Becca Williamson has one job: breaking couples up. From her older sister to her ex-best friend, Becca has seen the dangers of love and knows it must be stopped to at least some extinct which led her to her business. People request the Break-Up Artist (anonymously Becca) to break couples up for money, and she finds a way to pull them apart. Things change when she gets a request to break up her high school's most beloved couple: Huxley, her ex-best friend, and her boyfriend, Steve. While Becca strategizes to break them up, she has to fight her own emerging romantic feelings for someone she can't have.

THE BREAK-UP ARTIST by Philip Siegal just makes me smile. I love the fresh, humorous, and delightfully cynical premise surrounding Becca. Right away, Becca's story makes you want to know more about how she became this 'artist'. The complexity in her character is absolutely beautiful, equal parts heartbreaking and laughable.

What I adore most about this work is the focus on friendship. Romantic relationships of course have an effect on friendships, but it's interesting to see what strengths come from friendships after change. Becca and her friend, Val, face the dreaded love triangle, dreaded not because someone has to choose a significant other but because someone has to decide what friendship means in the end. Other relationships between Becca and Huxley and Becca and her sister are also wonderfully crafted and add so many excellent layers to the story.

If you're in need of some laughs, some tears, and a close look at the power of love, THE BREAK-UP ARTIST should definitely be on your to-be-read list. Philip Siegel has written a powerful, moving, and important novel, and I absolutely love it. I can't wait to see what Siegel writes next!