreds of people die each year after being rejected by the FDA for everything from disabilities to making honest mistakes. Too often those who are on the waiting list die before the necessary organ is found. Bottom line. There are too many people waiting for organs that just don't exist. 

If you believe in the organ donor system, YOU SHOULD sign up. Get tested today. The life you may save by doing so is an incredible feeling. While I agree that organ swapping should be illegal, I can understand why people look for an alternate route to surviving. I would never, ever blame someone for trying to live longer than what they've been told. 

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*Book Review* Hold Me Like A Breath by Tiffany Schmidt (YA Fantasy)

Series:  Once Upon A Crime Family
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
Release Date: May 19, 2015
Source: NetGalley
Format: E-Book, 400 pages
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Penelope Landlow has grown up with the knowledge that almost anything can be bought or sold—including body parts. She’s the daughter of one of the three crime families that control the black market for organ transplants.

Penelope’s surrounded by all the suffocating privilege and protection her family can provide, but they can't protect her from the autoimmune disorder that causes her to bruise so easily.

And in her family's line of work no one can be safe forever.

All Penelope has ever wanted is freedom and independence. But when she’s caught in the crossfire as rival families scramble for prominence, she learns that her wishes come with casualties, that betrayal hurts worse than bruises, that love is a risk worth taking . . . and maybe she’s not as fragile as everyone thinks. 

Hold Me Like a Breath is the first installment in the Once Upon a Crime Family series by Tiffany Schmidt. 17-year old Penelope "Penny" Landlow lives everyday with the unknown. Due her fragile state, she's been kept away from friends, and she's not allowed to attend public school for fear they might hurt her. On top of everything else, she belongs to a crime syndicate that deals in human organs.

After her parents are murdered, Penny flees the only home she's ever known, and makes her way for NYC. While there, she experiences life for the first time, ever. She learns to explore and watch the routes she takes. She learns to open up to other people, while trying to understand why her parents were murdered. She makes friends while not worrying about her Platelet count. She also gets more than a few shocking surprises.

In the story, Penny's family sells human organs to those that need them the most and can't afford the long wait or FDA approval or denial in order to get a life saving procedure done. Organ donation, legal or illegal, is a serious topic folks. Hundreds of people die each year after being rejected by the FDA for everything including disabilities, and those who are on the waiting list often times die before the necessary organ is found.

Bottom line. Too many people waiting for organs that just don't exist. If you believe in the organ donor system, YOU SHOULD sign up, it could save someone's life. While I agree that organ swapping should be illegal, I can understand why people look for an alternate route to surviving. I would never, ever blame someone for trying to live longer than what they've been told.

Let's call this Penny's personal journey to awareness where she gains strength and insight along the way. I will say that in the beginning, Penny was a bit of a naive girl who tries to break the chains keeping her bound to her castle by her parents who dotted on her and spoiled her like any other rich kid. Not unlike Rapunzel, Penny chafes to do things. She chafes to explore, and enjoy life, and perhaps go to school if her blood counts stay in an approved range. After leaving home, and exploring, and finding out secrets from two separate characters, Penny knows that she must act, and act she does.

So, you want to talk about the romance, do you? Fine. Let's. Introducing Garrett. Garrett is Penny's brother's guardian. He's her friend, and crush. He's also one who makes her heart feel something, but because of his position, they're really not allowed to be together. He tries to get Penny to run away with him, but tragedy strikes. Even though he was complacent at times, he does try to make up for his failures.

Penny later runs into a curious boy who she spends a whole lot of time with her while she's not mourning the fact that she's now an orphan. Penny and "Char" form a bond of sorts, but I dare say it's not love at first sight. In fact, once everything becomes clear who "Char" really is, then you know these two have met before. I can see a girl like Penny falling for Char. Why not? He's the only one who doesn't treat her as though she's going to break if he touches her. He's the only one, minus her brother, who isn't afraid to take her places. He's one of the few people she's met that actually let's her live, and not put her in a box.

One needs to ask questions, lots of questions while reading this story. I need to know if Penny is going to be the lead character in the sequel, or yet another character like Garrett Ward, or Maggie Vickers (who we meet briefly), or Ming Zhu. This question is pertinent if readers are expected to continue with this series. I also think that people who have attempted to read this novel, but gave up early, perhaps should try again. How can you actually formulate a review unless you truly understand the characters involved?

Let's talk about Penny's condition. I can't imagine living with ITP. Can you after reading this? Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys platelets, which are necessary for normal blood clotting. Persons with the disease have too few platelets in the blood. (A normal platelet count ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood).

ITP is sometimes called immune thrombocytopenic purpura or simply, immune thrombocytopenia. ITP occurs when certain immune system cells produce antibodies against platelets. Platelets help your blood clot by clumping together to plug small holes in damaged blood vessels. The antibodies attach to the platelets. The spleen destroys the platelets that carry the antibodies.

**I received this book for free from (Bloomsbury USA Children's) via (NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

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