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!
Some sixteen-year-olds babysit for extra cash.
Some work at the mall.
Becca Williamson breaks up couples.
Becca knows from experience the damage that love can do.
After all, it was so-called love that turned Huxley from her
childhood best friend into a social-world dictator, and love
that left Becca's older sister devastated at the altar.
Instead of sitting on the sidelines, Becca strikes backβfor
just one hundred dollars via PayPal, she will trick and
manipulate any couple's relationship into smithereens. And
with relationship zombies overrunning her school and
treating single girls as if they're second-class citizens,
business is unfortunately booming. Even Becca's best friend,
Val, has resorted to outright lies to snag a boyfriend.
One night, Becca receives a mysterious offer to break up the
most popular couple in school: Huxley and the football
team's star player, Steve. To succeed, she'll have to plan
her most elaborate scheme to dateβstarting rumors,
sabotaging cell phones, breaking into carsβ¦not to mention
sneaking back into Huxley's good graces. All while fending
off the inappropriate feelings she may or may not be having
for Val's new boyfriend.
No one said being the Break-Up Artist would be easy.
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