Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine

Unlike the beginning of most books, Rowan is not a normal girl. She has all the responsibilities in the house weighing her down. But her world changes when she goes to a shop one day and is told she dropped something by a boy which she knew wasn't hers- a negative.

The next day at school Rowan is greeted by a girl named Bee, who was in the shop also, curious as to what she was given. Bee helps her print the negative and it links to someone from the tragic accident who was now dead, the person who caused her parents to split up, her mum to get depression and ignore her two children, Rowan and Stroma, causing Rowan to have to look after Stroma the whole time. 


At the doctors for their mother, Rowan sees the person who gave her the negative. She is tempted to speak to him but just as she is about to, the boy is called up to fill out a form. He calls out his address loudly so Rowan can hear it. When Rowan and Stroma go to visit Bee, who lives with her single dad Carl and her "brother" Sonny, Bee suggests Rowan should go and visit this boy. Rowan is scared because the road is dangerous with people such as drug takers. Bee tells her to go by riding her bike. Rowan discovers that the boy's name is Harper and he has travelled in a rusty old ambulance all the way from America.


Throughout the story, Rowan still struggles to look after Stroma, lying to her father who doesn't know about the mothers situation. But Rowan gets help from Bee and her family.


As Harper and Rowan become closer, she discovers lots of new things about the one in her family she had lost, she thought Bee didn't know him, but it turned out she was very incorrect. She also finds out that Sonny is not actually Bee's brother, but someone who makes Rowan and Stroma close to him. 


Meanwhile, Rowan and Stroma's mother continues to struggle without her son and takes her own life. Luckily, she was taken to the hospital early enough to be saved. Rowan still worries that after she comes back home she will still be the same as she was before, but do things turn out this way?


Harper tells Rowan that he has to leave to go back to America for a few weeks to tell his family he is safe, he promises to come back, Rowan is unsure that he would but he reassured her. 


So how would the family cope after lots of things becoming clear?


****
I would give this book a 4 star rating because it was interesting, it grasped my attention and you could feel the hope rushing through yourself for Rowan. I did not give it 5 stars because I think the ending could have been a bit better and interesting.


I would recommend this book for teenagers aged from 13-16.