Brook Lyn named after the prettiest city in New York, according to her sometimes overbearing mother was a licensed health counselor, not a real doctor as she kept admitting to herself and others but knew enough about the field to offer advice to couples in, “The Break-Up Doctor”, by Phoebe Fox. Brook’s best-friend Sasha was one of her biggest clients always calling her in the wee hours of the night trying to get help for messing up yet another broken relationship. Brook never minded helping her best-friend who was more like a sister to her because she felt lucky enough to have found her sweetheart of a boyfriend Kendall after her messy break-up with Michael and she just wanted Sasha to find that same happiness.
Her life seemed to be finally getting back on track after being ditched by her fiancé. The practice she created was finally gaining some attention, her family was supportive (at least her father was), and Kendall had asked her the big questions, “Will you move in?” and even though she was not quick to respond she was running out of reasons not to.
Brook always prized herself of being calm and in control of her surroundings. Little did she she was going to rely on those two traits heavily over the course of the next few months to try to keep her sane from the craziness. First being her office being torn apart in front of her eyes next her mother and father taking a break from their marriage and lastly she had to deal with yet another unforeseen breakup, this time from her seemingly perfect boyfriend Kendall.
Through this dramatic whirlwind of emotions Sasha was able to help Brook get a new job working as a writer on the newspaper’s advice section as a breakup guru. Brook’s popularity was growing she was getting new clients, helping people, saving money to build up her practice again and all thanks to her new persona, “The Break-Up Doctor”, but still no self-counseling was helping her from following the advice she constantly gave others; don’t go crazy, don’t stalk, be direct, and then move on.
It is interesting to witness someone’s journey of rationale living slowly withering away and loosening the chains that she created to protect herself from living on instinct rather than logic.The Break-Up Doctor was nicely laid out but but without a complex story-line it falls kind of short of greatness. I felt like I finished the book before I understood who all the characters really were. I knew their names, descriptive looks, and one word adjectives to ascribe to them but I wish I saw more character development. I enjoyed this book and if you are looking for an easy read with your morning coffee, this is perfect.
Rating: 4/10
Source: NetGalley
Publication: June 10, 2014
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